#Word of the Nerd

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

WOTN: A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire

Fae Laws And Complications Abound in A Killing Frost A Killing Frost is the latest novel to come from the October Daye series. Once again, fae law is making Toby’s life difficult. You think being a hero would earn her a break or two, but that is not the case. Can you believe that October Daye is fourteen books in at this point? In many ways, it still feels like the series is brand new. Probably…

View On WordPress

#A Killing Frost #A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire #Book #Book Review #Books #Fantasy #Fantasy Novel #Fantasy review #Fiction #Literary #Literature #Net Galley #NetGalley #October Daye #Review #Seanan McGuire #Word of the Nerd #WOTN

[canisalbus]

What if I told you that RoobrickMarine went and wrote an entire novella starring my 16th century dog couple? It's very canon-adjacent, well researched and thoughtfully put together, has inspired me a ton during these past months and it's now publicly available at AO3. I highly recommend it.

✦ Separation ✦

#content warnings for sex violence self harm and general angst #six chapters 41K words #people who have asked for longer stories of these two please give this one a look #I've watched this unfold since late may? early july? and it's been an exciting experience #I'm not a writer I think it's better than what I could've come up with #honestly though the way he managed to get inside Machete's and Vasco's heads was uncanny their mannerisms and thought processes are spot on #some of the events aren't canon but they might as well be #and most of the background details and backstory tidbits are accurate believe me he's very well versed on their lore #big history nerd so the worldbuilding is intense #you get to meet the dog pope #there's saint sebastian #roommate hijinks #it gets kind of bleak at times though so be mindful of that #it's not all fluff and good feelings #Separation #Heinaven #RoobrickMarine #own characters #own art #artists on tumblr #CanisAlbus #Vasco #Machete #anthro #sighthound #dogs #canine #animals #if you end up reading the whole thing it would be really sweet if you left a little comment as a thanks for his hard work

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #aragorn #éowyn #word nerd #respect and disrespect by choice of pronoun #thee and thou vs you #aragorn found the absolute most passive way to say ‘not interested’

[winwin17]

Are you afraid of Scary Bilbo?

Maybe, but ...

Does it change your view of Bilbo's entire character? Does it make you decide Bilbo is evil and corrupt at heart? Does it cause you to deride Bilbo for greed and selfishness in spite of all his heroic deeds?

No?

Then why do you do that to Boromir?

When Boromir tried to take the Ring from Frodo, it was his equivalent to the "HRRAAGHH!!" Bilbo moment.

Think back to the moment when Bilbo at Rivendell asked Frodo just to see the Ring, and in one fleeting instant Frodo saw, not the Bilbo he knew, but "a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands." The flash of vision scared Frodo so bad he felt a desire to strike Bilbo. Frodo was terrified.

And then the next moment, Bilbo was himself again. The book itself describes the moment thus: "Bilbo looked quickly at Frodo 's face and passed his hand across his eyes. 'I understand now,' he said. 'Put it away! I am sorry: sorry you have come in for this burden; sorry about everything.'"

My friends, this is not that different from what happened with Boromir. He pressed Frodo to show him the Ring, and then became so intense about it that Frodo was terrified Boromir would take the Ring by force. Just like he'd been terrified of Scary Bilbo. Because, just as that was frighteningly not like the true Bilbo, this action was also not like the true Boromir.

Sadly, Frodo did not get the chance to hear Boromir's repentant apology and weeping once the moment of madness had passed. He got to hear Bilbo say, "I am sorry; sorry about everything!" But he did not get to hear Boromir say, "What have I said? What have I done?" nor his confession to Aragorn, "I tried to take the Ring from Frodo. I am sorry."

And what did Bilbo want the Ring for at that point in his life anyway? What would he do with its power? Get revenge on his petty relatives? Acquire riches and pipe-weed to last a lifetime? On the other hand, Boromir wanted the Ring as a final desperate hope to save his city, his home, his family, and his people. Being of a noble heart, he viewed the Ring as the only possible way to protect and defend others. It could be said that he was somewhat selfish and desired glory of his own through his efforts, but then again, wouldn't it be called selfishness for Bilbo to get revenge on the Sackville-Baggins, or store up wealth and riches for himself, or hoard all the pipe-weed he could want? Perhaps he would have had loftier thoughts and intentions to use it against Sauron - but then that would simply be a twin vision to Boromir's.

The point is, no one loses confidence in the character of Bilbo or his true-heartedness because of that one scary moment when he is almost overcome by lust for the Ring. And yet Boromir gets villainized for the same thing.

Say it with me, folks: "Boromir was no more of a villain in his temporary madness for the Ring than Scary Bilbo was!"

#lotr #i will stand for hero boromir #you may stick me full of arrows but i will die defending him #not with swords but with my words which are their own swords #lord of the rings #lotr fandom #boromir #lotr boromir #bilbo baggins #the hobbit #rivendell #frodo baggins #the one ring #lotr books #books and reading #book nerd #aragorn #aragorn son of arathorn #scary bilbo

[amandaherzman]

fairy ring fungi 💖🌟

This is the herbologist reward for April! If you'd like these postcards as well as three pages worth of fairy ring fungi folklore and facts, consider joining my patreon for this month - a handful of slots are free!

#fungi #mycology #mushroom #mushroom art #fairy ring #folklore #botanical art #seriously i got sooo nerdy #i wrote 1100 words on fairy rings and their folklore and sciency facts #ahhhh i love being a nerd

[mrghostrat]

Big Name Feelings - 8/16

what are they looking at? find out (with a second drawing!!) at the end of this chapter :)

As far as Aziraphale was concerned, Crowley didn’t gift him a bowtie, not really. He gifted him that smile, that smug little grin as he slid his visa across the counter and tapped the receiver without so much as glancing at the price tag. It made him shine with pride, for all the work he’d done to earn that shiny black card, and palpable satisfaction for the small opportunity to share his wealth. Azirphale wanted to kiss it off him, and had to concentrate to bury his sigh deep where neither of them would hear it. “I have one stipulation,” Crowley announced once the ties were officially theirs. “Oh good, a condition for the gift I don’t want.” Crowley continued as if he hadn’t heard, “You have to wear it now. Don’t make me carry it around all day.”

#*slaps chapter* this baby can fit exactly 12294 words in it #THE GAY NERDS ARE BEING SOOOO GAY AND NERDY IN THIS ONE YOU GUYS #good omens #gomens #bnf au #rat writes #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley

[ktskibkg0]

Those damn eyes.

#emeralds #fvcking gems #heart feels funny #whats the word for it #shitty nerd #bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #bakugou katsuki #my hero academia #my hero acedamia #ask blog #great explosion murder god dynamight #izuku midoriya

[adhd-languages]

When someone speaks a foreign language in public and I’m desperately trying not to stare like I’m sorry I’m not racist I just desperately want to hear the different vowel sounds you’re making. sorry.

#also every time I hear a language in public I wanna figure out what it is #and don’t even get me started on if it’s one I recognize #if it’s Japanese I’m like #if they say one of the few words I can understand I go insane #even if they just use particles. and I hear/recognize them. it’s so exciting for me #<-(I’m a nerd and this is what qualifies as fun for me) #but also it’s rude to stare and eavesdrop too much I’m sure #and I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable #Quinn posts #language #langblr #linguistics #language learning #languages #100 #500

[coquelicoq]

what i like especially about the pronouns in the goblin emperor is that this language doesn't just have the T-V distinction (aka informal vs. formal second-person pronouns, in this case 'thou' vs. 'you'), it also has informal and formal first-person pronouns. having BOTH of these distinctions in the same language lets you fine-tune your tone by mixing and matching. with only one axis of formality, when you use informal pronouns, are you being familiar in an intimate way, or in an insolent or dismissive way? when you use formal pronouns, are you being polite or standoffish? you can't tell just from the pronouns; there's ambiguity. but a language where you can use a formal first-person pronoun in the same sentence as an informal second-person pronoun allows you to distance yourself (via the formal first) while also being familiar (via the informal second), thereby achieving the conversational tenor known to linguists as Fuck Thee Specifically.

#just kidding i don't know what linguists call that tenor. or any tenors. i'm not totally positive what a tenor even is #but i can't let that stop me from writing a jokey post on tumblr dot com #register is a very interesting area of linguistics that i know very little about #so i'm probably revealing the depths of my vast ignorance here to all the sociolinguists who surely hang on my every word #but i've always thought of the formal/informal pronoun thing as being about two things: intimacy-distance & rudeness-politeness #and of course you can usually tell from context whether a formal pronoun is meant to indicate distance or politeness #(plus distance and politeness are related to each other (to various degrees depending on culture)) #but it seems like it would be cool to have a built-in alignment chart of sorts just for pronoun combos #instead of prep jock nerd goth...why not try intimate self-effacing polite superior? #the goblin emperor #pronouns #register #sociolinguistics #my posts #f #anyway i know i said i wasn't going to reread the goblin emperor...but guess what. lol #and i edited my tags on that earlier post but fyi the language DOES distinguish between plural and formal singular pronouns #i had said i thought it used the same pronouns for plural and formal but i just wasn't paying close enough attention #so anyway i just reread the part where maia is talking to setheris in formal first and informal second #and you can see setheris going ohhh shit. oh shit oh shit oh shit #i'm in biiiiiig trouble #you sure are dude. that's the Time to Grovel signal #it's interesting because at the very beginning of the book when i first saw the formal first used i just thought it was the royal we #because i knew the main character was supposed to be royalty #but then EVERYONE was doing it. so it's not the royal we it's just the formal we #however. this does make me realize that the way the royal we would function in a language that retains the t-v distinction #is the same way i'm describing here. it's just reserving that particular tone (i'm better than you and am displeased with you) #for royalty only. which makes sense given royalty's whole deal

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

WOTN: Requiem Infernal by Peter Fehervari

Requiem Infernal is the latest novel in the Dark Coil Series from Warhammer 40,000. Peter Fehervari writes this novel, and it is so deliciously dark that you’re best advised not to read it in the dark. Seriously. The Adepta Soroitas of the Last Candle are an isolated group, choosing to keep to their vigils over all else. Their island is remote and cannot be flown directly to, even with all the…

View On WordPress

#000 #Book #Book Review #Books #Dark Coil Series #Fiction #Gothic Horror #Horror #Horror Book #Literary #Literature #Peter Fehervari #Requiem Infernal #Review #Warhammer 40000 #Warhammer Horror #Word of the Nerd #WOTN

[perilegs]

gale when you let him talk about chess

#i was having trouble with a puzzle in the wyrm jail and someone online was like 'if u have gale in ur party he tells you what to do' #he did but also he was so cute the entire time #he's got long hair and big brown eyes. he loves cats. he's a massive nerd. he cooks. he's got a way with words. i need him so bad #also i wish i was him #but mostly i just need him #bg3 #gale

[steddielations]

Flight of Icarus lore dump part 2:

Part 1 | Character List

- Wayne has a green thumb. He reads Gardener’s Weekly magazine. It doesn’t say what he grows, but it says he buys vegetables from the store so I’m going to say that gruff old man Wayne has the prettiest petunias in the whole trailer park.

- Eddie sneaks into the Hawk with his best friend Ronnie to watch action movies and thinks Snake Plissken, Han Solo and Conan the Barbarian are cool.

- Eddie talks for hours about the intricacies of Elven politics in Tolkien.

- Eddie read comics as a kid and hid them all over the house "like a little squirrel" under the bed, behind the nightstand, under the rug. Wayne found his Uncanny X-Men in the freezer between stacks of tv dinners. Also, "Hellfire Club" comes from these X-Men comics.

- Floor time! There's a part where Eddie is literally just lying on his back on his bedroom floor counting down from a million. When Wayne comes home, Eddie army crawls on his belly to the doorway to see him.

- Eddie reads Gormenghast paperbacks, gothic fantasy novels. It mentions that Wayne saved them from the house fire along with Eddie’s guitar. It never says how/when Eddie originally got his guitar.

- Eddie says lots of cc’s original songs have D&D references. It's implied that he writes them. One is called “Fire Shroud” after a spell

- Eddie is called Freak King at school and Munson Junior or just Junior around town and he hates all of it

- Eddie talks about having anxiety a lot and it's implied he has had panic attacks in the past

- Eddie is the lead singer and guitarist of cc. He started the band with Ronnie specifically because it was required to participate in the school talent show.

- Neither Wayne or Al graduated high school. When Eddie (temporarily) drops out, Al celebrates.

- Eddie doesn't cook. He doesn't even own a spatula. The smell of cooking in their house actually shocks him and gives him a deep longing for family meals, which Al uses to manipulate him

- Eddie jokes about being into Saturday Night Fever and strikes the pose a couple times.

- Eddie knows how to hotwire and how to pick locks. Al taught him this at the age of ten. Eddie is "disgusted" with himself any time he does either of those things.

- Eddie "drives like a monster" when he's upset about something.

- Eddie smokes cigarettes occasionally. Weed is mentioned a lot in the book but it never says anything about Eddie smoking it or doing any drugs. He either doesn't smoke much or he hasn't tried anything yet in the book. Also, he’s just now meeting Rick. But It’s pretty clear after everything he went through why he would start

- There's lots of mentions of PBR and Bud Light. Though Eddie says he doesn't like to drink after his shifts at the Hideout (where he's a barback). He mostly drinks off-brand Big Buy soda in the book (he calls it "pop")

- Eddie's parents were married on March 12th, 1966. The date is inscribed on the bottle of their wedding wine. Eddie asks what kind it is and Al says they only had 'red or white' kind of money

- Al breaks out the wedding wine (to manipulate Eddie, you guessed it) it's red wine and Eddie really, really likes it

- Eddie went to War Zone with his dad for supplies for the truck heist (spike strips, coveralls, etc)

- Eddie's band played Exciter by Judas Priest at the talent show. The song was only approved because they emphasized the "priest"

- There was another (?) talent show in Winter of 1981 where Eddie's band played "Prowler" and they were kicked off stage halfway through because the song was considered Satanic, and the PTA visited all their parents for trying to convert everyone to Satanism.

- Eddie imagines hitting his dad twice. Once with a glass bottle and once with a metal wrench. (He should've- oops who said that)

- The only hug Eddie gets in the book is when his dad first comes back, Eddie knows it's the first step in his cycle of showing up, using Eddie and leaving, but Eddie still accepts the hug and feels guilty for enjoying it.

- It's implied Eddie gets close to tears a couple times in the book, but the only time they actually spring up is when his mom's favorite song (from Muddy Waters) comes on in the truck radio while Eddie is doing the heist with his dad and feeling awful about it. Eddie has several flashbacks of dancing with her to this song, it seems like his happiest memory that he always returns to.

- Whenever Eddie is doing what his dad wants (hotwiring, charming a person into their plans) he puts on what he calls his "best Al Munson smile" and he's terrified that it will eventually take over his whole face. There's a part at the end where Eddie is sitting in a jail cell and says "All I want to do is tear my face off. If a new one grows in it's place, maybe it'll make me a different person. Someone who isn't such a complete fuckup."

#eddie munson the nerd that you are #steddie writers eddie recites tolkien purposely to be annoying so write that down #these always get progressively sadder oh boy #eddie munson #flight of icarus #wayne munson #al munson #ronnie ecker #stranger things #i'm gonna do one more of all the places name dropped and then a deep dive into eddie's d word issues #mp

[iamanerd1]

I recently caught up with the latest chapters of spy x family and woah I have a thing to say

So, we can probably all agree that Yuri noticing that Loid’s arm was twitching and checking him for an injury is the closest thing we’ve had so far to this whole spies and secrets thing coming into the open, right?

Well, I wanted to wax poetic about what this scene might represent for a moment.

Twilight, as we know in these chapters, is struggling with his own ‘weakness’ (ie his actual wants as a member of the Forger family to not break up/ hurt the family unit which includes Yuri). This weakness is personified by the wound on his arm. The injury is proof that he is human, that despite Twilight’s best intentions, he is not perfect…

But the thing is, he’s only just barely covering all of this up.

The wound on his arm is the personification of the ‘weakness’ and feelings of Loid Forger, the family man, the one who truly cares about Yor and Anya. Which means that Twilight is the disguise he uses to cover up that part of himself.

I know the expression is to ‘put on a face’ but that’s literally what he’s doing here. He’s attempting to hide his true feelings, which yeah sure is a thing he does all the time, but the thing about it this time is that this ‘weakness’, his true feelings, are still showing through. They are still noticeable.

Twilight falling to his knees in front of Yor is a perfect example of this. His true feelings (feeling safe and relaxed around his wife) leaking through.

And he doesn’t dress the wound before coming home either. Which in this metaphor would be equivalent to addressing and trying to understand his ‘weakness’, but instead he ignores it. Slaps a disguise over it and leaves it to be ignored.

The cover-up Twilight puts on his wound is the same as the lies he tells himself. They are thin, and easy to break, and have to be consciously put on by Twilight.

Because now Loid Forger is the man, Twilight is the mask.

#spy x family #chapter 86 #loid forger #meta #i’m going to be using this account more so i’ll get to organizing it better but for now #nerds words

[wanderingprometheus]

Got my friend into Stormlight. Don’t regret it one bit.

#stormlight archive #eshonai #cosmere #brandon sanderson #kaladin stormblessed #discord chat #words of radiance #Finally another nerd to talk to

[akai-anna]

Hattori Heiji: *effortlessly jumps over traffic barrier*

Kudou Shinichi: *leaping over the same traffic barrier and stumbling*

#detective conan #dcmk #名探偵コナン #meitantei conan #edogawa conan #hattori heiji #anime #episode 263: the osaka double mystery #my stuff #my gifs #detco posting #today is the day for smol scene gifs #this was such a cute lil thing in the special episode #look at that lil gremlin needing a moment to find his balance #also yes i actually looked up the word for traffic barriers/guardrails/crash barriers for this what about it? #anyways love these nerds LOOK AT THEM GO #also in case lizzy sees this: this is the same episode where heiji picks up shinichi like a kitten (PER SHINICHI'S SILENT REQUEST!) #so shinichi can look at STUFF. just saying #now letting out this baby into the wild too. LOOK!! I CAN ACTUALLY MAKE GIFS NOW!!! the incredible POWER I HAVE!!!

[coolnonsenseworld]

(to know more about the story and the calendar on pre-order check out previous posts! LESS THAN 2 WEEKS LEFT)

In September they don't feel like going anywhere or doing any bucket lists - no getting out of the comfort zone this time around. All they need is a little comfort of one another - they take breaks for a movie night when they wouldn't, buy extra cakes they haven't tried previously, go on date-walks and take bubble baths with new scents.

Enjoying simple things in life and appreciating your own presence here feels like it should be a basic part of any bucket list.

How is your September going? Do you have any plans or achievements this month?

#klance #voltron #voltron legendary defender #ive got 32 k words for HEX and i reached the first temple 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔 #i swear this fics is making me feel like i am actually a nerd #people will hate me when they discover one of the chapters is reading a book #but you gotta know the statistics of performing sepulchral transplantology just for Pidge #dont let me start talking about hex i never shut up no cap #have an awesome day and tell me what's your happy thiny in September is or going to be!!!