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like, the concept being, people are familiar with the phrase and what people use it to mean metaphorically, but it’s not common knowledge anymore what the metaphor was in literal reference to. people still say “toe the line” but don’t necessarily conjure up the image of people standing at the starting line of a race, forbidden from crossing over it. people still say “the cat is out of the bag” without necessarily knowing it’s a sailors’ expression referring to a whip being brought out for punishment. some metaphors are so dead we don’t even know where they come from; like, there are ideas about what “by hook or by crook” references, but no one is entirely sure. nobody knows what the whole nine yards are.

and then you throw in a malaprop or a mondegreen or two, where because people don’t know what the actual words of the expression refer to, they’re liable to replace them with similar sounding words (see “lack toast and tolerant”). so we can literally go from a phrase referencing a common, everyday part of life to a set of unfixed, contextless sounds with a completely different meaning. that’s fascinating. what an interesting piece of the way language and culture are living, changing, coevolving things.

maybe part of the reason we can’t figure out where some phrases come from is that over time the words themselves have changed! one of the theories about “the whole nine yards” is that it’s a variant of “the whole ball of wax,” which some people further theorize was originally “the whole bailiwick,” meaning just “the whole area”! the addition of “nine yards” might be related to “dressed to the nines,” which might reference the fucking Greek muses! language is so weird and cool! (and I only know any idioms in two languages!)

J.K. Rowling, world famous author, billionaire and owner of several mansions in Scotland and England recently decided to threaten to sue The Day, a daily news service for British teenagers for publishing an article about her being transphobic.

Remember, this is the same J.K. Rowling who regularly complains about “cancel culture” and trans people trying to silence her.

Indeed, this threat came only a few weeks after she signed a letter published in  Harper’s Magazine, which complained about the “restriction of debate” in modern culture.

As far as J.K. Rowling goes, this principle only applies to the rich and famous.

And The Day does not have the resources needed to fight her, so they gave in:

“We accept that our article implied that what JK Rowling had tweeted was objectionable and that she had attacked and harmed trans people,” says The Day’s apology.

Let this be clear: J.K. Rowling is not transphobic in the same way the Ku Klux Klan is not racists.

Sue me, J.K.!

The good news is that J.K Rowling, by doing this, has shown the whole world what kind of hypocrite she is. This further undermines the legitimacy of the TERF’s transphobic crusade agains transgender children.

COSTUME EMPHASIZING BREADTH OF SHOULDERS

THEM THIGHS

WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS IS ABOUT HOLY SHIT

JAWLINE

EVERYTHING. ALL OF IT. I DON’T KNOW I’M JUST FEELING EXCEPTIONALLY WARM RIGHT NOW.