#linguisitics
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What people think copyeditors are like: "Um actually, you can't end your sentence with a preposition. Also I noticed you said among when you meant between."
What copyeditors are actually like: "It's all made up. IT'S ALL MADE UP! ENGLISH IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING! THERE ARE NO RULES, JUST GUIDELINES!"
#language#editing#linguisitics#I read a very good fic and felt very seen today#also I haven't screamed this on here since I left The Bad Place#allison rambles#allison's work life
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Wilder Spells "Onomatopoeia"
#wordnerd#words#language#linguisitics#etymology#funwithwords#funwithwordsfriday#vocabulary#vocab#english vocabulary#Youtube
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Tell us ur DUNC thoughts pal! <3
what can I even say about DUNC other than i fucking love it!!! i've been a shameless dick rider for denis villeneuve ever since Sicario, and I went to the cinema to see DUNC and DUNC 2 which. one thing about me is i hate cinemas. i didn't even go to the cinema for scorsese or yorgo lanthimos or top gun 2 so you know it's serious
the visuals are straight up incredible, the casting is peak, the material is handled with a lot of what feels like genuine love and passion, the lady going ham on the arabic yodeling on the OST is a queen, and in general wrt dune fans watching DUNC, I imagine that's how people who like Tolkien felt when Peter Jackson's LOTR came out
i can't wait for the conflict between the matriarchal eugenicists with milking machines and the patriarchal eugenicists with breeding tanks
which is what the books are really about. oh, and i guess the galactic jihad also happens, so that's fun
#dune#dune 2#dune spoilers#(sort of)#anyways dune is an incredibly hilarious series on one hand you have the very serious exploration of imperialistic politics#and manipulation of societies. and religion for herbert is what linguisitics was for tolkien. (except frank's hyperfixation actually fucks)#and u get these powerful conversations about power and fate and lady jessica says 'history will call us wives'#which. by the way. everything lady jessica says and does goes incredibly fucking hard.#one of the best and most problematicest female characters ever. <3#one of my favourite features of dune is how vicious the women are. there is a sisterhood but theres no hand-holding and singing kumbaya#jessica uses the Voice on chani. irulan does what she gotta do to secure her interests. theres an understanding but claws come out#THEN on the other hand you have the 'hm. good effort' hitler talk between paul and stilgar xD i hope they put it in dune 3. please denis#i first read dune when i was a child and understood pretty much fuck-all from it. but i think that's what herbert would've wanted#in conclusion: i don't know. i hate cinemas and i still went to see dune#i hate heat and sun; i'm a winter child thru and thru. and denis makes me want to be there on arrakis when i watch his adaptation#i think that says something
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Hi, ABL--here's a Thai vocabulary question you might be able to help me with:
In the middle of the opening viewer caution message on a GMMTV series (at the moment, A Boss and a Babe), a word or phrase long ago caught my ear. Phonetically: "quamen-tone." Recently, this has become "quamen-tun tone-an."
Can you translate this for me, perhaps, or know where l might find a transcript ? The message isn't vitally important to me--l just like the sound of that, and figured l might as well know what's being said ...
Thanks as always ! Love, Bender
Sorry I don't know this one, perhaps one of my linguistic spies will weigh in.
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WOOF
Okay listen. I know you're probably doing a dog-related thing, but I got curious what the etymology of the word is. Not for any particular reason I just like to know things.
And it turns out that woof actually comes from a lot to do with weaving. It's from before the 12th century--and just because I can say whatever I want and you can't stop me, that's about 100-200 years before the beginnings of the revival of human dissection in Italy after it'd been nonexistent since 300 BCE.
It's apparently from the Old English word ōwef and wefan (to weave). Like weft. Which is apparently a word. Shout out to the weaving community, as you probably already knew that, but my textile skills/knowledge lie with sewing and cross-stitch. But! That means I got to learn a new word! Like the other day I learned the word sanguivorous, which means blood-feeding/bloodsucking. So vampires are sanguivorous! Love the word <3
but yeah, apparently woof actually can be traced back to weaving, though woof like the dog sound can be found in the early 1800s? less certain on that front because I got distracted by the weaving
this probably wasn't what you expected, but you sent this ask to me, so...you're welcome!
#etymology#quil's queries#nonsie#i am not an expert nor claiming authority in this field#this is just what I found! which I may have misinterpreted#so. there is that#love words :)#my dad is studying linguisitics right now and sometimes he'll call me out and be like hey quil. wanna learn a thing#and I of course say yes#so then I'll look at some of his homework videos#or he'll explain a thing from his chapter#and it's like woag. language!#favorite interaction with my dad about his classes was when he was like hey we're gonna look at asI next week#and then I promptly explained to him what /I/ knew from my own asI classes and it's history#(not an expect but do have some knowledge)#and later he came to me and was like yeah they just told us basically everything you told me#so that was fun :)#oh look I'm rambling again!
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I think one of the reasons I don't vibe with theories or headcanons that make Sonic out to be anything more than Just A Guy™️ is because it sort of . . . cheapens his story, to me.
I feel like we have an oversaturation of Chosen Ones in popular culture. We have so many characters that are prophecied or reincarnated or Actually Not Ordinary, and that's fine . . . but it's also a.) a little boring by now, and b.) not very inspiring. Because we, the audience, aren't Chosen Ones. We aren't aliens or reincarnated heroes or lab experiments. We're just people. We're just guys.
And stories where that's enough? Those are the stories that really matter.
Don't get me wrong, I love Chosen One stories too. I've been a Zelda fan since I was nine. And it's true that Sonic has super speed and can use the Chaos Emeralds to go super saiyan. But considering that other characters can go super using the Chaos Emeralds, and that other characters have above and beyond abilities as well (e.g. Knuckles and Amy have super strength, Tails is a genius who can fly), those don't disqualify Sonic from being Just A Guy™️, a normal hedgehog. After all, when everyone is super, no one is.
But more to the point: we might not have superpowers, but all of us have skills that we can use to make the world a better place. Even though we are only human, some of us have linguisitic or artistic or mathematical gifts that we can use to make a difference, if we choose to.
And stories like Sonic's promote that idea, if he is also just a regular person with a gift. If he just decided one day to stand up and say "no" to oppression. Not because he's a Chosen One, or an alien, or an avatar for the planet. But because he's a person who was born on this planet from two parents, and so he fucking lives here and would prefer for the environment to stay nice and people to not be oppressed. And if he can do it, so can you.
If Sonic was a Chosen One, or the planet itself or whatever—well then, of course he stands up for environment and against oppression, that's his role. That story isn't special. But if he's Just A Guy™️, then it's a conscious choice he's making to do the hard thing instead of the easy thing, because it's the right thing to do. And that makes his story, and his character, so much more special to me than it would be otherwise.
#apropos of nothing i was just thinking abt it#i know that there's the Angel Island mural of Super Sonic but tbh I've always hated it lmao#its only use was inspiring Gerald to make Shadow hedgehog shaped#Sonic is just a person who exists bc a male hedgehog and a female hedgehog got busy w/ each other#and then flounced off to parts unknown or died or smth#and so he - as a person and guy - just lives here now#nothing more complicated than that#sonic the hedgehog
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Re: your Wonder Woman story ideas. I'm really interested in what you have in mind for a storyline centered around ancient artifacts and their home countries. Because I don't think a lot of greek myth-inspired stories ever really touched on that issue (which is a shame).
Okay so the original set-up I had in mind for this story is basically this: Diana gets a call from Helena Sandsmark saying that the Gateway City Museum has been broken into and one of their priceless artifiacts is missing. Diana promises to find it, and at the end of the issue, she does!
....in a warehouse full to the brim of other stolen and "discretely discovered" (aka, found and not reported) artifacts. Whoops, she's just stumbled over a massive underground antiquities black market operation and now it's probably her duty (as Wonder Woman, as a diplomatic ambassador, and as someone who's worked closely with antiquities and museum people for ages) to make sure everything gets handled properly and repatriated safely.
Cue massive squabbling and ongoing negotiations between Diana (who found everything and has placed the contents of the warehouse under Themiscyran protection), the countries of origin (who want their stuff back), the museums any of the artifacts were stolen from (who say because it was stolen from their museums they should have rights to it regardless of whether or not the countries of origin think the artifact should be theirs to display), private dealers (who want to snap up the artifacts that aren't legally bound for a new home), US museums (who want to temporarily display the stuff in their museums while repatriation negotations happen), and the US government (who says because the artifacts were found on US soil it should be their job to repatriate everything, not Diana/Themiscyra).
Oh yeah....and also the superheroing community and various mythological entities, because of course the black market dealers couldn't leave well enough alone and just grab normal artifiacts. No no, they were also planning on selling a whole bunch of stolen cursed stuff and magical relics and mythical statuary. Including a bunch of stuff of Greek and Amazonian origin, because why wouldn't they be there?
So this sets up a nice solid arc where I could either a) take a series of connected issues to show Diana personally handling and/or returning artifacts to their rightful home (and the trials and tribulations of doing so) or b) every once in awhile when I'd need a break from telling other stories, another artifact's negotiation process is done and she has to go return it. Boom, nice fun breather oneshot or mini-arc.
Some of the repatriation stories would be bog-standard "country of origin and museum in another country are fighting over who gets to have it. Diana mediates" stories. Others would be Diana journeying to return a stolen relic to its rightful owner (kind of like Damian Wayne did during his Year of Blood arc in R:SOB). Either way: it allows for a nice, fun ongoing set of stories that I could return to at literally any time to keep the run going. It would also allow me to bring back a lot of Diana's various civilian supporting casts that we haven't gotten to see in a long time (particularly the museum/antiquities/linguisitics crowd like Helena Sandsmark and Julia Kapatelis, the UN crew that was Diana's embassy delegation, and her DC supporting cast). I think it would be fun.
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wait tweety are you into linguisitics? i never knew that!!! that's awesome
yes, I love linguistics! Last year I got my master degree in European and American languages and literature with a specialization in English, because I would love to teach :)
My curricula was more on the literary/cultural/comparative studies side in fact my master thesis was focused on critical discourse analysis and news discourse. I used cda to analyze the discourse of two British newspapers around elderly people during the pandemic
Even though the course specialized in English language and linguistics, Italian linguistics was also mandatory because it's my L1. And if I ever get to teach, I will teach English as a foreign language
#posta#I'm also the kind of person who would tell you the etymology of a word just for fun lmao#or criticize how someone translated a word in a movie
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cool linguisitics fact !
when ppl describe having. a big oenis as being "Hung"- that is grammatically not correct bc actually the past tense would be "Hanged"!
hope this helps!
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decemTBR roundup #1 -- weeks 1 + 2
there's probably gonna be more than one of these for week 2 but that's not important anyway LEGGO
in order of READING, not of rank (bc that's super rude yo)
Project Sunseeker (Improved Version) || @thetrashbagswasteland || ao3 || on-going, current wc: 47,531
i'm actually feral for this universe that cast has built, and these initial chapters are all first contact linguisitic shenanigans and shep just being lost in general and i love it a lot okay? this fic permanently altered the thumbs up gesture for me in the best way
The Weight of Memory || @sparatus/@lieutenantabrudas || ao3 || on-going, current wc: 32,220
hi do you wanna get hopelessly attached to minor characters that get no screentime in their actual media and that the fandom as a whole generally forgets about? do you wanna have so many feelings about the horrors of war and the lasting impact it has on everyone, written by someone who was raised by generations of veterans and has a special interest in the historical impact of warfare? what the fuck are you waiting for go read it
To Catch a Rabbit || @sparatus/@lieutenantabrudas || ao3 || complete, 82,814 words
just a good fun murder mystery with a healthy dose of mutual pining that does, eventually, resolve itself in a heated moment that left me screaming like that one excited baby in that one gif
something to remember us by || @elizashepard || ao3 || oneshot, 1,067 words
obviously i'm going feral for anything that does nyreen/aria justice, and this is now on my list of fics to reread when i need a good cry
i read a BUNCH of oneshots by @thetrashbagswasteland actually, most of them in one day. how
Toothpaste || ao3 || 877 words
this is just a cute little vetryder moment, I love them your honor
Putting Up With Us || ao3 || 1,241 words
Honestly if you want good rarepair shit cast literally created the tag for these bastards and this is some delicious fluff
The Storm Between Us || ao3 || 2,663 words
rems is like. my tragedy comfort character she's one of my moms now ok thx
Crunchy Pebbles || ao3 || 2,859 words
you know what's great? barrix + vetryder beach episodes THAT KICK YOU IN THE TEETH
Worth Melting For || ao3 || 2,809 words
more rarepair fluff but this time it smarts a little
Dilatory || ao3 || 4,370 words
THIS SMARTS A LOT MORE
Gone Wherever You May Be || ao3 || 1,279 words
"i hope this kryterius angst hurts uwu teehee" YEAH IT HURTS YOU SON OF A BITCH
Hurry Hurry - or there'll be time to waste || ao3 || 3,331 words
god avi’s self esteem always kicks me straight in the kokoro but this one is bittersweet rarepair domesticity 🥺
A Fraction Of Your Happy Heart || ao3 || 1,246 words
i am a PUDDLE i love them SO MUCH and i need MORE BARRIX FLUFF FOREVER
Ryncol Tastes Like Ass || ao3 || 4,833 words
this is honest to god the slapstick levity i needed after the ANGST MARATHON
Tales in the Last Days || ao3 || 11,404 words
both heartwarming and heartbreaking, if you like found family finding their way through hardship, you'll have a good time
Chomp the Champion Varren || ao3 || 1,595 words
CHOMP IS BEST BOY
Strike Two || ao3 || 6,068 words
this is just "how alec ryder and castis vakarian became buddies shortly after shanxi" and every bit of it is good and wonderful
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"A definition of glossolalia which would be useful to the linguist in the widest contexts is one like the following: A meaningless but phonologically structured human utterance believed by the speaker to be a real language but bearing no systematic resemblance to any natural language, living or dead. This definition specifies three features that appear to be necessary in any definition of the phenomenon: (a) a phonological structure (that is, the kind of patterning of sound generally typical of real languages), which distinguishes it from gibberish; (b) meaninglessness; and (c) value as language to the speaker. Because some utterances apparently glossolalic occur in play, when the speaker knows that he is not talking a real language, we may want to be explicit by adding 'or a language surrogate' to the definition."
— William J. Samarin, The Linguisiticality of Glossolalia, pp. 51–52
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maybe this is the linguist in me but I would love to do a study on the word "era" as it's developed over the past year and a half. Ever since Taylor Swift's eras tour was announced, I feel like I've seen "era" used to mean "a stage in development (as of a person or thing)" or "a period identified by some prominent figure or characteristic feature"--but a relatively short period of time measured against one person's entire life, rather than an entire historical period. This is in contrast to the original definition of "era," i.e. "a fixed point in time from which a series of years is reckoned," or even the definition I learned in history class way back when: "a large division of geologic time usually shorter than an eon."
These are just half-formed thoughts and personal observations with no academic bearing, but I'd love to see an actual linguisitic study dive into the etymology of the word "era."
#if this has already been done please somebody let me know#the eras tour#I'm not really a swiftie just in shock and awe at etymological evolution happening in real time#definitions are from merriam webster's online dictionary
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Kroashent Commission - Cerise de Rysel
Cerise was the average daughter of a clothmaking family in the city of Rysel, in the Cloth Cities. With the failed rebellion and subsequent subjugation by neighboring Gallia fading from memory, Rysel had once again become a bustling, but quiet center of trade, industry and learning. Cerise was fully expected to follow her parents, learning the traditional methods and how to operate the new clockwork loom that promised to put her family workshop on the economic map.
But instead, the young girl began to show strange quirks and remarkable abilities. It was found that she was Boermerzh, a human capable of drawing on the magical energy of the world to alter reality with Huderezh, or directed spellcasting. The cloth merchant's daughter was whisked off to the University of Rysel, where she began to study under the direction of some of the most powerful and distinguished Similherez (Mages) under the Gallian Crown. Cerise quickly adjusted to student life, splitting her time between her studies and enjoying the sounds of the street musicians wafting into her dormitory.
A master of linguisitics, Cerise hopes to become Feasa, a master of the magic of names. She studies hard, but sometimes the curiosity and her own unmeasured power causes trouble for the apprentice mage!
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Val's Notes:
Every once in a while, I get a uniquely exciting type of commission, adapting a commissioner's original character to show how they might appear in Alvez, the world of Kroashent. I really enjoy these kind of commissions because they let me work with characters who are full of unrealized potential and a ton of passion, while also being able to build and share little glimpses of Alvez. I really enjoy when people take an interest in my silly little stories and the characters within.
I've drawn "vanilla" Cerice quite a few times, including little Kroashent AUs with Kathalia, Gwae and her (completely coincidental) doppleganger, Marie! (I thought about making her a distant cousin to codify the joke that the pair look so similar ;-) ) I wanted to make sure that I kept a lot of Cerice's inherent "feel" and identifying elements in Cerise's design, but also make her unique to the setting, a character in her own right. I made a few versions and elements in sketches (all of which are posted to my Patreon!), to experiment a little.
I decided that Cerise needed to keep her boots, a cape, and her distinctive "demon's eye" brooch. I gave her a unique little half-cape, which seems quite in style for Alvez, given how many characters seem to wear them, but went with a shoulderless mantle to contrast with her long pink gloves. I added some details to her cape and boots to match with the heavily detailed fashions of Alvez, a step away from her streamlined design. I made sure that her distinct black and pink colour massing remained generally constant.
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Check out all the progress sketches on Patreon to see some alternate sketches and early stages: www.patreon.com/Kroashent
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Cerice the Sorceress is owned by https://www.deviantart.com/eduartboudewijn. Show her some support there!
Alvez and the World of Kroashent is owned by me.
#Cerise de Rysel#alvez ized characters#kroashent#character design#fantasy art#artists on tumblr#fantasy character#Cerice#Sorceress#Kroashent Character#Gift Art
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As a holistic linguist, I gotta say, why didn’t I think of this before?
#language#linguisitics#language revival#language revitalization#holistic#holistic linguistics#holistic linguist#ghost#seance#time-travel
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On Creativity
So I’ll probably be updating this a couple of times, but I spent nearly 2 hours with a friend debating the nature or definition of creativity. It’ll be difficult to get all this in text, but I’m going to do my best because I think thinking is so important my lord. I promise, if you follow along you’ll find that some beans, and some beans, is four.
Old Blackadder jokes aside, I recently participated in a survey on creativity. I was so angry about the methods and assumptions that after spending maybe 2-3 minutes on this online survey I ranted at length to one of my best friends.
The Impetus:
The TL;DR for the survey was input 10 nouns, and get a score. The score measures how ‘creative’ you were in thinking of your nouns. It’s a word association game, where the fewer associations the study could draw between the nouns, the higher your score and the more ‘creative’ a participant was judged as being. But see, here’s where I think that breaks down - ignoring the hidden algorithm and apparent data-set of connections the survey claimed when calculating this inverse relationship - I don’t think creativity has anything to do with originality.
What do you think of when you think about creativity? What is creative? What does a creative person do? According to Merriam Webster: the ability to create. Most people might lean more towards the Oxford definition which reads as : the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Or perhaps you prefer the dictionary.com version: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination. Truth be told, I think MW is the closest. And I vehemently disagree with the following two.
Allow me to explain - creativity and productivity are two sides of the same coin. You don’t have to be original or unique to be creative, and anything you do that is purposed or fashioned to aid in your survival - here extended to include any activity that you get paid for - is productive. An artist who carves out time to write a novel they’ll never publish, a musician who wants nothing more than to jam in the basement with a friend, these people are being creative whether or not their work is original. Artists who sell their art or their time or their expertise are not inherently less original, or less artistic. Indeed, they aren’t even necessarily less creative than an artist whose art never earns a penny. They do however, spend time and energy making their art specifically for a market. They have to take time to carve out space in whatever market they inhabit. So they are spending more of their art-time being productive.
Let me be clear here: this isn’t a call against productivity, or art as a means to support oneself, or a condemnation of ‘selling out.’ If you enjoy doing something, I can scarcely fault you for seeking out ways to spend more time doing it. That can be hard when you also have to secure the basic necessities of life. Furthermore, I don’t want to lionize either productivity or creativity. I think wanting to better yourself, or secure food or safety for yourself or a loved one, is a laudable goal. I think this very human urge is the seat of productivity. On the other hand, to do things for no other goal than the pleasure of doing them, the hedonism and joy of simply being, should not be demonized. Surely if were to be purely ascetic we would never know soul food, or barbeque, or sushi, or coffee or tea, beer or wine, cake or pie.... Rarely do we do anything for purely creative or purely productive ends. For as sure as bread brings nourishment it warms the heart.
So when a hipster tells you their favorite artist sold out to the record label, or a critique calls a piece gauche and derivative, they are commenting on a real change in behaviour. Usually, the reasons they give are rationalizations or worse baseless attacks on a stranger’s character. Rarely are we actually upset that our favourite band is releasing music with more time and effort and polish in it’s production or recording, for instance. It’s impossible to pin down, but if you go from being a creative artist to trying to make a career of your art, or even just trying to earn some money freelancing, you are allocating time and energy to the productive part of the process - talking to patrons and commissioners, managing social media, networking, etc. - and that time and energy both must come from somewhere. This doesn’t necessarily mean you spend less time on creative endeavours, but if you aren’t then you must be pulling the time/energy for productivity from other productive behaviours.
This is the shift that I think young artists/musicians/actors struggle most with. ‘Get a job doing what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ What a load of BS. You will absolutely be working. And some of the freedom of the creative process will have to be turned over. Transitioning from loving music to studying music in college was one of the most heart-breaking things I ever had to do. The harder my professors pushed me to be better, the more time I spent practicing things I myself didn’t discover, the less I enjoyed my music.
I chose to study Jazz, out of all the fields of music, because I had this sense that jazz improvisation was more creative than playing in an orchestra. That the originality of inventing a melody on the fly was somehow more creative than playing a written part in an orchestra. This is simply not true. They are both acts of creation, of creativity. One takes marginally more originality, and one takes marginally more cooperation and teamwork.
Originality still relies on the constraints of the environment. You can’t break the mold if you can’t recognize it. You can’t bend the rules if you don’t understand the rules. As per the infamous Shakespeare quote “nothing new under the sun.” In any act of originality we still stand on the shoulders of those before us. When I was younger, it was always tempting to conflate originality or inspiration with creativity. I think it’s important now to move beyond that. They are different words, they mean different things, they might even influence one another, but they are not the same.
Take, for example, one of my college roommates. They worked all through highschool and college, trying to help support their family after an ugly divorce and then trying to move out and make their own way in the world. The weight of being constantly productive wore on them, and while they had been an honor student in a college prep program they simply dropped out of college before two years were up. For those formative years between the ages of about 14 and 20, Jess did not have time to be creative. All their energy was spent trying to ensure they had enough money for food or rent or utilities or whatever other mundane cost can be associated with living. I was by all measures a more creative person for 6+ years. Then Jess made time to do things for themself. Cosplay, the convention circuit, nights out at the bar or club. Jess was never less original than I was. Only ever less creative, and only then by force of habit. This does mean that people in marginalized groups are going to - on average - look less creative than those of us with privilege and the advantage of even minor inherited wealth.
Remember that, the next time someone tries to tell you you’re creativity is average.
Oh and fuck that survey it was garbage and what little they disclosed of their methods made fuck-all sense I sincerely hope that was a student project and the creator(s) have a chance to learn to do better later.
#long post#rant#creativity#linguisitics#I'm being pedantic but I swear the way we use and understand language is important
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