Katherine Frances's Blog, page 287
November 10, 2015
degasdad:
do you guys have a story in your head and when you’re bored you just add more to it and...
do you guys have a story in your head and when you’re bored you just add more to it and continue from where you left off
"Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It’s all giving you away...."
- Chuck Palahniuk
(via psych-facts)
writeworld:
Writer’s Block
A picture says a thousand words....
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
mametowncorrespondent:
ceebee-eebee:
xshiromorix:
bleedingsilverbird:
“Let’s face it - English...
“Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.”
— (via be-killed)
But, but, but!
But, no, because there are reasons for all of those seemingly weird English bits.
Like “eggplant” is called “eggplant” because the white-skinned variety (to which the name originally applied) looks very egg-like.
The “hamburger” is named after the city of Hamburg.
The name “pineapple” originally (in Middle English) applied to pine cones (ie. the fruit of pines - the word “apple” at the time often being used more generically than it is now), and because the tropical pineapple bears a strong resemblance to pine cones, the name transferred.
The “English” muffin was not invented in England, no, but it was invented by an Englishman, Samuel Bath Thomas, in New York in 1894. The name differentiates the “English-style” savoury muffin from “American” muffins which are commonly sweet.
“French fries” are not named for their country of origin (also the United States), but for their preparation. They are French-cut fried potatoes - ie. French fries.
“Sweetmeats” originally referred to candied fruits or nuts, and given that we still use the term “nutmeat” to describe the edible part of a nut and “flesh” to describe the edible part of a fruit, that makes sense.
“Sweetbread” has nothing whatsoever to do with bread, but comes from the Middle English “brede”, meaning “roasted meat”. “Sweet” refers not to being sugary, but to being rich in flavour.
Similarly, “quicksand” means not “fast sand”, but “living sand” (from the Old English “cwicu” - “alive”).
The term boxing “ring” is a holdover from the time when the “ring” would have been just that - a circle marked on the ground. The first square boxing ring did not appear until 1838. In the rules of the sport itself, there is also a ring - real or imagined - drawn within the now square arena in which the boxers meet at the beginning of each round.
The etymology of “guinea pig” is disputed, but one suggestion has been that the sounds the animals makes are similar to the grunting of a pig. Also, as with the “apple” that caused confusion in “pineapple”, “Guinea” used to be the catch-all name for any unspecified far away place. Another suggestion is that the animal was named after the sailors - the “Guinea-men” - who first brought it to England from its native South America.
As for the discrepancies between verb and noun forms, between plurals, and conjugations, these are always the result of differing word derivation.
Writers write because the meaning of the word “writer” is “one who writes”, but fingers never fing because “finger” is not a noun derived from a verb. Hammers don’t ham because the noun “hammer”, derived from the Old Norse “hamarr”, meaning “stone” and/or “tool with a stone head”, is how we derive the verb “to hammer” - ie. to use such a tool. But grocers, in a certain sense, DO “groce”, given that the word “grocer” means “one who buys and sells in gross” (from the Latin “grossarius”, meaning “wholesaler”).
“Tooth” and “teeth” is the legacy of the Old English “toð” and “teð”, whereas “booth” comes from the Old Danish “boþ”. “Goose” and “geese”, from the Old English “gōs” and “gēs”, follow the same pattern, but “moose” is an Algonquian word (Abenaki: “moz”, Ojibwe: “mooz”, Delaware: “mo:s”). “Index” is a Latin loanword, and forms its plural quite predictably by the Latin model (ex: matrix -> matrices, vertex -> vertices, helix -> helices).
One can “make amends” - which is to say, to amend what needs amending - and, case by case, can “amend” or “make an amendment”. No conflict there.
“Odds and ends” is not word, but a phrase. It is, necessarily, by its very meaning, plural, given that it refers to a collection of miscellany. A single object can’t be described in the same terms as a group.
“Teach” and “taught” go back to Old English “tæcan” and “tæhte”, but “preach” comes from Latin “predician” (“præ” + “dicare” - “to proclaim”).
“Vegetarian” comes of “vegetable” and “agrarian” - put into common use in 1847 by the Vegetarian Society in Britain.
“Humanitarian”, on the other hand, is a portmanteau of “humanity” and “Unitarian”, coined in 1794 to described a Christian philosophical position - “One who affirms the humanity of Christ but denies his pre-existence and divinity”. It didn’t take on its current meaning of “ethical benevolence” until 1838. The meaning of “philanthropist” or “one who advocates or practices human action to solve social problems” didn’t come into use until 1842.
We recite a play because the word comes from the Latin “recitare” - “to read aloud, to repeat from memory”. “Recital” is “the act of reciting”. Even this usage makes sense if you consider that the Latin “cite” comes from the Greek “cieo” - “to move, to stir, to rouse , to excite, to call upon, to summon”. Music “rouses” an emotional response. One plays at a recital for an audience one has “called upon” to listen.
The verb “to ship” is obviously a holdover from when the primary means of moving goods was by ship, but “cargo” comes from the Spanish “cargar”, meaning “to load, to burden, to impose taxes”, via the Latin “carricare” - “to load on a cart”.
“Run” (moving fast) and “run” (flowing) are homonyms with different roots in Old English: “ærnan” - “to ride, to reach, to run to, to gain by running”, and “rinnan” - “to flow, to run together”. Noses flow in the second sense, while feet run in the first. Simillarly, “to smell” has both the meaning “to emit” or “to perceive” odor. Feet, naturally, may do the former, but not the latter.
“Fat chance” is an intentionally sarcastic expression of the sentiment “slim chance” in the same way that “Yeah, right” expresses doubt - by saying the opposite.
“Wise guy” vs. “wise man” is a result of two different uses of the word “wise”. Originally, from Old English “wis”, it meant “to know, to see”. It is closely related to Old English “wit” - “knowledge, understanding, intelligence, mind”. From German, we get “Witz”, meaning “joke, witticism”. So, a wise man knows, sees, and understands. A wise guy cracks jokes.
The seemingly contradictory “burn up” and “burn down” aren’t really contradictory at all, but relative. A thing which burns up is consumed by fire. A house burns down because, as it burns, it collapses.
“Fill in” and “fill out” are phrasal verbs with a difference of meaning so slight as to be largely interchangeable, but there is a difference of meaning. To use the example in the post, you fill OUT a form by filling it IN, not the other way around. That is because “fill in” means “to supply what is missing” - in the example, that would be information, but by the same token, one can “fill in” an outline to make a solid shape, and one can “fill in” for a missing person by taking his/her place. “Fill out”, on the other hand, means “to complete by supplying what is missing”, so that form we mentioned will not be filled OUT until we fill IN all the missing information.
An alarm may “go off” and it may be turned on (ie. armed), but it does not “go on”. That is because the verb “to go off” means “to become active suddenly, to trigger” (which is why bombs and guns also go off, but do not go on).
I have never been so turned on in my entire life.
Are you Susie Dent from Dictionary Corner?
November 9, 2015
Kim Shimmers and the Diviner’s Curse
A Harry Potter Fanfic by me (and sequel to Kim Shimmers and the Screech Owl)
(Art not mine, couldn’t find credits. Let me know if you know them!)
This Harry Potter fanfic will be posted, if all goes well, every weekend.
Chapter 6
Odd but Lovely
The end of October was nearing, which meant so was the Triwizard Tournament. With the twin’s letter sent and nothing they could do for their business but wait, all their attention was turned to the age limitation, and how to get past it.
“It’s going to have to be a bloody good potion or spell, whatever you do, if you’re going to fool Dumbledore,” Kim said to them both as they sat in a circle outside.
“Look at you, sayin’ English things like bloody,” Fred said, giving her shoulder a nudge. Kim blushed remembering what her mother had said about her sounding English. She hadn’t done it on purpose, it’d just slipped out. She fiddled with some grass as Strix fluttered about and landed on the end of Kim’s shoe.
“Since when were you going along with all this, anyway?” George asked.
“I don’t care what you guys try to do, as long as you promise me one thing,” she said, warningly, looking between them. Strix hopped and flapped her small wings, landing on George’s leg beside Kim’s foot. George looked down at the small bird and gave her stomach a little pet with his knuckle.
“What’s that?” Fred asked.
“You two can try all you will to get into the tournament, and I’ll even help you, as long as you promise not to drag your brother and Harry into it.”
“Why not?” George asked, more curious and accusatory.
“They’re not any more ready for it than I am. Harry’s a good wizard, and maybe he could handle it… maybe, but it’s just not fair to go up against other wizards that have been practicing magic for twice as long.”
“Fine, have it your way,” Fred agreed with a shrug.
“We probably weren’t going to share the glory with our brother anyway,” George joked. Srix hopped and flapped again, this time landing on Fred’s leg, facing away from him to look up at Kim. He leaned back a bit, as if to distance himself from his own leg and the bird. Strix’s head slowly turned, and then continued turning until it was completely backwards and pointed up at Fred. His look of mild concern grew more uncomfortable.
“Kim, get this bird off me,” he said, not looking away from Strix. “It’s lookin at me like I’m lunch.”
Kim chuckled at the ridiculous idea, since Strix was only half a foot tall, and Fred had to be over six feet tall by now.
“Hey guys,” came Harry’s voice through Kim’s laughter. She looked up and saw him standing behind George. She almost said ‘speak of the devil’ but she wasn’t sure they would understand it. Was that an American colloquialism?
Kim didn’t really have the chance to say anything, though, because just then Strix’s head snapped forward from her staring contest with Fred and swiveled toward Harry. She leapt from Fred’s knee, making him wince with pain from her claws.
“Oh, not again,” Kim muttered, scrambling to get to her feet. By now this was practically a boring routine, and were it not for the face that she felt terrible for Strix’s irregular attacks on Harry, she’d probably just allow them to happen.
Harry made a sound of vague frustration, and then forfeit. “Just have at it already!” he groaned, offering out his hand. Strix landed on it and took a forceful nip that made Harry wince. The bird then immediately dove off his hand and swooped back to land on Kim’s shoulder. Kim just sighed and let her arms hit her legs.
“I’m sorry Harry,” she said halfheartedly. She didn’t know at what point the apology became insult to injury.
“’S okay,” he said, but he sounded a bit annoyed, looking at the drop of blood sliding down the back of his hand before wiping it off on his trousers. “Wish I knew what I did to make her hate me.”
“I do to,” Kim said with an effortful laugh. “But to be honest, she did it the first time she met you, remember? So who knows… She’s just a pain sometimes. You’re not the only one though.”
“Really?” he asked. She wasn’t surprised that this was news to Harry. Until this summer when she bit Mrs. Baker, Kim had never had Strix try to bight anyone but him.
“She did it to one other person this summer.”
“Should really get a replacement for that one,” Fred said as he stood, to witch Kim gave a small gasp and looked at him, shocked. She moved her hands to cover Strix’s ears theatrically.
November 8, 2015
zetallis:
One of three images I did for Nan Desu Kan 2015 for...
One of three images I did for Nan Desu Kan 2015 for their Mythical Mascots theme! This was used for Guest badges and books.
*~ Prints Available ~*
"All the hardest, coldest people you meet were once as soft as water. And that’s the tragedy of..."
- Pleasefindthis, I Wrote This For You (via booksqouted)
"Sometimes I think I found you too early.
You’re the one I’d like to spoil grand kids with.
I was..."
You’re the one I’d like to spoil grand kids with.
I was hoping to waste a few more nights with a few more rotten apples before you.”
- Gabriel Anthony (via wnq-writers)
"I kissed her and wished for your lips. What manner of monster am I? Seeking you in another when you..."
- toxic-wastoid (via wnq-writers)
