thequantumwritings:

Sometimes i think about the idea of Common as a language in fantasy settings.

On the one hand, it’s a nice convenient narrative device that doesn’t necessarily need to be explored, but if you do take a moment to think about where it came from or what it might look like, you find that there’s really only 2 possible origins.

In settings where humans speak common and only Common, while every other race has its own language and also speaks Common, the implication is rather clear: at some point in the setting’s history, humans did the imperialism thing, and while their empire has crumbled, the only reason everyone speaks Human is that way back when, they had to, and since everyone speaks it, the humans rebranded their language as Common and painted themselves as the default race in a not-so-subtle parallel of real-world whiteness.

In settings where Human and Common are separate languages, though (and I haven’t seen nearly as many of these as I’d like), Common would have developed communally between at least three or four races who needed to communicate all together. With only two races trying to communicate, no one would need to learn more than one new language, but if, say, a marketplace became a trading hub for humans, dwarves, orcs, and elves, then either any given trader would need to learn three new languages to be sure that they could talk to every potential customer, OR a pidgin could spring up around that marketplace that eventually spreads as the traders travel the world.

Drop your concept of Common meaning “english, but in middle earth” for a moment and imagine a language where everyone uses human words for produce, farming, and carpentry; dwarven words for gemstones, masonry, and construction; elven words for textiles, magic, and music; and orcish words for smithing weaponry/armor, and livestock. Imagine that it’s all tied together with a mishmash of grammatical structures where some words conjugate and others don’t, some adjectives go before the noun and some go after, and plurals and tenses vary wildly based on what you’re talking about.

Now try to tell me that’s not infinitely more interesting.

i find it fascinating how you said to stop thinking of common as “english, but in middle earth” and then proceeded to… precisely describe english, but in middle earth

buzzfeed headline idea: “The Founding Fathers Were Neither Woke Nor Bae.”

The Search for Spock is about finding the 30 foot Spock from TAS

bad-startrek-aus:

VALID

royal-mortician:

opposite of depression nap. depression awakeness. refreshing the same three websites over and over. there’s nothing new on any of them. eight seconds have passed and it feels like a century

am i bad at physio and how do i look this up without finding ads for physio

builtfjordtuff:

sunnyaalisse:

fun fact: procrastination happens to animals too. it’s a naturall thing.

animal equivalents for scrolling tumblr include:
– hamsters starting to wash their faces in inaproppriate situations
– hyenas stopping everything and starting to dig holes in the ground.

– seagulls starting to ruffle their feathers instead of doing important things

this happens for two reasons:

1) an animal is in the situation where none of the standard scenarious it has are fitting, so it does the next best thing
(example: hamsters were put in a vibrating bowl, they couldn’t run or attack, so in about a minute they stopped everything and started washing their faces.)

2) an animal has two conflicting instincts fighting for dominance, so the third one, usualy suppressed by them, kicks in.
(example: when two hyenas meet at the border of their territories, they have an instinct to protect their own territory conflict with an instinct not to cross someone else’s. they don’t know if they need to attack or leave, so both start digging holes in the ground.
example: a seagull sitting on the nest needs to protect her children, but also has to go get some food. instead a seagull settles for ruffling her feathers for two hours.)

with humans it’s usually the second reason.
(example: I’m tired and I want to go to sleep, but I should write an essay for tomorrow. both these things are important, so I’m procrastinating them by writing this post.)

nature is beautiful.
I’m gonna go to sleep now.

Honestly, digging holes in the ground to avoid dealing with a confrontation sounds like something I would do.

introvertdragon:

some of yall: hey can we not ignore [insert sexual orientation] please?!

me: you know what thats a good idea we should pay more attention to that becau-

some of yall: we should focus more on [insert sexual orientation] instead of asexuals!!!

me:

can you not like… not do that please

violentwavesofemotion:

when vincent van gogh said “but you must love with a high, serious intimate sympathy, with a will, with intelligence, and you must always seek to know more thoroughly, better, and more”

nurselofwyr:

butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway:

selchieproductions:

i mean, maybe this is my inner “survivor of child abuse” talking, but I am not going to tell abusive parents that they’re bad at bringing up their children without a bullet proof plan with regards to how I could protect my student from the emotional and physical backlash of that meeting.

Important thing to remember about intervening in abuse in general. Any actions taken by others to hold the abuser accountable WILL be taken out on the victim and not the person doing the confronting. Do not confront an abuser about their actions unless you know for absolute certain that you can protect their victim from the fallout.

AN ABBREVIATED GUIDE TO ‘holy shit my friend is in an abusive relationship what do I do’

ok google how to actually Be There™ for someone who refuses to ask for help about anything