Okay, today is Speak Your Own Language Day, so I should be speaking Spanish, HOWEVER I want to use this day of language learning and appreciation to explain something about how Spanish works, and Hispanic people already know that so it wouldn't make much sense to explain it in Spanish, which is why just for this post I'm gonna use English.
I'm gonna be talking, of course, of grammatical gender, because of this viral image:
I'm sure you've seen an image like this floating around and people crying about how having non-binary be translated with a feminine and masculine form depending on usage defeats the purpose of the term.
But it doesn't!!!
Spanish is not like English, it has ✨grammatical gender✨ which has nothing to do with gender identity whatsoever. It's not that we believe chairs are female and stools are male, our grammar is just like this. Every word has a grammatical gender and there must be grammatical gender concordance. Thus, non-binary must have both a feminine and masculine form to use depending with which word you're pairing it.
Let's say you want to talk about a "non-binary person". 'Person' in Spanish is 'persona' a grammatically feminine word (despite its usage being gender neutral and encompassing people of any gender, as I said, grammatical gender ≠ gender identity). Because 'persona' is a grammatically feminine word, you have to apply grammatical concordance accordingly, and so to say "non-binary person" you would say "persona no binaria".
Now let's say you want to talk about "non-binary gender". 'Gender' in Spanish is 'género' a grammatically masculine word, and because of that to say "non-binary gender" you would say "género no binario".
See? It's not about grammatically imposed misgendering, it's about how this language is built.
But Shine, I hear you say, that's all nice and good, but how do I refer to my non-binary friend? And well, dear reader, you're in luck because I'm not only Spaniard but also non-binary myself.
In Spanish 'friend' (like a whole lot of words) has a feminine and masculine form. When those words are used to refer to people, grammatical gender does match gender identity. For the most part. And broadly speaking, feminine words are associated with the vowel -a, and masculine with the vowel -o (this is not universal, there are exceptions to this, I'm trying to paint the broad picture to give you a general idea).
So what about gender neutral? Well, officially we don't have one. The Real Academia Española doesn't recognize it... But the RAE isn't word of god, it compiles usage, so the more a term is used, the more chances it will be officially recognized. Not using a term because it's not officially recognized is actively detrimental to the goal you want to achieve.
Okay, not an official gender neutral, but what have we come up with? Well, at least in Spain, it's associating gender neutral to the vowel -e. So you have the femenine ella/la/-a, the masculine él/lo/-o, and the gender neutral elle/le/-e.
Now time for practical examples!
"My friend, David, is a boy." 🇬🇧 → 🇪🇸 "Mi amigo, David, es un chico."
"My friend, Liz, is a girl." 🇬🇧 → 🇪🇸 "Mi amiga, Liz, es una chica."
"My friend, Alex, is non-binary." 🇬🇧 → 🇪🇸 "Mi amigue, Alex, es no binarie."
And that's how you do it!! At least in queer friendly spaces in Spain, can't speak for other places. I have seen the 'x' thrown around to make gender neutral in Spanish, but -e is way more intuitive for spoken language, so I like it better.
But anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk and remember I generalized a lot when doing this. If you're learning Spanish I can only wish you good luck in dealing with our bullshit if you come from English, and assure you that once you internalize our orthography rules you will never again mispronounce a word you read for months before you hear it spoken (we have a very consistent spelling/pronunciation system, gotta be one of my favourite things about my language).
Pronouns are easy enough, "iel" for "they" and the less used "ellui" for "them"
Everything else is a fucking nightmare
Unlike spanish, we don't just switch a letter at the end and call it day, of fucking course not!
Sure, some words are easy, just slap a e at the end and you're done, but that's far from the only declination
For exemple, a baker. It's "un boulanger" for a man and "une boulangère" for a woman. It's not just an added e, the è change the pronunciation slightly, so things are a little annoying to turn into gender neutral, especially written down.
In that case, we write "un.e boulanger.ère", which is a very normal and natural of writing things
There's much worse words too. "Master" can be "maître" for a man and "maîtresse" for a woman. It's less weird to write down, "maître.sse" but how the fuck to make a gender neutral version outloud?!
So in the end, we just iel and kind of improvise the rest of the sentence as we go. Most of us enbies end up picking which gender we prefer to be refered to words wise, which is kind of fucked up
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
We talk about this site's piss on the poor reading comprehension all the time, but inability to stay on topic for more than two reblogs really shouldn't be forgotten
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
enough "loki lives in avengers tower because he's been redeemed offscreen". i want to see "loki lives in avengers tower while still actively antagonising the avengers because they just can't get him to leave"
Our vet took these to assess for spinal misalignment/congenital problems because our DSH has a super curly tail and has been evidencing hind end pain/missing jumps lately. But those are some of the most pristine guts I've seen.
I feel you, my cat also decided to start her heat a month and a half before her appointment
No pee in the wrong places, but holy shit I could Not Sleep. She would scream the whole. Fucking. Night. Didn't matter if she was in the room with me or not, she would yell her lungs out
On the last week, I ended up going back to my parents with her so she would be in a isolated room away from where I slept. It felt a bit mean, but at least I no longer felt moments away from strangling her
It was the first time I got the pleasure of having a cat in heat and I really hope it's the last time
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Tara’s fingers froze over her keyboard. She knew what she wanted to say, but how to start it…
Don’t think too hard about it, or you won’t do it. Just share your story.
She took another sip of her matcha latte before settling her fingers on the keys and starting where it began.
~*~
I contracted it from my sister.
I was seven years old. I lived a normal life. I had three siblings, two brothers, one sister (who I’ll refer to as Kathie, it’s not her name but it’s close.) Kathie was sixteen and she was my hero. Kathie was my first word. Kathie always looked out for me. I wanted to be Kathie when I grew up.
Kathie died not knowing she was positive. No one knew she was positive, I mean, how could they? She didn’t waste away, which would’ve been a clear head’s up. It was a car accident. The theory was that she fell asleep at the wheel, which is why she went right into that tree. She would’ve been gone instantly. No pain. But she was gone. And it shattered me.
I didn’t want to go to school. I didn’t want to see my friends. My parents tried everything they could to get me to engage with the world again, but I just didn’t want to. I wanted Kathie again.
And so when she came back… I was happy.
It happened about a week or so after her funeral. I can’t remember how long. I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, wishing so hard that my sister could come back. That I could crawl into her bed with her right now and tell her I loved her, that I missed her.
And then there was a knock at my window, and there she was.
She looked just the same she did at her funeral, long black hair pinned neatly back, wearing that pretty pink dress she was supposed to be wearing for a school dance she never got to go to. She smiled as I looked at her and her lips moved. Although I couldn’t hear the words, I knew what she was asking.
Can I come in?
Of course she could. I sprang to my feet and ran to the window, throwing it open and jumping into my sister’s arms. She was back! Kathie was back! I was so happy… I didn’t know. By morning, she was gone, and I would’ve believed it was a dream if my window wasn’t still open.
People didn’t talk about vampirism twenty years ago. I mean we still have trouble talking about it now. And as a little girl I didn’t know not to trust the dead coming back to see you.
I can’t remember the biting. They didn’t even leave scars, which I’m sure many of you know. I just remember my sister being in my room every night, coming to visit me, stroking my hair and letting me cry into her lap. I didn’t tell my parents, it became my little secret. Kathie came to see me, not them or my brothers. And I felt happy again.
I didn’t feel better though. I don’t blame my parents for not noticing, I did as a teenager, but as an adult, I understand they had a lot going on. They’d also lost their daughter, and they had three remaining grieving children to handle. At least I was happy enough to go back to school, even though there were signs things weren’t right. I was falling asleep in class, I had very little appetite, I became pale and more lethargic. But these were chalked up to grief, to still dealing with the loss of my sister, and no one asked any questions.
Not until I was asked to help solve a problem at the board and I fainted dead away when I stood up.
I woke up in the hospital with an IV drip and a kindly priest asking about Kathie.
It took a while for me to open up. I felt guilty, like I knew something was wrong. But Father Taggart was gently persistent, and soon I told him everything I could about Kathie’s night time visits. I’d learn later my parents were outside the room the entire time, bawling their eyes out. They’d already lost one daughter, and they were much closer than anyone knew to losing their other one.
I’ve seen other posts on the forum talking about Father Taggart, good and bad. In my experience he was- he is, very good at what he does. But he is very traditional in his method, meaning that yes, I did have to be present for Kathie’s exhumation and slaying.
I wasn’t the only little girl there. They’d confirmed Kathie had been feeding off of, including myself, four girls between the ages of six and ten. Two of the others did attend, the final one refused. I think her parents took her to a hospital out of state to be treated.
I remember they opened her coffin and the room shuddered. Kathie had been dead for over three months at that point and she looked like she’d just laid down for a nap, her body appeared that fresh. The only differences between when she’d been laid to rest and now was that her lips were crimson and the front of her pretty pink dress was spattered in blood. My mother fled the room sobbing, my dad gripped my shoulders so tight it left bruises for the next week.
Father Taggart whispered a prayer over the still body before he took the wooden stake from his coat and drove it right into her chest. I screamed and lunged forward instinctively, that was my sister, he was attacking my sister-
Kathie’s eyes opened wide and her lips parted in a feral snarl. Her fangs were so long they looked like knives. She grabbed at Father Taggart’s arm, but he was calm as he pushed the hair from her face, still saying his prayers, and pushed the stake the rest of the way in. Blood poured from Kathie’s mouth as her eyes rolled back in her head and her body went limp. Father Taggart backed away, calmly said amen.
“And now she will be burned.”
I don’t remember her being burned. Either my parents decided I didn’t need to be present or I blocked it out of my mind.
But it was still too late for me.
Thank god the other girls hadn’t been infected, I’ve read the horror stories of lawsuits aimed at the surviving family of vampires. People were angry though- furious. But my parents didn’t care about that.
After several blood tests and a bone marrow sample, the doctors confirmed I was vampirism positive. That when I died, I’d rise just like Kathie and start preying on the living, draining them of their blood and potentially passing vampirism onto them.
Things changed after that. Kathie had initially been memorialized in our home, but when I returned from the hospital, she’d been almost entirely erased from our lives. Family photos with Kathie had been taken down, her room had been packed up and her things donated, it was like she’d never existed. Some of this was, yes, suggested by Father Taggart. It’s a way to cleanse the house from the vampire’s darkness. But I think they were also angry at Kathie, and where else could that anger go?
Kids were cruel. The word spread quickly about Kathie’s disinterment, and it didn’t take long for people to figure out why. Kids called me all kinds of names, ‘blood sucker’, ‘vampire baby’, but the parents were even worse. I wasn’t invited over anymore to kid’s parties, some people even requested their children be transferred out of my class because they were scared I would pass it on.
My parents tried to explain to their friends and peers that vampirism cannot be passed on until I died, but people didn’t care. I was a threat. I was a monster in the making.
We moved the moment my dad got a new job, we went across the country, we got a fresh start. I wasn’t allowed to talk about Kathie, if I did I was sent to my room. One time my mom even slapped me across the face for bringing up that it was her birthday- she regretted it, I could tell the moment she did, but the damage was done.
Kathie wasn’t apart of our lives anymore. She wasn’t even allowed to exist.
I miss her still, quietly, but I do. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know she was vampirism positive. She never would’ve done the things she did if she was alive, if it was really her. There’s a little memorial in my home now, hidden in a closet. My parents didn’t destroy all the photos, and when I moved out, I took them with me. They’re on that memorial now. I know lots of people blame the person that infected them, and I don’t fault them that, but… I just can’t.
I’m twenty-seven now. I’ve changed my name, I’ve done my best to get on with my life. I even date, which I know is a big hang up for some vampirism positive people. But I will say, the moment I let my date know I am vampirism positive, I tend to get ghosted. They usually act nice to my face about it, but the moment I get home I see I’ve been unmatched on whatever dating site we met on and my number’s been blocked. Maybe they’re scared of how I’ll react, that I’ll suddenly sprout fangs and leap at them, those ridiculous stereotypes.
I’m here now because I have become a teacher. I teach third grade, I love it… but one of my students’ parents found out. I don’t know how exactly, but they confronted me about it last Friday after school. They screamed in my face, called me a monster, asked how I could lie to everyone about this and put their children in danger.
I sometimes doubt that myself. Maybe I am dangerous. Maybe I am a monster.
But when those thoughts creep in, I remind myself that I am taking every precaution I physically can. Right now, I am like every human being in the world. With the drugs out there today, I’ll even be able to have children and they’ll be fine. When I die, I likely won’t rise for a few days, giving plenty of time for my body to be burnt at a holy site and my ashes spread in a river. I made those arrangements when I was eighteen.
That parent will be going to the school board this week- I don’t know when. The administration does know I’m vampirism positive and they claimed they’d have my back, but this parent has a lot of pull with the other parents and even if they back me up for now, there’s no telling what will happen if this person takes this knowledge to social media. They might let me go just to stop the pitchforks and torches at their front door.
I hope my story doesn’t come off too much ‘woe is me’ or whiny. I could’ve had it a lot worse. But I just wanted to share what I’ve been through, maybe get some advice. I’m glad this place exists, and… yeah. Have a good day.
~*~
Have a good day? What a cringe ending. Tara finished off the rest of her matcha latte before clicking post. What the hell. It probably won’t get many replies. It did feel… nice to have this forum to vent on though. Her parents were avoidant as hell and she didn’t want to bother her brothers about it.
Vent over, she was going to use her Sunday to clean, clean, clean. No better stress relief in the world. Dishes were scrubbing spotless, carpet was vacuumed, her cat Cammy was brushed until her long fur was as soft as cotton. She’d all but forgotten about her post until that evening, when she was lounging in bed and checking her email.
Wow… that was a lot of notifications from the vampostive forum. Way more than she expected. Her heart rate nervously climbing, Tara clicked onto the first one from HeIsNotUndeadYet91.
Your story is a powerful one. It’s so much harder to cope when the vampire was someone you knew. Mine was my dad. He’d fed on me for almost six months before people figured out why I was sick. You’re not alone, TeachingWithVamp. You have done nothing wrong, and you’re a good person.
Tears sprouted in Tara’s eyes as she started scrolling through the replies
IwontBiteYouYet: Wow!!! What a coward to just chase you down after school to yell at you. They might’ve gotten that info illegally, you gotta figure out where the leak is and get. a. lawyer. Your medical information is YOUR business.
OddBiter: I always get ghosted too. But hey it could be worse- you could be dead lol. In all seriousness, hang in there. You’re going above and beyond to have yourself cremated and scattered in a river, and you are not a threat right now. The only threat is that crazy Karen who’s trying to out you.
CrimsonBeeKeeper: If you need a lawyer, I have a list of lawyers that specialize in vamp positive clients and the prejudice they face. I bust them out whenever I see situations like this. Don’t back down, you’re a fighter, keep fighting!
GothandalsoVampire: Gooodddd, times like this I really do wish I could be a vampire NOW so I could scare some sense into them. These people are uneducated on purpose, a google search tells you how not dangerous a vamp positive person is while alive. Hell, even if you dropped dead in class you’d be just a corpse until at LEAST nightfall. And I’d hope you’d be discovered by then otherwise the school district has a lot more problems than you being vampositive.
666Vampire666(Mod): You Are Not Alone. Remember that. We’re building a community online for us, so we can talk openly about these problems. Make sure to check that resource tab for groups local to your area as well as legal sources to help with illegal termination due to ableism. It’s a hard fight being us, but we are HERE, and this curse doesn’t go away by ignoring it. It goes away by education and by being true to yourself.
Tears came down Tara’s cheeks until she couldn’t cry anymore. But her chest felt lighter, better. Things were going to be crazy next week when that parent went to the board, but she didn’t feel so scared anymore.
Any volcano experts know how what how bad it would be if the largest volcano in the world constantly spewed smoke at this rate for ~200 consecutive years?
Alright, I only have a bachelor’s in geology so I am not a volcanologist (yet) but given that Red Mountain is more the size of a supervolcano rather than a typical stratovolcano, and events like the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa (a single normal sized caldera) caused a global volcanic winter, well…
Take a look at the Permian-Triassic extinction event, also known as the Great Dying, caused by the eruption of the Siberian Traps. 57% of biological families, 62% of genera, 81% of marine species,and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species were wiped out.
We actually got a real life geologist to weigh in! That's not a volcanologist, but as a non-expert in both rocks and volcanoes I suspect rocks and volcanoes have some kind of connection. [citation needed]
Thanks for providing your educated look onto this! We are open to second opinions though, if there are more rock enthusiasts or even an actual volcanologist out there that can weigh in.
Just as a little heads up, PetSmart is (and presumably other pet stores are) starting to carry Regal Jumping Spiders as pet stock.
The ones being sold are WILD CAUGHT. They're being found MISLABELED for sex (females labeled as males etc), and no consideration is being given to the fact that wild caught jumping spider females are pretty much ALWAYS GRAVID. They mate once and will lay around 5 clutches of 25+ eggs each clutch. Since they're only native to a few states, releasing spiderlings means potentially introducing invasive animals, meaning the choice comes down to raising a hundred or more babies or euthanizing a hundred or more babies.
If you've been thinking about getting a jumping spider pet, please do not shop from a major pet store. There are plenty of breeders now, selection for cool traits and more friendly dispositions is being done. You can get a young spider you know is young AND know won't make more of itself despite you never putting another spider in with her. Or get an actually confirmed male if you prefer. And it'll cost you about the same amount as a pet store disaster.
I know some folks take the werewolf gig and give the humans affected dog weaknesses, but y'know, that's the glory about being Half Human--things that are poisonous to canines, don't affect you.
So if you get a wolf or canine, that's a werewolf, they get the Human Immunities. That means being able to eat Chocolate, see Human Colors, being able to learn and understand human speech, possibly even getting a Human based lifetime.
What only has some physical and sense based buffs for a Human Werewolf, would be like, gods damn divinity for a canine werewolf.
Whole new world of experiences. Whole new lifespan. Really, a werewolf-canine gets the most benefits in the whole Werewolf shindig.
I was going to comment that it should be a werehuman then, until I remembered what the "were-" part means and realized I was suggesting to create Moonmoon's ape cousin, Manman
Instead, I propose we call this new specie "wulfman", using the proto-germanic term for "wolf" with the modern word man, to mirror its obviously lesser cousin
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
In the mean time I'm sitting with a 130-pound dog that was sedated for a nail trim, rhythmically jiggling him with one foot to try and get him to wake up
A cantaloupe yields roughly 4.5 cups of cubed fruit. Let's call it 6 cups of volume whole, because I don't have a cantaloupe to measure.
1 cup is 236 cubic centimeters.
A cantaloupe, then, is 1,416 cm3.
Lead at room temperature is 11.348 g/cm3. (That won't change meaningfully until it reaches its boiling point at 600K, which is higher than the internal temperature of a dog.)
A leaden cantaloupe, then, would weigh 16,068g --> 16 kg --> 35 pounds.
The postulated cantaloupe is heavier than lead. Roughly twice as heavy, in fact.
What is twice as heavy as lead? Conveniently, osmium is about smack on at 22.587 g/cm3, and is the densest natural element on Earth. Looks roughly like a disco ball, per Wikipedia.
Mind, we can recalculate if anyone's willing to measure a melon for me.
We have an average circumference of 44.9cm, for a radius of 7.15cm and a volume of 1,530 cm3. This is much closer to my 6 cup measurement and implies that @organs-fanfics is in possession of enormous balls.
Multiplying this by the 11.34 g/cm3 established for the density of lead, we arrive at a leaden cantaloupe of 17.3 kg, or 38.1 pounds.
Again: We need something twice as dense as lead.
Or more precisely, we need a density of 20.8 g/cm3 or 20,800 kg/m3. Returning to our density table, our closest match is now... rhenium! It's still shiny and silver!
It looks like the densest rhenium deposit we can get naturally is in rheniite, which looks like some sort of horrible coral formation.
Conclusion: The hypothesized dog is an abomination.
In the mean time I'm sitting with a 130-pound dog that was sedated for a nail trim, rhythmically jiggling him with one foot to try and get him to wake up
