A Waygook Life

Top: Luigi’s model from Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Le Petit Prince (1943) is a novel by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, translated into English as The Little Prince.

🌟 1. Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

🌟 2. Quand le mystère est trop impressionnant, on n’ose pas désobéir.

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

🌟 3. La preuve que le petit prince a existé c’est qu’il était ravissant, qu’il riait, et qu’il voulait un mouton. Quand on veut un mouton, c’est la preuve qu’on existe.

The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists.

🌟 4. Mais les graines sont invisibles. Elles dorment dans le secret de la terre jusqu’à ce qu’il prenne fantaisie à l’une d’elles de se réveiller…

But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth’s darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken.

🌟 5. Il ne faut jamais écouter les fleures. Il faut les regarder et les respirer. La mienne embaumait ma planète, mais je ne savais pas m’en réjouir.

One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.

🌟 6. Tu as des cheveux couleur d’or. Alors ce sera merveilleux quand tu m’aura apprivoisé! Le blé, qui est doré, me fera souvenir de toi. Et j’aimerai le bruit du vent dans le blé…

You have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…

🌟 7. On ne connaît que les choses que l’on apprivoise, dit le renard. Les hommes n’ont plus le temps de rien connaître. Il achètent des choses toutes faites chez les marchands. Mais comme il n’existe point de marchands d’amis, les hommes n’ont plus d’amis. Si tu veux un ami, apprivoise-moi!

“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me…”

🌟 8. Le langage est source de malentendus.

Words are the source of misunderstandings.

🌟 9. Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

🌟 10. C’est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante.

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

🌟 11. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé. Tu es responsable de ta rose…

You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose…

🌟 12. - Les enfants seuls savent ce qu’ils cherchent, fit le petit prince. Ils perdent du temps pour une poupée de chiffons, et elle devient très importante, et si on la leur enlève, ils pleurent…

“Only the children know what they are looking for,” said the little prince. “They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry…”

🌟 13. Ce qui embellit le désert, dit le petit prince, c’est qu’il cache un puits quelque part…

“What makes the desert beautiful,” said the little prince, “is that somewhere it hides a well…”

🌟 14. Dessine-moi un mouton!

Draw me a sheep!

🌟 15. Quand on a terminé sa toilette du matin, il faut faire soigneusement la toilette de la planète.

When you’ve finished getting yourself ready in the morning, you must go get the planet ready.

🌟 16. J'aime bien les couchers de soleil. Allons voir un coucher de soleil…

I am very fond of sunsets. Come, let us go look at a sunset…

🌟 17. On ne sait jamais!

“One never knows!”

🌟 18. Il faut exiger de chacun ce que chacun peut donner, reprit le roi. L'autorité repose d'abord sur la raison. Si tu ordonnes à ton peuple d'aller se jeter à la mer, il fera la révolution. J'ai le droit d'exiger l'obéissance parce que mes ordres sont raisonnables. Alors mon coucher de soleil ? rappela le petit prince qui jamais n'oubliait une question une fois qu'il l'avait posée. Ton coucher de soleil, tu l'auras. Je l'exigerai. Mais j'attendrai, dans ma science du gouvernement, que les conditions soient favorables.

“One must command from each what each can perform,” the king went on. “Authority is based first of all upon reason. If you command your subjects to jump into the ocean, there will be a revolution. I am entitled to command obedience because my orders are reasonable.” “Then my sunset?” insisted the little prince, who never let go of a question once he had asked it. “You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But I shall wait, according to my science of government, until conditions are favorable.”

🌟 19. C'est véritablement utile puisque c'est joli.

It is truly useful since it is beautiful.

🌟 20. ‘Où sont les hommes ?’ reprit enfin le petit prince. ‘On est un peu seul dans le désert.’ ‘On est seul aussi chez les hommes’, dit le serpent.

“Where are the people?” resumed the little prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…" “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake.

🌟 21. Vous êtes belles, mais vous êtes vides…. On ne peut pas mourir pour vous.

You’re beautiful, but you’re empty…. No one could die for you.

🌟 22. Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité, dit le renard. Mais tu ne dois pas l’oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé.

“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox. “But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

🌟 23. Mais les yeux sont aveugles. Il faut chercher avec le cœur.

Greek Gods, pinup style. 

I suppose it’s okay to admit after three years of linguistics blogging that I actually am one of those linguists who speaks quite a few languages, and I’ve studied even more at various levels. Here are some of my favourite posts about language learning:

Tips for learning another language

7 ways to fake-pronounce any foreign language

How to learn vocabulary in 12 steps (using science!)

Up-goer five, Taboo and language learning

How to learn a third language (while keeping your second one)

12 ways to stop freezing up when you try to speak a second language

Someone trying to switch into English on you is like them trying to pick up the cheque

How second language acquisition works

Why can’t adults learn languages like children? (video with Tom Scott)

Finding “lost” languages in the brain

Learning languages without conscious effort

How to teach old ears new tricks

Speaking to babies, pets, and language learners

How learning a new language improves tolerance

First lesson in modern versus classical languages

Learning languages linguistically (Lingthusiasm podcast episode)

Learning Indigenous languages

Should linguists or non-Aboriginal people learn Aboriginal languages?

Non-Indigenous people learning Australian Indigenous languages

Benefits of Indigenous language learning

Roadblocks to effective Indigenous language development

OLA - Oral Language Acquisition

CoLang and Breath of Life

Learning less popular and minority languages when resources are hard to find

How to teach when the teacher isn’t fluent

How to make learning materials for conversation and document at the same time

Sk̲wx̱wú7mesh language revitalization house

Europe has indigenous minority languages as well 

Languages and linguistics

Why linguists get annoyed when you ask how many languages they speak

Will learning a second language help me learn linguistics?

Will learning linguistics help with learning a second language?

Using Gricean maxims to deflect the “how many languages do you know?” question in a way that leads to a better conversation

*takes deep breath* This has been a long time coming. And will probably be a long thing in general because I, An Autism, have much to say on the subject of Renarin Kholin and the generally A++++ autistic rep he provides. Meta will cover all of the Stormlight books, but probably focus most on Oathbringer, so, spoilers ahead.  

Autism Acceptance (look it’s got headers, u know it’s gonna be long when it’s got headers)

 He didn’t know if that was just a coincidence—they could be irregular—or if they had been healed, like his bad eyesight. Indeed, he still saw the world differently from everyone else. He was still nervous talking to people, and didn’t like being touched. Everyone else saw in each other things he never could understand. So much noise and destruction and people talking and cries for help and sniffles and muttering and whispering all like buzzing, buzzings.

Straight in there, and lots to unpack with this quote that I, frankly, adore. 

Firstly, it aggressively denies the ‘cure rhetoric’ that surrounds a lot of discussions about autism, that are sadly still present to this day. A lot of research that goes into autism tries to think about how it can ‘fix’ autistic people, how it can ‘cure’ us of this terrible burden.

Renarin is a Radiant, so he can heal the same way the rest of them can, but one of his surges is also literally focused on healing. The boy is basically invincible. He gets stomped on by a thunderclast and is just like ‘meh’. But his healing abilities don’t so much as touch his autism. And I love the fact that this is something that he canon makes a point to note, very obviously, and very deliberately. This is a statement, and it’s a damned important one. There is nothing “wrong” with Renarin. There is nothing to heal, there is nothing to fix. And I don’t think I can emphasize how important that is.

I also actually really love this depiction of autism. I think this is the first POV we get with Renarin where it really, strongly delves into the way that he sees the world. And this is the way that I see the world. This was so relateable that I got a lil bit choked up, not gonna lie, because it’s so rare that you see this. (I mean it’s so rare you get an autistic person’s POV anyway, but we’ll…mostly leave my salt at the door here) But it’s just so…Raw. So honest. And it pretty much proves what we all really already know, but Sanderson has listened to actual autistic people when writing this, which is also really, really important.

Yep, that sounds obvious, but no, it’s not. So many people are clamouring to speak for us, parents, relatives, friends, organizations that are apparently there to “help” us and really do the opposite are all queuing up to tell the world what the autistic experience is like, and a voice that’s typically, notably lacking is the actually autistic people.

I also love the association of sensory issues as ‘buzzing’ and being related to insects in that way, bc Accuracy. I just. I just really love this passage. And I also love that none of this is inherently negative. It’s definitely different, it’s definitely autistic, it’s definitely not the same way we’ve seen other POV characters interact with the world, but it’s not bad. He saw the world differently. He doesn’t always understand the interactions between other people. There’s lots of noise, and you get the sense that it’s overwhelming, but none of the language marks this difference in Renarin as an inherently bad one. Which is also important.

These [visions] had always been right. Until today—until they had proclaimed that Jasnah Kholin’s love would fail.

This part is important for a variety of reasons, and this is going to move into a slightly darker, and more morbid view of things but…First off I’m delighted for what this part meant to Jasnah, and when I make a Long and Rambling post about her/autism, this is definitely gonna come into it but…For Renarin, and for an autistic character I think…This is the darker sibling to the above point I raised but, a lot of autistic people, I think, feel like they are, or worry that they will be, burdens to their families and the people that they love. I think that we’ve seen Renarin with self-worth issues, struggling to be like his brother and his father, and what the Alethi ideal of a man is. But I think these came through very strikingly in that Renarin both fully believed Jasnah would kill him in that moment (he believed the visions, that’s one thing), but he was also willing to sacrifice himself and simply accept it for the greater good of his family.

Obviously this is altered somewhat by the fact that we know he’s bonded a corrupted spren, and is therefore a danger, but from the point of view of him being an autistic character, and the idea of it being a family member who makes this choice…Not to get too dark and morbid, but I think that’s a statement in itself, as well, about the value of autistic people, and fully intentional or not, I think it’s important as well.  

“What’s wrong with me?” Renarin asked. “Why do I see these things? I thought I was doing something right, with Glys, but somehow it’s all wrong.…” “Hush,” Jasnah whispered. “We’ll find a way through it, Renarin. Whatever it is, we’ll fix it. We’ll survive this, somehow.”

Out of context this reads a lot like Renarin being neurodivergent in some way and freaked out about it, while Jasnah comforts him and promises him support. I think it’s also important that, just prior to this, Jasnah remembers when they were young, and Renarin being upset ‘for a father who didn’t seem able to feel love.’ And this is then followed up by him acknowledging that Jasnah Kholin’s love for her family, and specifically for him, is stronger than his visions, than Odium, than pretty much everything. And Renarin understanding how deeply his family loves him, and what they’ll risk for him (like…potentially the literal fate of the entire world) is really, really important. (Especially because of the hideous stereotypes that circle around autistic people and love: namely that we can’t feel it/aren’t aware of it, that we’re wholly selfish, and, again, the whole ‘burden to the family’ thing. Praise Jasnah Kholin chopping these bullshit myths into tiny little pieces with her shardblade)  

Stimming

For those that don’t know, stimming is a natural part of the autistic (and other neurodivergent people’s) existence. They’re typically repetitive motions that help regulate emotions. Fairly common ones are hand flapping, rocking, leg bouncing, etc, etc. There’s a fair amount of stigma surrounding stimming, and a lot of autistic people are forced to suppress their stims. As such, there’s a general push to normalise stimming, and accept it, as it really is a natural behavior.

Renarin specific goodness on stimming: he’s shown doing it. He’s shown doing it a lot. And people are relatively pretty chill about it. The fact that he has stim toys is super awesome!! (especially in a fantasy world, like Sanderson has obviously gone out of his way to create canon-compliant stim toys for Renarin and it’s awesome) predominantly, the little box that he’s seen playing with in TWOK and WOR, but also the little chain he fiddles with in Oathbringer, things he obviously carries around with him, and is comfortable using in public. He’s also shown rocking when he’s nervous. All of these are Good Things.

What’s even better is this little moment:

[Renarin] looked for something to fidget with, and Lunamor tossed him more dough.

Bless Rock tbh. But really, this is only a single line, it’s a tiny moment in a massive book, and it’s a big deal. Rock notes that Renarin wants something to fidget with/that he needs to stim, and instead of trying to dissuade him, he simply meets his needs and provides for him. This normalises stimming, and it’s an A+ example of how to help your autistic friends: let them stim, encourage them to stim, if you notice them needing to stim, chuck dough at them! That last part was an exaggeration, but you get the point.

Renarin/His Family

This bit is going to be long bc I’ve been having Feelings about it since TWOK, and I’m going to split it up by family member….Because I can >:D Continued under the cut for length!