#they're trying to steal our thing. we have no choice but to make the phrase even longer and clunkier. perfidious albion mustn't win this

[hedgehog-moss]

It’s always funny when anglo writers looking to express a specific idea casually pluck a cool ready-made monosyllabic phrase from their language’s unlimited supply and Romance language translators just curl up in the fœtal position and cry. I'm reading a text in which the American author talks about ‘Haves’ vs ‘Have-Nots’ vs ‘Have-Mosts’ —the poor French translator translated this as ‘ceux-qui-ont’ (the French language: don’t worry I’m just getting warmed up), ‘ceux-qui-n’ont-pas’ (nice we’ve doubled the syllable count but we mustn’t falter), and the beautiful ‘ceux-qui-ont-plus-que-tous-les-autres’ (300% expansion ratio let’s gooo! we did it great work everybody.) From 2 to 8 syllables—the minute I saw that bulky thing I knew it had to be Have-Mosts in the original and I was giggling. The anglo author happily proceeds to use the phrase ‘Have-Mosts’ 5 times per paragraph because why not! it’s so quick and wieldy :) we don’t actually need the word wieldy 'cause it’s just the normal state of our language <3 meanwhile you can feel the French translator’s desperation grow as she is reduced to juggling with “those” and “the latter” to avoid summoning her creature. Eventually she reaches the acceptance stage and uses ceux-qui-ont-plus-que-tous-les-autres again like, it’s my monster. I shouldn’t reject it

#language tag #and when anglo authors use a somewhat long and clunky phrase french translators are like no that's our thing? #they're trying to steal our thing. we have no choice but to make the phrase even longer and clunkier. perfidious albion mustn't win this #like how He Who Must Not Be Named went from 6 to 12 syllables in the french HP translation (RIP voice actors who had to dub it) #even though there were shorter options? but i suspect the translator picked the 12 syllable one due to #our national obsession with alexandrine metre

[a-dragons-journal]

About your post about phrasing and using kinning as a verb, altho I'm someone who's realized they'd been nonhuman and fictionkin since the early 2000s, I find myself very often using kinning as a verb when talking to friends because that's the language they know and it's been an uphill struggle to use "older lingo" (for lack of a better term) to talk with them about kin related stuff. On one hand I feel kinda bad about using kinning style language but in the other I feel like I've gotten looser in caring what terms people use as long as the communication is there. And if kinning gets adopted into our lingo so be it, imo. Its been a bit difficult for me to come to that conclusion though, and I fought it for a long time, being very stubborn about language. And then I find myself defending loose definitions and words in queer identity and think that maybe, just maybe, I'm being a little TOO stubborn about "kinning" and idk I guess i lost whatever point I was originally here to make, sorry...

Yep, which is why I wholly do not agree with the idea that someone using the wrong grammar automatically means they're not actually serious. That can and should coexist with thinking it's probably not something we should actively encourage, in my opinion. "Someone using "kin" as a verb does not automatically mean they're not actually otherkin and you shouldn't be an ass to people about it just on principle" and "people using "kin" as a verb has contributed to the trend of people badly misunderstanding what otherkin means and thinking "kinning" means relating to something, then turning aggressive on the people who actually identify as their kintypes" are not mutually exclusive statements.

And yeah, I have had that last thought as well, but like... "the lines between one identity and another aren't always clean" is not the same as "calling a hobby by an identity word isn't misinformation at all actually". Even where there actually is blur between what's play and what's actual identity, like with the relationship between drag and the transgender community, there's a history there of that connection where there isn't one with the people trying to shoehorn themselves into the word "kin." Not wanting people to call their "haha mood" characters "kins" is not pushing people out of a community they've always been a part of, it's trying to stop people who've never been part of a community from taking it over and erasing the people who originated these words entirely. 99% of the time, queer identity word looseness is more like the definition of the word "therian" (ie, whether it's hinged on whether your theriotype actually exists in our world, or if anyone who experiences animality "counts" as a therian) than like the KFF thing, in my opinion.

(And, frankly, yeah, there probably is blur and gray area between "actual" otherkinity and "kinning for fun" - which is why you may notice that I'm consistently telling people I am not the arbiter of identity and it's neither my job nor my right to decide whether they're "nonhuman enough"; if it's identity to them in any capacity, even if it's not the "typical" experience of nonhumanity, then that's all that matters to me. It's literally only the people who are explicitly saying themselves that it doesn't actually matter to them and isn't serious/genuine at all for them that I want to stop using a word that inherently means an actual identity.)

I don't know. Maybe there's hypocrisy here that I'm just not seeing yet. But at risk of pissing people off with the analogy choice, it feels frankly more like appropriation - ie, walking into a community and stealing and misusing their stuff when you're being repeatedly told to stop and that it's not for you, and then calling it "gatekeeping" when that community gets mad - than like gray-area word looseness. There's probably an argument to be made on both sides and, again, I am not the arbiter of truth nor am I perfect, this is just my opinion and my thoughts on the matter.

#and my thoughts are also not at their best right now i am riding the burnout hard currently fndhkgjsf #so like. there's that #rani talks #asked and answered #anonymous #kin for fun #community talk

[ashapollo]

I dont post a lot, but now is urgent. Okay, I am done with people right now in this day and age. People I know, laws, all of it. No. I get sexualized by just wearing the clothing I like. I get told I'm too young to make decisions with my life, I dont care. I would rather spend all my years in jail for stabbing a man following me on the sidewalk at night then ever be kept inside again. It is torture to be told for years by so many people that I'm not allowed to do things because I'll get assulted or hurt. It is torture to be told that its "just the government and itll change." Now they're trying to take all my rights away. I cant live without being a problem to these old men I dont know. And honestly, it is so fascinating that I, a nearly fifteen year old boy, can invoke such terror and anger in these people. I am a nonbinary boy with a uterus who likes feminine and, apperently, "skimpy" clothes. Deal with it. It does not mean I deserve my rights stripped, it does not mean I deserve to be sexualized by ANYONE (especially those I know), it does not mean I have no rights. And if I hear it one more time, I'll actually get in fights. Nobody owns me. Not the government, not people I know, not those who have traumatized or assulted me. Not even my parents. My parents do not own my body, do not have the right to sexualizes me, WILL not control my choices or beliefs, and do not get to decide who I am and become. The government does not control me. And it's dangerous, but if you steal our right to safe abortions, that's why we have hangers. If this world is going to make these stupid things laws, they better be prepared for a whole bunch of criminals. Theres a new phrase I've learnt, if you're not scared or pissed, you're not paying attention.

#womens rights #gay #trans #uterus #minorities #human rights #rights #roevwade #united states #usa #protest #feminist #feminism #lgbt