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ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/pelagiidae

ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/pelagiidae

making a new post bc the last one was getting long with reblogs etc. my cat was diagnosed with cancer in feb of this year, and he is doing a lot better! but we are still paying off a lot of debt from his initial biopsy/ongoing treatment, something that is complicated by the fact that i was laid off at the end of august and am still unemployed. this is all on top of our own bills, so it's really been a struggle. anything helps, thank you so much!

I’m raising funds to support families in Gaza who are facing unimaginable hardship. Many have lost their homes, their belongings, and their access to basic necessities like food, clean clothing, and hygiene products. With the help of local volunteers on the ground, we’re working to provide urgent aid: food parcels, clothes for children and families, and sanitary pads for women and girls. Every donation will go directly toward delivering these essentials, offering some relief and dignity in this time of deep suffering. I started this fundraiser because I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Together, with compassion and care, we can let families in Gaza know they are not alone and that people around the world are standing with them in humanity and hope.

I’m writing this with a heart full of pain and hope.

My name is Nasr, a young man from Gaza, and I’m sharing our story not because I want to—but because I have to.

💔 The war took everything from us.

In just moments, my entire world collapsed.

My mother and sister were killed in an airstrike.

My father is seriously ill and unable to work or provide for us.

Now I am the one responsible for my younger siblings—little children who have seen more horror than any child should.

We used to live a simple life.

We weren’t rich, but we had love and hope.

Now, we sleep under the open sky, surrounded by fear and uncertainty.

Every night, I wonder how I’ll feed them tomorrow.

Every morning, I’m just thankful we’re still alive.

This is not just my story. This is our fight to survive.

We are now struggling to afford even the basics:

A home, food, medicine, and safety.

Right now, we need your kindness more than ever.

Even $10 💵 can help us:

Buy food for the children 🍞

Get essential medicine for my father 💊

Buy them clothes or warm blankets 🧥

Give them a small sense of safety

If you can’t donate, you can still help.

🔁 Re-share this post. Spread our story.

You never know who might see it and feel moved to help.

We are not just numbers. We are human. We are survivors. And we’re asking you… please don’t look away.

But "Joan" is still weird, because it's like that for no clear reason -- the original masculine/feminine pair here is like Johannes/Johanna, which explains nothing! It ends up in German as Johann and Johanna, and stress changes can induce vowel changes, but you'd expect that to work the other way round, with the unstressed O becoming shorter, so it seems to just be that "John" and "Joan" appeared at different times and the need to distinguish them kept the latter from drifting as far as the former. You can see the same general thing happening with "Steve" and "Steph", with the opposite gender/vowel length relationship.

So this isn't very systematic, obviously, and it hardly ever happens. But isn't it tempting to imagine us adopting a convention of gendering names by ablaut?

Bill (m.) -> Beele (f.)

Jeff (m.) -> Jafe (f.)

Bob (m.) -> Bobe (f.)

Dan (m.) -> Dane (f.)

Mike (m.) -> Make (f.)

Greg (m.) -> Graygue (f.)

Keith (m.) -> Kayth (f.)

Scott (m.) -> Scote (f.)

James (m.) -> Jymes (f.)

Pronouns: he/her/he/her

Likes: Squeaking