Beginner's Guide: Terminology
So based on a recent poll, a lot of you are new to learning about deer. I'm glad you're here! To make things a little easier, I'm making a couple posts compiling some information you'll come across on this blog -- the first being some relevant terms. As always, I encourage you to do your own research, and don't take my word as gospel (I'm still just a hobbyist); this is just to help everyone get a feel for things, or maybe offer a refresher for those that have studied these animals for a while.
Basics
Taxonomy - How organisms are classified in relation to each other. There are other applications for this word, but this is the main usage for this blog.
Ruminant - Herbivorous two-toed ungulate that ferments its food in a specialized, four-chambered gut, regurgitating partially-digested food (cud) to chew again. This group includes cattle, sheep, deer, antelope, giraffes, etc.
Cervidae/cervid - True deer! Any animal classified in this family is a deer, including moose, muntjacs, pudu, and more. They're related to Bovidae/bovids, such as cattle, antelope, sheep, and goats. Musk deer and mouse deer/chevrotains, however, are in their own families -- Moschidae and Tragulidae. They are not deer, but are distantly related.
Genus - Classification below family, indicating those within are closely related.
Antler - Present in males of every deer species except water deer (Hydropotes inermis). Female reindeer/caribou (Rangifer tarandus) also carry them. They're unique to deer, made entirely of bone and shed annually; horns, which are found in most other ruminants, are permanent and mostly comprised of keratin, which covers a bony core.
Buck, stag, bull - Male. Most small to medium species use "buck," though some medium and most large species use "stag." "Bull" is mostly reserved for moose (Alces alces), elk (Cervus canadensis), and reindeer/caribou, and is more common in North America.
Doe, hind, cow - Female. Same conventions as above.
Fawn, calf - Baby. Fawns belong small to medium sized species, while calves belong to larger species.
Spike - Young male (typically a yearling) whose antlers haven't branched. Only relevant for species with branching antlers.
Button buck - A buck less than a year old that's just started growing his antlers.
Green or blue lasers, that are 300mw or higher in power, will permanently fry the cmos sensor.
......Just in case anyone was wondering.
Saw some tags I thought were relevant.
[Image description: the first image is an informative illustration depicting three flock cameras mounted on a pole. The cameras have several green laser beams pointing into their lenses. The text says "You should never use laser pointers on flock cams" in all caps.
The second image is a screenshot of tags that say "remember that their AI facial recognition software is now much more advanced and can read body language as well, they're developing more enhanced detection that can see what your body looks like even with baggy/bulky clothes, and regular medical masks are usually not enough to prevent the system from recognizing you, also don't fucking take your phone with you or have it Anywhere Near You if you do this, don't bring your car. ESPECIALLY don't bring your car if you have a newer model. the ideal situation is to approach it from a direction that has zero flock cameras in a very wide radius, so you can leave your car somewhere and they won't be able to see that you drove up to it, they are prosecuting people for fucking with flock cameras. take this seriously. be smart. be safe. oh oh final note. they're also using gait detection algorithms so ur gonna wanna like. change the way you walk somehow if u walk up to it, I think I remember hearing that it's good enough that walking in typical heels won't work so you should get creative, we live in a panopticon torture labyrinth and I hate it here. be safe." End ID.]
thinking about how ursula k leguin said "what goes too long unchanged destroys itself. The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives" and how everyday i wake up slightly different and i can feel myself shed the skin of who i used to be slowly, slowly, until i look back and can scarcely recognise who i was... but also she is still a part of me, part of the leaf litter and the humus, supporting me as i send new roots down and new leaves stretching up to the sunlight
was at a bar and a 50+ year old drunk white woman complimented me and my friend's outfits, told us there was a campsite up in northern maryland where a lot of gay bears go to have sex in the woods. we asked her how she knew about this and she very aggressively said "because i'm a FAG HAG!!! but i'm not allowed to say that anymore I GUESS!!!"
One of the funniest things about Mormonism is that I’m sure Joseph Smith never believed any of the bullshit he said. There are some religions and cults where you have faith the original prophet actually thought they were talking to angels or believed the set of principles they laid out for their followers were for the greater good. Joseph Smith was a dumbass but like PT Barnum he realized a sucker was born every day and he was one step above the average 1830s sucker. He went from making people pay him to look at a rock in a top hat and ‘locate buried treasure’ to receiving lost bits of scripture, through the rock and top hat method. His wife caught him cheating and he said an angel visited him and told him men should be allowed multiple wives and not obeying that would send her to hell. I’m fairly convinced that dude was an atheist. He was on that hustler grindset. Brigham Young might have actually believed some of the shit he said but I don’t think Joseph Smith genuinely had faith in Mormonism or gave a fuck about humanity in the slightest.
I mean, success is a relative term. He was shot to death by an angry mob at the age of 38 while running for US president, after inciting a riot by ordering a printing press to be destroyed because the ex-Mormon newspaper was saying true things about him. He was arrested for starting the riot, freed, tried to declare martial law and call out his own personal militia before fleeing. It was only when he was apprehended and brought back to Carthage that the people of Illinois resorted to mob justice. Truly Trump-esque behavior but that guy has gotten away with it for 79 years.
Also, I think it’s so funny that his Wikipedia lists him as the first U.S. presidential candidate to be assassinated kind of implying he was assassinated for presidential politic reasons and not because he was a career criminal who had been terrorizing Illinois for 5 years straight.
that one animation trend that’s happening rn but kinda angsty because im like that
whats cool about being trans is my parents are totally right. i did kill their beautiful son. im the thing that animates his corpse in an ever more convincing parody of a happy girl. i devoured him from the inside out and now there is nothing left of him and he is dead dead dead and there is only me, with my hollow eyes and dark eyeliner and long hair, and my big smile. my limp, effeminate gestures belie the marionetting of the boy they loved. my fagginess is his death. already his body becomes a fitter home for my parasitism in full; the tits, the hips, the thighs. sorry about your kid. thanks for the biomass <3
today I found out my mother doesn’t know what dandelions are and now I’m wondering what other strange secrets she’s been quietly harboring
Where do you live that you don’t have dandelions?
we have dandelions EVERYWHERE, they are basically our State Weed, it is absolutely impossible that my mom has never interacted with a dandelion before, this requires further investigation
So after extensive interrogation I have an update:
- my mom is in fact aware that dandelions exist. she temporarily forgot the name and there was some miscommunication.
- the truth is actually weirder
- she’s aware dandelions look like this
she is familiar with this flower. she knows the name of this flower. she declines to believe, however, that these are also dandelions
she does not believe these are the same plant. I tried to explain, and she thought I was either misinformed or lying. so I asked her what exactly did she think the yellow ones were called?
she answered, with complete confidence: Daffodils.
gosh I enjoy this website
For comparison, this is a daffodil
See, folks in the southern US will tell you up and down those are buttercups, actually.
i don’t think so? i’m southern and buttercups are what we call these things (much tinier)
Wait I thought those bigger cup ones were Easter Lillies???
This is an Easter Lily. It is an actual lily and therefore deadly to cats.
They’re marigolds and I know a bitch when I see one!
This is a marigold:
….we need to start taking the phrase “go touch grass” more literally. go outside and examine a flower i beg u
You’re all wrong. All these pictures contain flowers
When I was a kid watching tv was idiot coded and nerds read books, but now scrolling shortform videos is considered braindead behavior and watching tv means you're some kinda intellectual. You might think this shifting assessment of media's consumers might make readers into absolute super geniuses, but no. Only perverts read now.
The zipper merge requires a level of cooperation and goodwill that the citizens of this great country have never once displayed
i think we should all start using arabic words and phrases more often because its a beautiful language and also theres not really. english equivalents that have the same vibes
theres also the comedy potential of it. you guys dont know the joy of having your muslim friend text you "hopefully the racists in our city will all get sick and cant go to the protest" and you, as a pasty white guy, responding with "inshallah they get covid"
its a one hit KO every time. its fucking hilarious. theres no english word that has the same effect.
he also once texted me that he got over a mysterious illness he came down with (i think? i cant remember the exact context) and i responded with "subhanallah he is cured"
again, one hit KO. he lost his shit.
what im saying is we gotta normalise arabic. its just a language like any other, and it has some great words. its just like saying "thank god" or whatever, but theres so much variety and nuance. its beautiful
what do inshallah and subhanallah mean so I could potentially use em in the correct situations? And potential words I could use?
OK LETS DO THIS
disclaimer i am not arab or muslim and i dont speak arabic but @frogofalltime has explained these words to me and says im using them correctly lmao
inshallah - "if god wills it". like an "i hope this happens" kind of thing. remember the finding nemo poster "inshallah they find him" meme if that helps. used in future tense.
mashallah - "god has willed it", used when something good happened. can be used to denote awe about an event or person. used in past tense.
alhamdulillah - essentially "thank god" or "praise be to god". like mashallah and inshallah but stronger, and can be used in any tense (i think). he will be baked soon alhamdullilah
subhanallah - "glory be to god". like alhamdullilah but stronger. used for when something almost miraculous happens!
those are all the ones i remember off the top of my head im sure binya can add more (and also confirm whether ive got my translations right)
mashaallah robin my faithful student you translated and explained all of this so well :0
there's also astaghfirullah which means "i seek forgiveness in god" which you use when you or someone else does something haram (forbidden / sinful / wrong). tbh we use it in a lot of jokey contexts like if someone swears in a conversation you can call them out like "astaghfirullah haram !"
and bismillah which means "in the name of god" which you can use before doing something, we often use it before doing a difficult thing like when you are struggling to open a bottle or something lmao. or you can say it when someone falls or drops something or gets injured. idk
appalachians need this they will be unstoppable
There’s definitely something to doing a mix-and-match with semantically-similar rural-American colloquialisms. I think “Inshallah and the creek don’t rise” has a nice ring to it.
Lord that rolls off the tongue so good 😭
ˡᶦˢᴛᴇɴ ʸᵒᵘ ᴄʀᴜˢᵗᵃᴄᴇᴏᴜs cheapskate ˢᵠᵘᶦᵈᴡᴀʀᴅ’s ᵇᵉᵉⁿ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ᶦⁿ my house ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʜɪʀᴇ ʜᶦᵐ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᴀʟʟ ʙᴇᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᵒᶠ ᴀ ˢᵗᵘᴘɪᴅ
Why did Mr Krabs shit out a wheel at the end
have you not seen the episode?
Oh right I forgot about the hit spongebob episode “Mr Krabs Shits Wheels”
world heritage post
Every photo of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan together looks like a a respectable mafia boss father named Giovanni and his weird son who bites sometimes
Yeahhhh, you're right
I do still feel brain blasted by the 'Frodo laid a geas on Gollum' post years later... and I remain mystified by how I didn't see it before. Like this is not a hidden aspect of the story, it is often foreshadowed explicitely in text and happens without obfuscation or metaphor, I swear LotR it one of the most loved yet least properly read books, people read it with a veneer between them and the text of what they believe is happening and what it all should mean, allowing them to miss or rewrite whole character traits, metalogics and the true literal climax of the story in their heads. It UGH it !!! makes the story so much more fucking fascinating to me ONCE aGaIN! John... blink twice if you want to get excommunicated I PROMISE!!! your mummy won't be mad at you
To paraphrase the post and lay it out chronologically, since the post itself is long and the additions jump about a bit;
Frodo when speaking with Galadriel has this interaction;
‘I would ask one thing before we go,’ said Frodo, ‘a thing which I often meant to ask Gandalf in Rivendell. I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?’ ‘You have not tried,’ [Galadriel] said. ‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others.’
Frodo here is given the information he needs to figure out how to wield the ring.
Very soon after this Boromir, a man who had been nothing but kind and enduring and who had saved Frodo's life once already, is ensnared by the ring and attacks him. To me, this marks the moment Frodo realises he will likely come to the same end, no one has the will to resist the ring.
Soon after that, Gollum joins him and Frodo acquires the means to essentially practice dominating someone's will. By the time this becomes relevant again it is clear that Frodo knows a great deal more about his charge than he used too and has already made his plan. In sight of the Black Gate, he tells Gollum this;
[In reference to the danger Gollum is in] You swore a promise by what you call the Precious. Remember that! It will hold you to it; but it will seek a way to twist it to your own undoing. Already you are being twisted. You revealed yourself to me just now, foolishly. Give it back to Smeagol you said. Do not say that again! Do not let that thought grow in you! You will never get it back. But the desire of it may betray you to a bitter end. You will never get it back. In the last need, Smeagol, I should put on the Precious; and the Precious mastered you long ago. If I, wearing it, were to command you, you would obey, even if it were to leap from a precipice or to cast yourself into the fire. And such would be my command. So have a care, Smeagol!’
He quite literally describes what happens in the final confrontation, like some books foreshadow their endings and some of them just have the main character tell you what will happen. It makes me so insane.
In my mind this is also Frodo trying to soothe his own conscience here. His words will not reach Gollum deeply enough, Gollum will always choose the ring in the end, but Frodo is still using that compulsion as a means to succeed in his divine martyr's quest, putting the burden on Gollum's body whilst he takes it upon his soul.
Of course, this was all preordained by divine decree, there is no other way for this story to end, which I feel like Frodo is more consciously aware of than many other characters, casting his growing despair and melancholy in a new light. Then, well, it all happens just as foretold;
‘Down, down!’ [Frodo] gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. ‘Down, you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot slay me or betray me now.’ Then suddenly, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. ‘Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.’ Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.
The curse is set, Gollum attacks Frodo within the crucible of the volcano, biting the ring off of his finger and thereby sealing his own fate. His celebration at being reunited with his precious sees him slip and tumble into the chasm below.
So, Frodo takes the power of the ring, the very thing that has been drilled into the reader as The Final Failure, an action from which no one can recover, sure to spell the end of the world as every one of the so called 'Wise' will tell it, yet he saved the world in doing so. His soul is sickened for it though, leaving him unable to live in the world as it is any longer, which is the price he pays to do this great heroic deed, the deed he was divinely ordained to do. It makes me sick I tell you, sick!!