#badmadwolf

lmao THANK YOU !! 

to be completely honest, I went into this with a lot of skepticism and very low expectations … and it completely blew me away.

like, I know this doesn’t matter to a lot of people, but the amount of genuine, not fake or forced but GENUINE, love and passion involved in this project (and the clear and obvious care and connection between Carl, Gina, and Pedro) has really lifted my expectations and gave me hope

regardless of anything else, their hearts are in the right place, and that matters. it really matters. and to see Gina tear up multiple times talking about that love and that passion? and to see Carl get choked up and excited and see the fans answer him with the same love and enthusiasm and joy? and to see Pedro just absolutely speechless and stunned?

1) As is usually the case with the Cardassians, ask a simple question, get a complicated answer. There are multiple words for "grandfather" and "grandmother," and they all depend on upon age and status. @tinsnip and I went into the answer in more detail here.

2) Okay, well, the way I make up Kardasi words is very time-consuming, so I'm not sure how useful it would be, but here we are:

My first step is to actually hit Dictionary.com. I look up the English word and check its etymology. Is it from Old English? Is it a loan word? If so, what root does it come from in its original language?

Two examples:

a) When I was looking to make colour words, I looked up "white" to see its origins and discovered that it's related to "wheat." Which is interesting to me, because I assumed that when people were looking for a word to describe something white, they'd compare it to clouds first. What are the Cardassians most likely to think of as white? Do I want to go with a similarity to wheat, or pick something else? (Snow is probably out.)

b) If I were to come up with a word for "fantastic," there are two things worth considering. One, its original usage has shifted in relatively recent times, from something bizarre and out of a fantasy to something really great. Second is the fact that "fantastic" came to the English language via Latin, and that via Greek.

Again, via Dictionary.com:

1350-1400; Middle English fantastik pertaining to the imaginative faculty < Medieval Latin fantasticus, variant of Late Latin phantasticus < Greek phantastikós able to present or show (to the mind), equivalent to *phantad-, base of phantázein to make visible (akin to phānós light, bright, phaínein to make appear) + -tikos -tic

So, in this case, I ask myself: Is the word I'm trying to translate likely to be native to Kardasi, or more likely to be a loan word from, say, Vulcan or the Federation? And am I translating the word with its current sense or its original sense?

(As a minor point, when I was asked to translate "kismesissitude," first I looked up several definitions of what the concept actually was [not being a Homestuck]. Then I thought about what the word broke down into [kismet + nemesis] and how its components related to the definition. And THEN I started thinking about how the Cardassians would think of the concept--would it be identical? Similar?)

My next step is to start looking over Cardassian words that are similar in meaning to the word I'm creating, if there are any. (I've started to make a list of these to simplify the process.) Learning one of J.R.R. Tolkien's Elven languages, Sindarin, gave me this idea, as Tolkien created a bunch of root sounds for concepts (fire, light, growth, etc.) and built his languages out of those. (Here is where they're listed, for the curious.)

If I have a sound that seems to turn up in numerous words (ex. "ot" turns up in both alcohol-related words [delot, alcohol] and words having to do with creating/drinking alcohol [ot'ta, bottle]), I'll find a way to incorporate it or something similar into the word I'm creating. If not, I'll think about how common the word is. For example, words that are very common or basic (cat, bed, tree, house) tend to have fewer syllables. Words that express more complex or nuanced concepts (feline, repose, arboreal, condominium) tend to have more. At the same time, words that are very basic in the English language (”snow,” again) might require a more complex word, or even a loanword in Kardasi.

Finally, I take into account the language as a whole. Which sounds turn up next to each other more often? Which sound combinations are rarer? If I've never seen the combination "zxq" in Kardasi before now, I'm not very likely to include it in a new word.

...And yes, I more or less follow all of these steps every time I make a new word in the language. I'm not sure how helpful this is for anyone else, but I feel as though this is at least useful to keep in mind while conlanging.

Disclaimer: While I'm a big ol' languages nerd, I've never formally studied language formation or anything like that. I've been doing more reading about it lately, but I have a degree in music education, not linguistics. So please keep that in mind.

your husband to be is a tzaddik

as someone whose dad once made a red bean paste challah, I would love to know about the egg-equivalent ingredients

This is what happens when you get a rep for being the Potterhead wikipedia. XD

Posted with permission from the lovely @badmadwolf, whose scientific streak often plunges into her fandoms, bringing much entertainment. XD

@badmadwolf: http://cryokina.tumblr.com/post/163376635577/ktae-ragesyndrome-ragesyndrome-i-always I like showing you HP shitposts to see your reactions, but I am actually curious about this. Do you think there are anti-vampire spells? And wouldn't a wand just be really likely to snap if you try and use it as a stabbing weapon, leaving you with an even angrier vampire and no wand?

me: I am pretty sure there are some foms of magic used against vampires, as in GoF we see references to vampire hunters and Rita Skeeter is said to have mentioned in an article that the Ministry was quibbling over cauldron thickness instead of "stamping out vampires".

me: *eyes own wand* I am pretty sure that a wand should not be used as a stake except as a desperate last resort. they are fairly thin pieces of wood and you are definitely more likely to break it than kill the vampire. you'd be better served by, idk, USING SOME FUCKING MAGIC.

@badmadwolf​: Yay, my assumptions have been backed up XD ...if you do Aguamenti does that count as running water the kinds of things vampires are weak to and HP spells don't really seem to intersect, unless you conjured or transmogrified something

me: I don't think it would, but I could be wrong. on the other hand, Incendio. burn the fucker :p

@badmadwolf​: ...or there's the direct method

me: transfigure a random twig into a big-ass stake and use that instead of using your wand to stab a vamp

@badmadwolf​: *thumbs up emoji*

me: hmm, what else are vamps weak to Diffindo. cut its head off.

@badmadwolf​: yep that'll do it

me: any other known traditional slaying methods? holy water would be a stretch, for sure, I don't think you can conjure that

@badmadwolf​: unless you could Accio a priest, which is its own set of problems XD and sunlight depending on myth, although iirc it just made Dracula lose his powers

me: yeah, he could only transform at noon garlic FLOWERS, not garlic cloves, were something he didn't like, too

@badmadwolf​: yep

me: and a branch of wild rose placed on his coffin would keep him there

@badmadwolf​: the garlic bulb is entertaining though

me: but in any case, fire, beheading, and stabbing in the heart are all things that could easily be done by a wix

@badmadwolf​: honestly at this point I could see it being psychosomatic -- vampires think it will hurt them so they react badly to it

me: it's possible, I suppose in any case, I'm flattered that you see this kind of thing and your reaction is to ask me how legit I think it is XD

@badmadwolf​: you send me animal IDs, I send you Potter meta ^^

me: XD it's very adorable and makes me feel useful XD

me: also, you couldn't summon a priest with Accio, because it can't be used on any living creatures... other than Flobberworms.

@badmadwolf​: ...are they unique or is this just a threshold of neural complexity could you summon like, a sponge or a jellyfish if it wouldn't immediately die if they are unique why is no one researching this

me: I think it's just because they are so close to being vegetables XD

@badmadwolf​: where are the exasperated wix grad students stuck with professors who won't quit researching this

This also ties in with my recent epiphany that there is probably an equally ridiculous amount of Boba Fett-themed merch *in-universe* and Mando'ade are just like "yeah this is a thing now"

LMAO YES I can just picture all the paraphernalia of Boba Fett, and maybe even Jango Fett since he’s his buir and was a renowned Hot Shot Bounty Hunter in his time ... and now I’m just picturing all the “genuine high quality Mandalorian action figures” of different, popular “celebrities” of the times, and the off-brand toys B’)