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elen-benfelen · 14 days
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When I say there are things that Israel will never ever take away from Palestinians I also mean the way the fight for Palestine is ingrained into almost every aspect of our lives, down to even the names we give our children who come decades and decades after our initial Nakba.
For example, Bisan is a very popular girls name in Palestine and it is the name of a Palestinian city that was depopulated by Israel in 1948. Girls with names like Bisan, Yafa and Jenin may not have seen these cities yet, but they carry them within them regardless.
Also, many Palestinians can identify with how our aunts and uncles have symbolic names such as A'ed or A'eda which mean returnee. These names were not chosen arbitrarily by our grandparents who were forced to raise their families in refugee camps. Similarly, there are names that are very common to this day like Thaer (revolutionary), Bassel (courageous) and Nidhal (revolutionary struggle).
We are literally walking around carrying notions of Palestine and our struggle with us and planting the seeds of resistance within our children, we must be so frustrating!
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elen-benfelen · 25 days
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There was a new LGBT+ acronym, and it was twig etc. (it had to be in lowercase for some reason). It stood for trans, Welsh, intersex, and gay. Everyone else was etc. It was very controversial.
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elen-benfelen · 29 days
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This is particularly funny to me bc I spent the day of mourning zip-lining through a quarry.
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I’ve been in absolute tears cry laughing at this for the past 15 minutes.
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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You are Gaius Julius Caesar, and it's a lovely day in March.
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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red hood and the outlaws!!!!
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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young me especially would have hated hearing this but networking is literally the most important thing you can do to improve your situation like forget economic barriers to education etc just keep making friends with different people and eventually someone will offer you a hand up just because they dig your vibe and that is exactly all that's happening when undeserving people surpass you anyway
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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what are you even supposed to do when youre angry.  cant scream at anyone cos im not a dick. cant break anything cos i paid money for that. cant rip my hair out cos i need it on my head. literally what now
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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fascinating to see that “y mor” is “at sea” in cernyweg.
in cymraeg it would be “ar y môr” (more directly - on the sea) because “y mor” would just be “the sea”
i absolutely love hearing cornish and would love to see more content yn kernowek!
A series of short films has been produced in Cornish (with English subtitles).
I know Tumblr loves a Celtic language, so please show these some love, and then maybe more media will get produced yn Kernowek.
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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whole heartedly a supporter of people spelling the word as “cwtsh” and not “cwtch” - i’m hoping it’ll take over slowly until all the merch says cwtsh and not cwtch.
one can dream.
photo description: small book with pink woollen blanket in the background. big white title says “CWTSH” followed by smaller writing underneath that says “Llyfr bach, cariad MAWR” and on the bottom of the cover it says “Golygydd: Marred Glynn Jones”
translation: CWTSH: Small book, BIG love. Editor: Marred Glynn Jones
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elen-benfelen · 2 months
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welsh remus guide pt.4
Fourth Part
Welcome back, lads. It’s time for slang, swearing, exclamations and terms of endearment. Buckle up, this is a long one.
Just to get it out of the way, I will begin by stating that, whilst a very romantic and poetic language, Welsh is not what I would personally rely on for dirty talk.
I’m sure there’s folks out there using Welsh for such purposes, most of us however will cringe because it just doesn’t land in the same way as English dirty talk.
This might genuinely in part be because a huge part of the language’s preservation came from people learning Welsh at their local chapels and churches because you weren’t allowed to speak it in most schools at that point in time. But this is just me guessing.
On the flip side of this, if the goal is romance or a beautiful proclamation of love, Welsh is absolutely your best friend. It’s a very loving language, and not just platonically.
It is very common for older people to call you “bach” or “cariad”. Anyone can use these for anyone. Especially when comforting someone or being polite.
Bach - Small
Cariad - Love
This is done in both Welsh and English.
“Ti’n iawn, bach?” (Are you alright, bach?)
“Dere ‘mlaen*, cariad.” (C’mon, cariad)
*slang for ymlaen meaning “forward” and in a Carmarthenshire accent sounds like “mlân”
Many folks will also use “cariad” to refer to their partner.
“Fy nghariad.” (My love/My partner/etc)
South Walians (especially south west) might say:
Wajen/Wejen - Girlfriend
Sboner - Boyfriend
Your married partner can be more specifically called:
Priod - Marriage partner
With a wedding being a “priodas”.
Gwraig - Wife
Gŵr - Husband
Conclusion here is: Everyone is “cariad” and your romantic partner is “my cariad”.
The word “calon” meaning “heart” can be used in the same way.
“Shwd i ti, calon?” (How are you, calon?)
Personally, with “fy nghalon” (my heart) I would use that directly with my partner but not when talking about them with others.
So again, everyone is “calon”.
Now we get to the real funky bit of exclamations/swearing.
We don’t have a word for “fuck” we literally just say the English one and then spell it phonetically so that it’s “ffyc”.
It’s my favourite thing ever.
Cachu - Shit
Buwch - Cow
Ceri i grafu - Fuck off / Go to scratch
(Apologies for those who aren’t comfortable with what is considered blasphemy in some communities but these are common exclamations here)
Iesu Grist - Jesus Christ
Iesu Mawredd - Christ Almighty
Both “Iesu”and “Mawredd” can be said by themselves as well and are generally what I personally say when I’m tired, facing a problem or have hit my foor against something.
Alternatively, a little less Jesus focused is:
Bois bach
Mam fach
I uh….don’t know how to explain these ones. I really don’t, lads. Because the literal translations just don’t make sense.
“Little boys” and “Little mother”
We just, say them.
I say them a Lot. Again, same concept of being fed up, tired enough or in enough pain to just exclaim. It’s like saying “gosh” or “dear me” and such. Very common.
Now to return again to the more blasphemous ones. We reach one of my Mamgu’s favourites:
Jiw jiw nefi blw
Again….I don’t know where nefi blw comes from or if this is even the right spelling. My Mamgu (grandma) says it so often but she also doesn’t know what it means.
The “jiw jiw” can be said alone without the second part and sounds a bit like “jew jew” but is just a evolution of the phrase “duw duw” which means “god god”.
The first time I said this in front of a very English friend they were very confused and concerned that it was some kind of antisemitic phrase - fortunately it is not!
Duwedd annwyl - Dear God
On the more positive side of exclamations is the word “lush” which is more popular in the South and is used a lot in the English language within Wales. I believe it’s short for “luscious”.
“That coat’s lush!”
“Ti’n edrych yn lush!” (You look lush!)
This is common amongst non-Welsh speakers as well as Welsh speakers.
Some very common Northern / Gog slang is “champiwn” and “eidial”.
Which are basically “champion” and “ideal” with heavy North Walian accents.
It’s like, a confirmation in a way. For anyone who’s familiar with the word “slay” and how that’s used, it’s similar to that.
Like instead of saying “okay” sometimes someone will just say “champiwn” or “eidial”. With the “ch” being the English “ch” in “change”.
Which brings us to the greatest criminal of the language but also one of my favourite words:
Cwtch
The only official word in the Welsh language that has that “change” ch sound spelt as a “ch”.
Would I go back in time and stop them from spelling it that way if I could? Absolutely.
Cwtsh is how it should phonetically be spelt. Alas. There is no reversing the insane amount of merch across Wales with Cwtch spread across them.
It’s particularly warm hug or cuddle but it can also be like a nook.
In my area we refer to the cupboard under the stairs as the:
“cwtch dan star” - (cwtch under the stairs)
but also:
“Put that in the dog’s cwtch.” Is a perfectly acceptable phrase.
or:
“This is my cwtch, go get your own.”
Like “lush”, this word is used by many non-Welsh speakers in their English and is a very common term (at least it is in the South)
So a cosy reading nook would be Remus’ cwtch and Sirius would be his cariad.
I think that about covers swearing and endearment? Of course there’s probably ones I’ve missed or aren’t familiar with but these are what came to mind for me.
For the next part I’ll go into terms for family members before moving on to culture/history with a focus on events that would influence the marauders era. Which, oh boy, things were a bit rocky in Wales then. Lots of protests for the working class and for the language.
Note: I am not the collective consciousness of every Welsh person. My experience is not universal - especially when it comes to North Walian things. This is just meant to serve as a general guide. Hope this helps and good luck with your writing!
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elen-benfelen · 3 months
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welsh remus guide pt.3
Third Lesson
Right then, lads. It’s alphabet time.
Often, when looking at Welsh place names, it can seem confusing and overwhelming for anyone who is unfamiliar with Welsh. Sometimes, the confusion comes from not realising that the names are in Welsh. 
Visually, we use the Latin alphabet and so it’s easy to make the assumption that the Welsh alphabet is exactly the same as the English. 
It is not, my dudes. 
To begin with, the following letters do not exist:
K, Q, V, X, Z
Secondly, these are the vowels:
A, E, I, O, U, W, Y 
(Occasionally H is also a vowel but I couldn’t tell you when or why??? I usually go off of vibes) 
Next, are the double letters. They count to us as single letters and each make a unique sound:
CH, DD, FF, NG, LL, PH, RH, TH
NG as in thiNG
PH as in PHil
FF as in Fun
RH as in RHiannon
TH as in THat
Now comes the uh, more complicated sounds. 
For those familiar with German words such as Nacht or the name Brecht, the Welsh CH is that same sound.
CH as in naCHt
DD is like a harder TH sound. It is NOT a D sound. 
LL sounds like hissing. I genuinely don’t know how else to explain this. It straight up does not exist in majority of languages but there are some out there with the same sound (sometimes shown with a different letter). 
To hear it and learn more here’s a better explanation.
This is a really fun video on the different accents but someone mentions the town Llanelli so it’s also a good example of the LL sound. 
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And so in full we have:
A. B. C. CH. D. DD. E. F. FF. 
G. NG. H. I. J. L. LL. M. N. O. 
P. PH. R. RH. S. T. TH. U. W. Y. 
There’s no K because the C is always a hard C sound.
There’s no V because a single F is always a hard V sound. 
J is a modern addition to help us with new modern words we’ve loaned from English. Such as Joke becoming Jôc. 
G is always a hard guttural G sound. 
Despite misconceptions, Welsh is actually vowel heavy and we tend to stretch vowels. If a letter has a little roof on it, like “ô” or “ŵ” then it’s an extended/longer sound. 
This means, when speaking English, our vowels are more likely to be elongated. 
Similar to the “r” in Spanish, the Welsh “r” is rolled and therefore many will still roll their Rs when speaking English. 
For a reason I have yet to discover, despite H being perfectly clear and pronounced when speaking in Welsh, when we speak English, a lot of areas have a habit of dropping the H sound. 
“Here” becomes “Ere” or “Yere” 
I am guilty of this. Why do I do this? I genuinely can’t tell you. 
For the reasons above, the following words sound stupidly similar to each other:
Ear
Year
Here
Hear 
As with any language, understanding the basic sounds helps you understand the core of the accent. 
In terms of character dynamics, I would take note that the “CH” and “LL” sounds along with our supposed “lack of vowels” is usually what the language is mocked for. Usually by English folk but other folks, including non-Welsh speaking Welsh folks are perfectly guilty of this mocking. 
Fun fact: I didn’t realise W and Y weren’t vowels in the English language when I was a small child. So I really didn’t get why they thought there wasn’t any vowels in our place names. 
Another thing to note is that the Welsh language and accents are very up and down. It’s not usually flat or monotone. A lot of people also describe them as melodic. Sing-songy even.
Colourful alphabet video with BSL
Shorter alphabet video 
Note: I am not the collective consciousness of every Welsh person. My experience is not universal - especially when it comes to North Walian things. This is just meant to serve as a general guide. Hope this helps and good luck with your writing!
pt.4
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elen-benfelen · 3 months
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welsh remus guide pt.2
Second Lesson
Wales vs Cymru
Wales is the English term for the country, deriving from an old Germanic term with a meaning along the lines of “foreigner” or “other”. Cymru is the Welsh term for the country, meaning something along the lines of “countrymen”.
Not to be confused with Cymry which is pronounced exactly the same but means “welsh people”.
To put in a phrase - The Cymry live in Cymru. Welsh - Cymraeg
The Welsh Language - Yr Iaith Gymraeg
Welsh Man/Person - Cymro
Welsh Woman - Cymraes
Cymro is technically masculine but can serve as a gender neutral term if you don’t want to use the plural Cymry. Welsh, like Spanish and many others, is quite gendered.
A Welsh speaking Welsh person might refer to themselves, especially if they’re first language, as a “Cymry Cymraeg” which sounds silly in English as “Welsh Welsh” lmao. If my Mam were to tell me “Arwen is a Cymry Cymraeg” I would know that Arwen is a Welsh speaker. Alternatively you say the more literal “Siaradwr Cymraeg” (Welsh speaker) or “Dysgwr Cymraeg” (Welsh learner).
Side note: These days, there’s a lot of discussion over how labels influence identity. So there’s lots of debates over going by Cymru in official capacities and such, however dw you are not committing any mistakes or hate crimes by using “Wales” or “Welsh”. You are however, definitely an asshole if you criticise a Welsh person’s decision to personally only use “Cymru” or “Cymraeg”.
Next up is a quick guide to the alphabet/sounds before finally, the main meal: slang and terms of endearment
Note: I am not the collective consciousness of every Welsh person. My experience is not universal - especially when it comes to North Walian things. This is just meant to serve as a general guide. Hope this helps and good luck with your writing!
pt.3
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elen-benfelen · 3 months
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welsh remus guide pt.1
As a casual marauders fan (if such a thing exists lmao), I’ve noticed a growing love/interest towards Remus being Welsh and exploring what this means regarding accent, mannerisms and language. Seeing Welsh being butchered by the use of google translate, whilst understandable that people would turn to it, is actually physically painful at times. And so!! I’ve decided to start collecting some language tips and bits of info to help anyone who wants to Welshify their Remus. The source? My upbringing as a first language Welsh speaker in South-West Wales.
The most popular head canons I’ve seen, some based on scraps of info from canon, is that Remus is either South Walian (specifically South-East Wales - aka the Cardiff area) or North Walian. I’ve only lived in North Wales for just under a month so I have a rough idea of NW slang but I’m no expert. I have lived in Cardiff for about 3 years so I have a stronger grasp on broad South Walian slang.
This is to say - I will try and give words and bits of info I think would be useful to know but my ask box is always open to more specific questions. I’m also a nerd towards the Welsh language so this is going to be an unnecessarily deep dive into it.
First Lesson
Gogs - North Walians
Hwntws - South Walians
Gogs (short for Gogledd meaning North) and Hwntws have an age old rivalry. Our accents are very different and even our Welsh can have a huge variety of slang and accents.
Examples:
Milk - Llaeth (Hwntw) Llefrith (Gog)
Now - Nawr (H) Rwan (G)
Whilst plenty of Welsh folks have very English sounding accents, if someone has a distinctly Welsh accent you can usually tell pretty quickly where they’re from. Accents within the Welsh language itself tend to be rather strong and distinctive for most people. It is extremely common for someone to ask you where you’re from once they find out you speak Welsh. Probably cause Wales isn’t that big and only like 20% ish of us speak Welsh??? Idk. It just is a thing. So like:
“O, da chi’n siarad Cymraeg?” (Oh, you speak Welsh?)
“Ydw! Wyt ti o’r Gogledd?” (I do! Are you from the North?)
“Yndw, dwi o Gaernarfon. Ble yda chi’n byw?” (I do, I’m from Caernarfon. Where do you live?)
“Fi o Rhydaman.” (I’m from Ammanford.)
Hopefully that dialogue feels human and not like two robots talking but you get the gist of it lmao. So, for those of you who want to make another of the characters, such as Lily, Welsh as well, it wouldn’t be out of place for them to try and establish where the other is from when first meeting. But also be aware that their slang and language would be different if they’re not from the same area (as with any language or country).
Conclusion: You cannot slap the blanket label of Welsh on Remus and then have him speak any old welsh and use any slang and such. So either choose somewhere specific or throw a dart and stick with where it lands.
Note: I am not the collective consciousness of every Welsh person. My experience is not universal - especially when it comes to North Walian things. This is just meant to serve as a general guide. Hope this helps and good luck with your writing!
pt.2
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elen-benfelen · 4 months
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#Something something about Annabeth expecting help from her mother because she was always the perfect kid but getting sent to her own death and Percy expecting nothing because he doesn't believe in his dad and despite everything being saved from death by him
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elen-benfelen · 4 months
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i learned a while ago that the whole "most of the stars we see in the sky are actually already dead because they're so far away that we're seeing them as they were thousands of years ago" thing is a myth because stars live so long that it's unlikely many, if any, of them have burned out yet, but i'm still glad that myth exists because there's just something about the thought of the sky as a graveyard of stars that gets to me
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elen-benfelen · 4 months
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completed a portrait series of all the human children of the big three from pjo/hoo 𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚
loved loved loved experimenting with a new style and interpreting these characters with a new design!
commissions | print store ✩
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elen-benfelen · 4 months
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a twitter thread that actually killed me
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