Puddle Of Poriddge

idk i feel like it's kinda weird how most ppl who know english as a 1st language feel like they r just muddling thru and also think that the language is bullshit

also kinda wild how english is smth that u just hav 2 learn thru like memorisation?

like there's no visual distinction 2 suggest how the word "cake" is pronounced and that the "a" says its letter name and the "e" at the end is a silent and magic e

idk weird 1 but i was thinking abt this bc i was rewatching alphablocks as an adult and noticed that literally in alphablocks they use visual distinctions 4 the characters 2 help kids learn even tho the letters in the alphabet don't hav any visual distinctions

in alphablocks silent e wears a ninja costume and magic e wears a top hat and silent magic e wears both

then i got thinking abt how in a lot of other languages they hav accents over the letters 2 indicate how the letters r said and started wondering y english doesn't hav that? when it would make a lot more sense given how much the same letter will sound different in different words in english, idk just seems like it would make more sense

like the 1st 1 i thouht of was how some languages hav like a diagonal line thru 1 of the letters like this: ø

and how in english it's kinda already kinda accepted that if a letter has a line thru it u don't say it but bc of that letter probably being put by mistake or smth, y not do that 4 silent e?? like e but w a diagonal line thru it 2 indicate u don't say it

another thing i thought of is like mayb w magic e u could put a small circle or smth above the e and the letter that the magic e is making say its letter name and bc it's above the letter u could still put that above silent e 2 indicate a silent magic e idk, then it would b a language u can actually learn instead of having 2 just memorise??

…The Printing Press. Yup that’s why English has all of these weird little rules.

The specific reason is two fold. Firstly, a lot of accented words were being used less and less towards the end of the Middle English period. So when the English begun using the printing press, the early adopters looked for ways to streamline the language. They did this by removing the accents from the presses. Why? Well partly because it saved money in their creation. These early printing presses were expensive and often custom built. So over time, they reduced the number of vowel characters in these machines. Instead of “e, è, é, ę, etc” we end up with “e”. Many remnants of Germanic and French accents were slowly removed from the language thanks to this.

All this happened while Middle English was shifting into Early Modern English. In fact the printing press is most likely the reason why these sweeping linguistic changes happened to the English language. We also know that many documents that were hand written (particularly in poetry) at the time, retained these accents.

What makes this even weirder, in a modern context, is that many words have since been borrowed from other languages. These words keep their accents and in recent times (recent linguistically anyway) have had their accents reapplied. A fine example would be crepe (a flat French pancake), which here is anglicised but recently due to technology making accenting easy the original spelling of crêpe is becoming more widely used again. So many accented words, usually nouns are being reintroduced into English.

If you don't like WotC due to the recent scandals they've been involved in (such as the OGL thing and sending the Pinkertons to someone's house) and you are serious about disrupting the economic and cultural stranglehold they have over the entire tabletop hobby, pirating D&D products is infinitely less important than exploring, discussing and platforming games and creators outside of the D&D 5e ecosystem.

The usage of these languages to is an extension of using Latin in the same way but not quite understanding why authors use Latin. They just go, “oh hey, that’s not English so I can just grab it”. Latin is considered fair game because it is a dead language, it is why it's used in the scientific categorisations. No native speakers, only major additions are nouns.

Authors (and other creatives) see some languages and view them like Latin, completely unaware that they are borrowing from a living language. Living languages are entwined in a culture. So when these words are borrowed then they are borrowed

It's so disheartening and tiring trying to go to restaurants and vet them myself, especially if I just need to walk out right afterwards. But there are so many places I would've never eaten at if someone else hadn't gone in, asked questions, and shared that information!

Like, I’m an anarchist. (Although maybe I’m not according to some people but idk who cares) And I think an ideal world would have no nation states or borders. But that’s not going to happen tomorrow, or next year, or for a long time

When i was in 3rd grade, a friend of mine, my neighbor, was doing the old "finger eyes" asian mocking thing while saying "ching chong wai!" at another student on the bus. after we got off the bus, i told him that doing that was kind of racist (i wasn't as confident about speaking as i am now).

He told me it wasn't. He was italian.

that is my first memory of a white person telling me something isn't racist when i brought it up. It was not the last. here i am, over 30 years later, and folks are still saying it.

It is because he had never experienced racism of that nature before. he had no reference points. his radar wasn't up for that.

Mine was. Most PoC have had their radar up their entire lives. Since even before they knew what that was. it comes naturally.

it is frustrating because when white americans want to but in with their opinions, PoC generally say, "your opinion doesn't matter."

but i want to be clear. It isn't because you are white.

It is because you lack the experience or education to speak on these things.

Like if i met a white person who grew up in korea, and faced xenophobia in korea, then they would have some experience. Hell, my brothers and i faced some of that racism in korea just for being mixed koreans. But if a white person had that experience, then they could have a nuanced opinion on subtle racism.

However, and i cannot stress this enough, there is a limit to what you have experience with even in that situation.

Take me for example. I have experienced racism due to being hispanic, being asian, and for being mixed race. So i can speak to my experience on all three of those vectors and subtle racism in general.

You know what i don't shove down other people's throats? My opinion on racism that black people experience. Or anti-semetism. because even my experience does not reach those topics. I'm not white. So you cannot blame whiteness for my exclusion from having my opinion listened to. It is because of my lack of experience.

so please, excluding white, inexperienced voices when we discuss racism is not, in an of itself, racism. it is simply a judgement call based on experience.