Reblogged iknowofthestarsandsea
tumblr users yearn for the much-maligned genre of "iowa writers workshop divorce litfic"
Reblogged tobermoriansass
“Down with the dark forces of colonialism!”, Belgrade, Serbia, 1961. Photographed by Tomislav Peternek
After the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, demonstrations were held in Serbia as a sign of protest, which turned into riots. As many as 150,000 demonstrators gathered on the streets of Belgrade and 25,000 in Subotica.
Demonstrators carried pictures of Lumumba and signs saying “Death to colonialism” and “Freedom for subjugated nations”. A group of protesters broke away and attacked the Belgian embassy, which they demolished and hung Lumumba’s picture on with the inscription: “Glory to the fighter for the freedom and peace of African people”, and set fire to all the embassy’s vehicles.
Reblogged
me trying to explain how chinese names work for non-chinese writers: look its very simple. you must NEVER EVER EVER refer to anyone by their last name OR first name ALONE. this is a cardinal sin and will have you laughed out of the rednote comment section. The sequence is SURNAME FIRST NAME, and it is SACROSANCT. unless you're writing dialogue from the 21st century, then most people can refer to your character by their first name in conversation. but only if it's a two-character name. if the name is one character long, the surname HAS to be added, otherwise it sounds Weird. also this only works for dialogue, the narration must ALWAYS use the full name. that is, unless, mayhaps, you're writing about the classical-to-medival period, then historians will sometimes refer to people by their single-character given name. or the person in question will use their single-character name in the third person during a conversation. they will just throw that in when vibes are correct. also, in premodern china, its very common for women to be named shit like "Big [surname of father] or Little [surname of father]" based on birth order and this is the rare instance where the name goes before the surname. look its very self-explanatory, when in doubt you just need to go with your gut. now tune in tomorrow where i explain how courtesy names work--
#wait im chinese and idk this#maybe I need to read more c media#like irl (in sg) its just given name usually#never really really learnt abt courtesy names etc beyond a brief lesson#this is useful advice tho!!
@shrimpsicality dont worry man the courtesy name mainly applies to characters from Ye Olde Times. it started going out of fashion during the latter half of the 20th century, and is almost never used in the 21st century. so good news! you won't really need it unless you're preparing to get waist deep in the historical rpf/fantasy genres.
i, for one, think we should bring back the courtesy name. social interactions simply are not challenging enough, we need to add an extra spot quiz for every person we meet to keep it funky and fresh. the people of tumblr say they are sick of the Pronoun Circle. well, get ready for the Proper Noun Circle. I will be the one to reach across the aisle and come up with a decision that makes everyone equally aggravated. "here is the Backup Name I go by in public, and here is my Real Name. NEVER call me by this. EVER. not even if you're the fucking emperor. unless ☝️ you're older than me." i want the ability to revoke my name privileges. there are too many people in my life that i simply do not want to be Known by. people at work. hiring reps from networking events. everyone from highschool. people who ask to connect on linkedin. those fucking spam emails for services that i have no recollection of subscribing to, but inexplicably have my full name, blood type, zodiac sign and the last three digits of my social security number.*
A Chinese history text: "Big Honcho and Other Big Honcho had a severe falling out after the former referred to the latter in public by his name. This was an offense that Other Big Honcho would never forgive and which led to the fracturing of the Horse Alliance"
Me prior to getting into cdrama fandoms: What does this mean? It's his name? 🤨 Why would he get offended by being called by his name, what else would he call him??
Me after getting into cdrama fandoms: Ooooff big faux pas 😬 honestly Big Honcho was lucky that Other Big Honcho didn't challenge him a duel on the spot. RIP Horse Alliance they're never coming back from that one 😔
Get ready for the other names past that. There’s also the names you are given after you become a well known figure in society, usually titles given by others based on the location you are from or where something significant happened to you. For instance, famous Song Dynasty poet Su 苏 birth name Shi 轼, courtesy name Zizhan 子瞻, alternative title dongpo jushi 东坡居士 which means something like the one who lives on the east slope. So you may see him referred to as Su Shi 苏轼, Su Zizhan 苏子瞻, Su Dongpo 苏东坡, etc. I think primarily in the tang dynasty people might also be referred to as surname + number denoting their birth order in that generation of their family (Gao Shi 高适 being Gao 13 高十三 for instance). There’s so many names you can choose from depending on what type of message you are trying to send.
In historical settings it’s crucial to keep in mind in a conversation 1) relative status of speakers 2) context of the conversation when determining how someone is referred to and what message they are sending by choosing that particular term of address (self address also sends a message as to how the speaker perceives themselves relative to the addressee).
Things that can affect what name to use for someone (let’s use famous early Ming Dynasty statesman Yu Qian 于谦 as an example):
Also op I would argue that the “names” big surname and little surname e.g. three kingdoms 大乔小乔 aren’t names, it’s simply that women’s birth names 闺名 were considered very private and so didn’t make it into historical records the vast majority of the time. It’s not that that’s their name, it’s that we don’t know their names, especially for women whose main role in history was simply who they married and who their children were. For this type of woman, and those who were part of the royal family, there would be no formal occasion where history was being recorded during which their birth names would be used except perhaps an emperor speaking to his daughter (we know princess birth names for later dynasties for instance, but also this varies by time period too). Certainly misogyny played a role in this, although in the history rpf fandom some people have spun it this way: we don’t know 太平公主 taiping princess’s name but we can imagine her beloved 上官婉儿 shangguan wan’er (for those unaware this is a lesbian ship) definitely would know her name (not very taboo for women to know each others names and use it) and call her by it.
Some women did have courtesy names too though and even titles depending on their roles in society. For instance, famous Song dynasty poet Li Qingzhao 李清照 courtesy name 易安 Yi’an, or late Ming general and national hero Qin Liangyu 秦良玉 courtesy name Zhensu贞素, who was given the military title (I forget if this one is translated to baron or duke or whatever English equivalent) 忠贞侯 zhong zhen hou, the only woman to ever receive this type of military title. The title means something like loyal and righteous/pure + hou rank.
Reblogged petrarchesco
Emperor Qianlong, Replanted Wutong Studio, 1744 x
Reblogged hyperions-fate
Reblogged achillessulks
“Time does not bring relief; you all have lied” - Edna St. Vincent Millay
(transcript under the cut)
Reblogged nimmieamee
1991
Source: flic.kr
I'm gonna be honest 'cowboys were a sort of itinerant warrior class common in meiji-era texas' always annoys me a bit because it's a funny post but also No They Weren't. They were an itinerant pastoralist class common in Meiji-era Texas. And indeed the wider western region of post-Risorgimento America
Reblogged tobermoriansass
ok there’s been enough reblogs from enough people on enough various posts of mine that now i need to stand up for the bitches who don’t fuck of the world. people aren’t writing bad smut because of a lack of having sex. they are writing it because a lot of people have very poor visualization skills and forget halfway through what position characters are supposed to be in, or don’t understand what makes a word a good or bad choice, or can’t create compelling dynamics. i promise that even the sexually inactive, by virtue of also existing within the human form, would know that if you’re behind someone you can’t lick their nipple. and i promise that the frequently sexually active are equally prone to using the word “mewled.” i can pretty much guarantee that having a lot of sex and writing good sex scenes are unrelated. do you think your favorite horror authors are cutting people up in their basements. do you think your favorite food critics are michelin chefs. do you think the people blocking cool combat scenes in movies are routinely getting into cage fights. no they just understand how to utilize tone, pacing, momentum, and the tools of film direction, while keeping action tied to character. like believe it or not this is simply a skill like everything else. idk i always think that that point of view shows a lack of understanding of what makes a sex scene work. it removes the craft of it in a way i find short-sighted. i think people are confused about the reason teenagers are writing bad sex scenes. it’s not because they’re not fucking, it’s because they are young and haven’t had the years to hone their writing craft the way someone older has.
Reblogged tobermoriansass
As it turns out, there was such a thing as Culturally/Politically Topical Embroidery on Men’s Waistcoats. It started post-1783, but, for obvious reasons, gained steam post-1789. Some had a bust of Rousseau (or Voltaire, depending on which side in that particular argumentative fandom one took) embroidered on theirs, some had scenes from the theatrical comedies they liked, some had symbols of the unity of three estates of the nation against the royal despotism, such as the episcopal crook, the sword, and the spade bundled together in a sheaf.
Some just went for slogans, such as “vaincre ou mourir” (victory or death).
The decline and fall of this fashion craze came in about 1792, when the Journal de la mode et du goût reported men's waistcoats had become almost universally red ("gilets presque tous rouges"), and that the journal had virtually stopped describing men's fashion because it had ceased to change.
Which is a shame. I vote to bring politically snarky waistcoats back.
