Peace Was Never An Option

Bonus

Tell me the important things.

Tell me what were the first words ever written in your language. Tell me about that one ancient poet that is referenced in every modern book. Tell me about this one weird guy who invented the most useless weapon in the world. I want to know about the book that you study in school that sounds like some guy’s hallucinations. I want to know how to say in your language a battle slogan of your favourite army unit.

I want to know the first song that every children in your country learns. I want to know that one joke that every history teacher in your country says. I want to know the poem that makes people from your country cry. I want to know that one idiom that references to your country’s history and I could never understand it without learning the source.

I’ve seen americans (tumblr bloggers and celebrities) be passive aggressive about america not being in eurovision and acting like its specifically excluding them… despite there being multiple other continents who dont participate in esc.

and so these people see this phenomenon that many europeans seem to be passionate about and they see that they are not a part of it and then they get the idea that hey! this could be a movie! and who better to produce this movie than us americans. because we’re just better at that.

NOBODY ASKED FOR A EUROVISION MOVIE. MUCH LESS A EUROVISION MOVIE PRODUCED BY AMERICANS STARRING WILL FERRELL AS AN ICELANDIC PERSON.

This isn’t cultural appropriation in the sense of taking an idea from a marginalised community and passing it off as your own (although europe is not entirely “white/privileged” and includes many marginalised, ignored and looked down upon nations and ethnicities), but its still (white) americans thinking they get to make money off of a thing that wasnt their idea and that doesnt include them.

Yes, this is not a grave transgression, but it once again shows that americans think theyre better at telling stories than the people in these stories.

A non-Greenlandic post today, just for a change (maybe to be repeated, maybe not?). A mere 1100 mile hop across the Atlantic to Scotland.

Here’s a short text in Scots Gaelic which is the introduction to the first chapter of Cò rinn e? by Dòmhnall Iain MacIomhair, which is a very accessible short detective novel set on a fictional Scottish island. Appropriately, an English translation of the title would be Whodunnit?

Dhùisg Baile Thorcaill madainn Dihaoine mar a b’ àbhaist. Bha mu fhichead taigh sa’ bhaile, ’s bha muinntir a’ bhaile air fad eòlach air a chèile. Baile beag fearainn air a thogail faisg air a’ chladach, coltach ri iomadh baile eile san eilean.

Vocabulary

cò – who rinn – did (irregular form of root dèan do) e – it dhùisg – awoke. Note that the verb appears first in a standard sentence in Scots Gaelic (VSO order). Past tense form of root form dùisg wake, awaken. In Scots Gaelic the root form (dictionary form) of verbs is the second person imperative. For regular verbs, the past tense form is formed by lenition of the root where possible, which means changing the initial consonant to its “aspirated” equivalent (adding h) where possible (b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s + vowel, sn, sp, sr, t),  and where the verb begins with a vowel (or the silent fh + vowel), an epenthetic dh’ is added. Lenition is not possible with l, n, r, sg, sm, sp, st (at least in writing, there may be a change in pronunciation for past tense l, n, r). baile (m) – town, village Thorcaill – of Torquil. Base form is Torcaill, but here with lenition showing the genitive case, possessed by baile. So Baile Thorcaill - Torquilstown madainn – morning Dihaoine – Friday. madainn Dihaoine on Friday morning. mar a b’ àbhaist – as usual (past tense form). Literally “as it was custom”, from mar like + a that (relative pronoun) + bu was + àbhaist custom. In the present tense this would be mar as àbhaist but since the main sentence is in the past tense, the past tense of copula is (being part of as = a + is) is replaced by a bu, with shortening to b’ bha – was (irregular past tense form of root bi be) mu – about.  fichead (m) – twenty, a score, here lenited after preposition mu taigh (m) – house. Fichead takes the nominative singular form, so fichead taigh – twenty houses. sa’ – short form of anns a’ in the. The basic (nominative) form of the definite article for masculine nouns is an (am before b, f, m, p) but after a preposition like anns the dative case applies, which means (in the case of a masculine noun like baile) lenition to bhaile and reduction of the article to a’. ’s – and, short form of agus. Another shortened version is is. muinntir (f) – people. In this case paired with baile in genitive form, which like the dative requires lenition for the noun and reduction of the article to a’. Muinntir a’ bhaile – (the) people of the village. Note that where a first noun governs a second noun, the first noun cannot take the definite article, but a definite meaning may still apply, as it does here. air fad – altogether, completely eòlach (air) – acquainted (with) cèile (m/f) – another, fellow, spouse. A chèile – each other (literally: “his other” with a (+lenition) his) beag – little fearann – land, country, here in genitive form fearainn of the country. The genitive form of nouns and adjectives often takes a “narrowed” final vowel form, where a “broad” vowel (a, o, u) is narrowed by adding (or being replaced with) -i-, which also causes palatalisation of connecting consonants. air a thogail (which had been) built. Literally “on its building”. Scots Gaelic creates a perfective form by using a combination of air (on) with the possessive form (a + lenition: its) of the verbal noun, here being togail from root form tog build. faisg (air) – close to cladach (m) – shore, here in the dative case following preposition air, as with baile earlier. coltach – like, which appears with preposition ri to iomadh – many, an adjective that appears before the noun. Normally adjectives lenite the following noun but iomadh is an exception. iomadh baile many villages eile – other san – in the, short form of anns an in the , but here probably best translated as on the eilean  (m) – island

Translation

Dhùisg Baile Thorcaill madainn Dihaoine mar a b’ àbhaist.

The village of Torquilstown awoke one Friday morning as usual.

Bha mu fhichead taigh sa’ bhaile, ’s bha muinntir a’ bhaile air fad eòlach air a chèile.

There were about twenty houses in the village, and the village people knew each other intimately.

Baile beag fearainn air a thogail faisg air a’ chladach, coltach ri iomadh baile eile san eilean.

A little country town, built close to the shore, just like many other villages on the island.

—

Inspired by and modeled after @soonpolyglot21‘s post of Romanian cozy vocab (found here)

Gàidhlig resources are few and far between and typically are incomplete (I juggled three dictionaries to complete this list) so if you see any incorrect translations, please let me know and of course I’ll change it!

soft : bog

warm (adj) : blàth

comfortable : cofhurtail

warmth : blàths (m)

blanket : plangaid (f)

pillow : cluasag (f)

cozy : seasgair (m) 

sweater : geansaidh (m)

fire : teine (m)

fireplace : cagailt (f)

candle : coinneal (f)

book : leabhar (m)

movie : film (m)

coffee : cofaidh (m)

tea : tì (f)

nap : dùsal (m)

bedclothes : aodach-leapa (m)

bed : leabaidh (f)

kiss (f) / to kiss : pòg 

to read : leugh 

to hug : glac teann, ioma ghlac 

to snuggle : laigh dlùth

to sleep : caidil

to rest : leig anail

All translations found in “The New English-Gaelic Dictionary” by Derick S. Thomson. Let me know if you have any translations to add! 

Africa : Afraga

America : Ameireagaidh

Asia : An Aisia

Australia : Astràilia

Austria : An Ostair

Belgium : A’Bheilg 

Britain : Breatainn 

Canada : Canada

Chile : An t-Sile 

China : Sìna 

Cornwall : A’Chòrn 

Denmark : An Danmhairg 

Egypt : An Eiphit 

England : Sasainn

Ethiopia : An Aetiòp

Europe : An Roinn Eòrpa

Finland : Suòmi

France : An Fhraing

Germany : A’Ghearmailt

Greece : A’Ghrèig

Greenland : A’Ghraonlainn

Hungary : An Ungair

Iceland : Innis Tile

India : Na h-Innseachan

Indonesia : An Ind-Innse 

Iran : An Iarain 

Iraq : An Iarac 

Ireland : Eirinn

Isle of Mann : Eilean Mhanainn

Israel : Iosrael

Italy : An Eadailt

Jamaica : Siameuca 

Japan : An t-Seapan

Jordan : Iòrdan 

Kenya : A’Cheinia 

Korea : Korea

Latvia : An Laitbhe

Libya : Libia 

Luxembourg : Lucsamburg

the Netherlands : An Isealtìr

Norway : Lochlann 

Pakistan : Pacastan 

Palestine : Paileastain 

Poland : A’Phòlainn

Portugal : A’Phortagail

Romania : Romàinia

Russia : Ruisia

Scotland : Alba 

Spain : An Spàinn

Sweden : An t-Suain

Switzerland : An Eilbheis

the United Nations : Na Dùthchannan Aonaichte

United States : na Stàitean Aonaichte 

All of us on 4th of July:

do the people new to the fandom not yet realize that Aang never knew his mother, would not have been interested in knowing her, and doesn’t particularly care?

Air Nomads don’t do traditional, Euro-centric, nuclear families.*

yes, he is aware that his mother, whoever she might have been, is dead, but he shouldn’t care any more than he does for any other Air Nomad in particular.

Air Nomads do not raise their own children; they raise their children communally, and there’s no indication that they have a concept of a family as the other nations do. What Aang wound up doing with the children he had with Katara was extremely unheard among his people, and likely was a massive concession on his part.

biological connection is almost certainly completely meaningless for the Air Nomads, from what we see.

She knows that Zuko’s face is scarred as of The Ember Island Players, or else you’d assume she’d go “what scar?” when Zuko mentions his scar is not on the wrong side

For someone to burn someone who is nominally the ‘crown prince’, they’d have to have a lot of power/be higher up 

Up until then, the only interactions she’s had are with Zuko himself, Azula, and Iroh 

I can’t see it described as Zuko burning himself, especially with where it’s positioned

There’s no fucking way Iroh would have done it 

And this part is my headcanon only (I haven’t watched the episodes with Toph and her parents recently, and I’ll be honest, they fill me with Quite Some Anxiety, so if anyone wants to correct me, I’m down), but I see her parents as very much the “no touchy” type of parents; Toph is “too delicate” and “too fragile” to think about touching, let alone hurting 

So Toph has this idea in her head, subconsciously at the least, that parents don’t hurt their children (physically) because her parents focused on hurting her emotionally 

To be clear, not because she’s stupid, but because she’s 10/11, and Doesn’t Have All The Facts

Azula has tried to hurt/kill Zuko multiple times that she’s been there for

Azula is the crown princess, so she’s high enough in the monarchy for it to be swept aside 

Toph has no previous experience with siblings to compare it to, as opposed to her experience with parents 

edit to be clear, no experience of having her own siblings - she only has two data points (Azula+Zuko and Katara+Sokka) so she sees Azula trying to kill Zuko and assumes she’d also be down for some casual maiming as well. (If that makes sense?)  

because Azula acts so differently from how Katara does, that she assumes Azula would be down for anything? 

When she finds out it was actually Ozai