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artificialqueens · 4 years

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The same damn hunger (to be touched, to be loved, to be anything at all) (branjie) - writworm42

A/N: Vanessa is the CEO of a hotel chain, in town for the night. When she goes back to her bartender roots, an intriguing guest just happens to catch her eye.

Title from Strangers by Halsey & Lauren Jauregui. For Holtz, who is also a champ who beta-ed and consistently challenges me to be better <3

Before she’d bought the first hotel, before she’d expanded it into a chain, before she’d even thought about getting into the hospitality industry at all, Vanessa had been a bartender. It was how she’d gotten her start, in a way; twenty years old but lying on her resume, mixing drinks and batting her lashes for the patrons of that first little inn, the budget place trying to be bigger than itself with a cash bar stocked pretty much exclusively with vodka, rum, and gin, plus whatever soda was in the lobby’s dispenser that day.

It was funny what you could do with vodka, rum, and a charming smile. What a shitty boss could motivate you to do. So when Vanessa had saved up her tips, took out a loan, saved the slowly-failing inn and turned it around with help from a few friends she’d made with deeper pockets than she’d ever had, it was no surprise that she’d caught the bug. She’d gotten more and more ideas, more and more cash to keep pushing them forward.

Fast forward eight years and business at Mateo Hotels is booming, rocketing Vanessa towards a very comfortable place within orbit of the Top 30 Under 30.

Still, every once in a while, it’s nice to shed the businesswoman persona, reconnect with that twenty-year-old googling how to make a white Russian with milk she’d stolen from the breakfast bar. The twenty-year-old that had brought in a lot of business by herself, because when all you have is vodka, rum, gin, and your own boredom, of course you’re going to start mixing your own cocktails.

Which is exactly how she winds up behind the bar in one of her Nashville chains, taking a break from her most recent inspection-slash-business-meeting to test her skills, make sure she’s still got it. The executives don’t mind–after all, what are they gonna say, no, miss CEO, you can’t make us some extra money with some of the drinks you coined the recipes for? And anyway, it’s not like any of the other staff would know who she is–she’s never been one of those old white ‘from-the-ground-up’ phonies who puts up pictures of herself shaking hands with a mayor in her lobby. So she lets her hair down, shakes it out a little, slides out of her business suit and into a black top like all the other bartenders wear, and starts working her magic.

When she’s mixing drinks, she’s in the zone–nothing can knock her off her focus, take her eyes away from the glasses she’s working on, stop her hands from moving. She’s a professional, after all, and what’s more than that, an artist, hell bent on not just creating a good final product but also putting on a wonderful show.

Usually, at least. Tonight, it’s a little different–because when Vanessa looks up from the drink she’s sliding to a patron, she catches eyes with someone just behind him, a blonde woman who meets her gaze with a challenging smirk and a brief, but all-too-noticeable wink.

Vanessa can’t help but look up and try to make sure the blonde is watching almost every five seconds after that, hoping for an approving look or another wink or just another flash of that gorgeous, red-framed smile. She gets it every time, and within five minutes, she can’t focus anymore–her fingers wind up in a drink by accident, and she makes up her mind then and there that she’s in no condition to keep playing bartender right now.

No, the only thing she wants to do is slide out from behind the bar, lick the flavoured tonic from her fingers, and walk right up to the blonde, who’s still watching with a satisfied smirk.

“Took you long enough.” The blonde muses when Vanessa finally comes up to her, takes the other woman’s cue to sit down next to her. “I was starting to think you’d never get the hint.”

“Oh, I got the hint.” Vanessa licks her lips, suddenly breathless, because the woman is even better up close–Vanessa can tell her skin is soft and smooth just from looking at it, and her face is cool, confident, painted with the smug knowledge of her own irresistibility. Her fingers tap on the table in a mesmerizing, somehow graceful rhythm, and when Vanessa watches them, she can’t help but notice that even though the nails are painted a deep purple, they’re cut short and filed smooth.

This woman didn’t come to play, and Vanessa?

She’s completely taken by it.

“Name’s Brooke.” The blonde’s voice drops to a silky whisper, those perfect hands sliding towards Vanessa’s own, fingertips brushing against hers. “What’s yours, sweetheart?“

There’s a beat, a moment where Vanessa seizes, because a sudden thought flashes through her mind with a sudden risk presenting itself. If she says her name, the woman might put two and two together. While that might be fine, it may also make Vanessa vulnerable - or worse, make the woman feel like she’s got to fuck Vanessa, because otherwise she’s brushing someone important off. At the same time, what’s she going to do, come up with a fake name? It’s a viable option, sure, but if the woman wants to fuck again after, or if someone recognizes her and calls out her name, then it’s all over.

“Vanessa.” She finally decides, her name coming out on the heels of one gasping breath, because fuck it, she’ll take the chance–there’s enough Vanessas in the world, after all, and if the blonde hasn’t recognized her by now, then there’s a low chance a first name will make anything click.

“Your friends gonna notice if you’re gone, Vanessa?” Brooke smiles, leans back a little, because she knows, already knows what Vanessa’s answer is going to be, what’s inevitably going to happen next.

“Don’t you worry about that, sweetheart, I’m just here for the night.” Vanessa licks her lips, and for a moment, she’s almost sure that she can see Brooke blush. But if she did, then she regains her composure awfully fast, because that predatory look comes back in her eyes, gleams with approval and excitement at the thought of her prize.

“Then what d’you say we get out of here, make use of that one night you got?” Brooke purrs, and her hand is back on Vanessa’s, this time gripping it tightly.

“Sounds like it’s about time, baby.” Vanessa smiles. “Let’s go.”

Brooke chuckles a little to herself, gestures for Vanessa to get up from her chair.

“After you.”

–

Vanessa’s overcome with a rare shyness when she swipes the key in her door, lets Brooke into her room. It’s a pretty standard suite–Mateo Hotels may not be a bargain chain, but it certainly isn’t the Ritz, either. Still, there’s something vulnerable about letting Brooke into the space, this space that’s hers but not really. One she hasn’t even unpacked in yet, only dropped her suitcase, because she doesn’t plan on staying for more than the night before traveling back to HQ in LA.

Come to think of it, if it were anyone else, Vanessa probably wouldn’t think twice about the whole arrangement, about what they could gather from the way her room looks like it has no occupants at all. But Brooke is taking her time getting in behind her, scanning the room with eyes that pick it apart, flitting from surface to surface, all around the floor.

“You weren’t shitting me when you said just for the night.” Brooke whistles. “I wish I was this clean.”

Fuck. Vanessa probably looks strange now, uptight or square or something–definitely not the kind of girl someone as confident, as sure of herself as Brooke seems would want.

All is not lost, though; if there’s one thing the industry has taught her, it’s how to problem-solve, be flexible. In the crudest of terms–how to sell a room and make sure someone wants to spend the night in it.

“Y’know, I got in and didn’t have no time to rest.” Vanessa puts on a sigh, closes the distance between herself and Brooke by grabbing the blonde’s waist, stroking her sides. “Ain’t even had time to test the bed.”

“Yeah?” Brooke snorts, but smiles despite herself.

“Yeah.” Vanessa gets up on her toes, presses a light kiss to Brooke’s cheek. “‘S’okay, though. You’re gonna help with that, ain’t you?”

“Not if you keep going with cheesy lines.” Brooke deadpans, but it’s a lost cause–because she’s already gripping Vanessa back, pushing her closer as the smaller woman kisses along her jawline, down to her neck, teasing pecks that make Brooke’s breath hitch already.

Perfect.

“Why don’t you go sit on the bed, pretty girl?” Vanessa pulls back suddenly, a flash of satisfaction running through her when Brooke fails to stifle a quiet whine at the loss of contact. “Mami’s gotta get ready, so sit tight.”

A wink, a little wave, and Vanessa’s off to the bathroom, acutely aware of and perfectly content with how Brooke is watching her as she goes.

Truth be told, Vanessa doesn’t actually have to get ready, not really–she takes off her jacket and pants, untucks her shirt so that it can fall just below her ass. Takes a second to play around with her hair. Mostly, she wants to build the suspense–get Brooke thinking about what’s going to happen, maybe even scheming in her own right. Vanessa can’t wait to see what Brooke is coming up with, almost as much as she can’t wait to see how she can turn those expectations on their head. And when she finally re-emerges from the bathroom, she’s not disappointed.

“My, my.” Vanessa tsks as she walks towards Brooke, who’s stripped down to her underwear and is waiting with a smirk on her face.

“You aren’t the only one who had to get ready, Mami.” Brooke purrs. “But I have to say, I’m disappointed,” she looks Vanessa up and down, her eyes stopping at the hem of the younger woman’s shirt, “seems I’m underdressed.”

“For now.” Vanessa winks, and Brooke laughs, scooting over to make room for Vanessa on the bed.

“Can I kiss you?” Vanessa drops her voice to a whisper, leaning in as she brings a hand to rest on Brooke’s thigh, thumb stroking at the pale, smooth skin.

Brooke doesn’t answer; only brings her hands up to Vanessa’s cheeks, pulls her in to close the distance between them completely. Brooke tastes like lipstick and cigarettes, and the minute Vanessa’s lips touch hers, she can’t get enough. They keep making out even as Brooke’s hands snake to Vanessa’s front, hurrying to undo the buttons of her shirt. Vanessa, for her part, lets her hands travel over Brooke’s sides, nails leaving light scratches that make the blonde shiver. Finally, Vanessa’s shirt is open, and Brooke’s hands are on her tits, and–

Vanessa pulls herself away, and then there’s that whine again, that pitiful, frustrated noise Brooke lets out and that Vanessa wants to hear again and again. Because riling Brooke up, making her desperate–it’s absolutely intoxicating.

“Lie down on the bed, baby girl.” Vanessa orders, but Brooke frowns.

“You’re not–but you–Are you saying you want to top?” Brooke looks down at Vanessa’s hands, at the long, perfectly-manicured acrylics that frame her nails, and it’s cute, really, that Brooke thinks Vanessa wouldn’t have thought this far ahead. So she licks her lips, looks directly at Brooke, and takes each press-on nail off one by one, grin getting wider with every finger.

“Any more problems?”

“No.” Brooke squeaks, looking from Vanessa’s hands to her eyes before the blonde’s face melts into an excited smile. “No problems at all.”

“Good.” Vanessa laughs, leaning down to plant a soft, slow kiss on Brooke’s lips, “That’s what I like to hear.”

Brooke gasps into Vanessa’s lips as the kiss deepens, little sighs and whimpers sounding in Vanessa’s ears as she eases the taller woman back onto the bed, brings her hands to her face and strokes her cheeks with her thumbs. It’s adorable, absolutely addicting, and only spurs Vanessa on further as arousal lights between her legs, her panties already starting to become slick and damp as she continues to play with Brooke, find out what makes her tick.

“Remember how you said you were underdressed?” Vanessa moves her kisses away from Brooke’s mouth, trailing them instead down her neck, licking and sucking over the sharp line of her collarbone.

“Yeah?” Brooke’s voice is breathless, and Vanessa can’t help but giggle against Brooke’s skin because it’s cute, how worked up she already is, absolutely adorable.

“I think it’s quite the opposite.”

Brooke barely has time to react before Vanessa is pulling her up, grabbing her bra and undoing it to replace the cups with her hands, kneading and grabbing and rolling Brooke’s already-hardening nipples between her fingers.

“That feel good, sweetheart?” Vanessa grins when Brooke sighs in relief, leans into her touch. She nods, and Vanessa can’t help but feel a surge of happiness in her chest, because she’s proud of herself, she really is, that she can make Brooke feel so good, make her come undone so fast. And Brooke, for her part, seems to be enjoying it just as much.

“More, please, I need your mouth, fuck .” Brooke grabs Vanessa by the waist, holds her down with a firm grip that makes Vanessa’s skin burn with need.

And Vanessa can’t resist–she leans down, sucks a nipple into her mouth, swirls her tongue around it and grazes it with her teeth, reveling in each tiny gasp or moan the movements elicit from Brooke. And then Brooke’s hands are knotted in Vanessa’s hair, tugging just a little, spurring Vanessa on, and she’s completely gone, unable to hold back anymore.

“Lie back down.” Vanessa kisses her way across Brooke’s chest, darts her tongue over the blonde’s other nipple. “I wanna take care of you.”

“ Please. ”

Vanessa travels down the rest of Brooke’s body with an uncontrolled hunger, kissing and licking and nipping skin without knowing what it is, where her mouth is falling, because she doesn’t care. It’s not important, because no matter where her lips land, they’re on Brooke, and that’s all Vanessa needs.

“So wet.” Vanessa chuckles when she finally reaches Brooke’s hips, slides a hand between her legs to stroke along her slit. “Are you already that horny, baby? Already such a mess for me? Awww, that’s so cute.” Vanessa emphasizes the statement with a flick towards Brooke’s clit, grins when the blonde’s hips twitch in response.

“Please, Vanessa, please, just take them off–”

“Aw, but I’m having so much fun.” Vanessa pouts, resuming stroking over Brooke’s pussy through her panties, adding more pressure little by little. “Besides, I think you could be more desperate, don’t you?” Vanessa brings her fingers to Brooke’s clit, presses down and circles it lightly, and Brooke moans, shakes her head.

“Please, holy fuck, please…”

Well, the teasing was fun while it lasted.

Vanessa takes Brooke’s panties off slowly, one last bit of torture that makes her squirm and whine with impatience before Vanessa finally plants a kiss at the top of her slit, licks along it and around her folds.

“ Fuck ,” Vanessa moans up against Brooke’s cunt, making her shiver, “You taste so fucking good.”

Vanessa kitten-licks around her clit, finally sliding home with just the slightest flick of her tongue and smirking when it elicits a moan from Brooke, her hips bucking and hand once again snaking into Vanessa’s hair. It’s enough to make a flash of heat run through Vanessa’s whole body as she sucks a kiss on Brooke’s cunt, take her breath away as she licks a slow circle around it.

“God, you’re good at that.” Brooke lets out a breathless laugh as Vanessa continues to lap at her pussy, tease her clit.

“Hmm.” Vanessa hums, picking up her pace a little and feeling a surge of pride when Brooke goes rigid, whimpers and moans and presses Vanessa’s face closer.

“You want me to do even better, sweetheart?”

The idea comes to Vanessa’s mind in a split second, but it sticks there, seeming better and better with every heartbeat that pounds against her chest. She slides a hand away from its resting place on Brooke’s leg, trails it down her inner thigh, brings it to her entrance, and she knows in an instant she made the right choice, because Brooke is coming to life, her movements against Vanessa’s face suddenly frenetic and the grip in her hair getting that much tighter.

“Please, want your fingers, please…”

“How many?” Vanessa asks, although she’s already teasing at Brooke’s cunt with two fingers, waiting to push them inside.

“I can take three.”

God, this is gonna be fun .

Vanessa pushes inside with two fingers first, slow and shallow pumps to warm Brooke up and feel her out, find out what makes her tick. As it turns out, it’s easy to find Brooke’s spot–it’s nice and shallow, and the minute Vanessa hits it, Brooke moans, her legs trembling as Vanessa continues to suck at her clit, hooking her fingers over her spot to tease at it all the while. A few more kisses, a few more licks, and she pulls out just a little, adds a third finger amidst babbling pleas to hurry up, more, more, God, please, I need more.

Vanessa’s always been relentless when topping, but Brooke is by far the most responsive girl she’s ever fucked, and it’s amazing, it really is, how loud she’s getting, how much she’s shaking, how hard she’s begging for Vanessa to make her come. And when she finally gets her wish, finally gets pushed over the edge with a final thrust, a final kiss over her clit, her moans are probably the most satisfying sounds Vanessa’s ever had the privilege of hearing. She licks and fucks Brooke through her orgasm, gradually decreasing her pace before pulling out, and when she finally comes back up, licks her fingers clean and pulls Brooke in for a kiss, Brooke is still shaking, still panting, still whispering.

“That was amazing, baby.” Brooke sighs, sated, as she settles back down on the bed, opening her arms for Vanessa to move in closer, nestle into her embrace. “You’re always so fucking good, you know that?”

“Why else would you marry me?” Vanessa winks, and Brooke laughs, plants a kiss on top of her head.

“I liked the stranger game though, it was fun.” Brooke smiles, her eyes twinkling, and fuck, Vanessa could stare at those eyes forever, she really could. Especially now that she’s revisited such an exciting time in her past, a time where she was seeing them for the first time.

“Play it again next week?” Vanessa suggests, and Brooke nods, smiling.

“It’s a date.”

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #lesbian au #smut #writworm42 #tw mommy kink

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lingthusiasm · 6 years

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Transcript Lingthusiasm Episode 22: This, that and the other thing - determiners

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm Episode 22: This, that and the other thing - determiners. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the Episode 22 shownotes page.

[Music]

Gretchen: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! I'm Gretchen McCulloch.

Lauren: And I'm Lauren Gawne, and today we're talking about this, that, and the other thing! The other thing of course being determiners. But first: We met our recent Patreon goal to do a live show!

Gretchen: Yay, live show! I'm excited! We will have more news for you about where and when that live show is gonna be, but stay tuned!

Lauren: Thanks to everyone who helped us meet this goal, all of our fabulous patrons who make these main episodes happen ad-free and available for everyone, and who, of course, as a thank you from us, get a bonus episode every month as well!

Gretchen: And if you're a patron, you'll also have seen the advance announcement that since we also met our art goal a while back –

Lauren: Yay, art goal!

Gretchen: – we now have preview art up on Patreon which you can see, a sample sketch, and we're announcing here that the theme for this art is space babies!

Lauren: Space babies! We are so excited. Space babies have been with us since Episode 1, where we talked about what would happen on the International Space Station, given that they speak both Russian and English as their daily languages, if we sent a whole bunch of babies to space to grow up.

Gretchen: Yes, if all the astronauts and cosmonauts started having babies together, what would the babies speak? So we have an international array of cute babies floating in space, very unethically, we are not sending any actual babies to space, but they're very cute when they're cartoon versions!

Lauren: We just couldn't get the ethics.

Gretchen: To be honest, we didn't try to get the ethics, we knew we couldn't.

Lauren: We've talked about space babies in a couple of other episodes, and of course we always love to chat about just what great language learners babies are, so we're very happy to have some cute little mascots for the show. And we'll be launching merch for those very soon!

Gretchen: And this has been one of our most popular quotes with you, the listeners, all the way through, so you will get to wear, or have stickers of, small, cute babies very soon! And you can see this preview and listen to two new bonus episodes – one about forensic linguistics, and another about homonyms – by becoming a patron.

[Music]

Lauren: Okay, Gretchen, it's time to determine who knows the most determiners. Are you ready? This is not a competition, but, you know, I love framing things as a competition.

Gretchen: It's a competition! It's on! Okay. I'm gonna start with "the."

Lauren: Oh, damn, you chose the easy one! I'm gonna go with "a."

Gretchen: My.

Lauren: This.

Gretchen: Your?

Lauren: That?

Gretchen: Her.

Lauren: Its.

Gretchen: His.

Lauren: Many?

Gretchen: Their... I did all the possessives, I'm sorry, it's really easy.

Lauren: That's very possessive of you, Gretchen.

Gretchen: Our!

Lauren: Some?

Gretchen: A.

Lauren: Three.

Gretchen: And also "an," because "an" is just kind of the same one.

Lauren: Okay, you get half a point for "an" because I had "a."

Gretchen: Uh, those.

Lauren: Four.

Gretchen: These.

Lauren: Five.

Gretchen: Some.

Lauren: Six.

Gretchen: Okay, if you're gonna do numbers we can be here... all day.

Lauren: Seven.

Gretchen: Like, until eternity.

Lauren: Eight, nine... okay, we have literally an infinite number of determiners ahead of us. It's probably not gonna make for a good episode if it's just me counting to infinity.

Gretchen: I think we need to declare it a tie, because we can't count who knows the most infinity numbers.

Lauren: Yup. And it's a good conclusion. Thanks for playing our game, Determiners Determinered.

Gretchen: Determiner Determiner Game. But determiners are really cool! And there are a lot of them, and I know when I learned about them, it kind of blew my mind that all of these different things that I thought of as different kinds of parts of speech actually had this hidden thing in common.

Lauren: Yeah, so even though that sounded like a grab bag of words that you think of as coming from different categories – like numbers, and possessive pronouns, and articles, and things that you've talked about as different parts of speech – if you've ever done any grammar, are actually part of the same group of things called determiners. And it's like discovering that all of these people that you thought were really cool all have something in common that makes them even cooler?

Gretchen: Like they all have a mutual friend with you, or – in my case, it's like discovering that all your friends are all also left-handed, because this happens to me periodically. It's like, "You're left-handed, too! Great!"

Lauren: Or it's like when I discover that a bunch of my friends are vegetarian and I'm like, "Yes! Dinner parties at my house!"

Gretchen: I will still come to your dinner parties even though I'm not vegetarian.

Lauren: Okay, thank you, tolerant carnivore.

Gretchen: Omnivore!

Lauren: But that's like, you know, there are some omnivores who will turn up to the party, and they might be doing different things at other parties sometimes, but they're very happy to be vegetarians at my parties. And that is kind of like determiners, these parts of speech that might have other jobs, but they have this job as well.

Gretchen: Yeah, and what I really like about determiner is that they're these tiny little words, and they can really drastically change the course of a story you're talking about, just by influencing the perspective or the relationship that you have with the main noun in the sentence. So if you start with a story like, "I was walking home last night and I saw a cat." So far...

Lauren: Great story.

Gretchen: Oh, it's a good story, any story with a cat is a good story. But so far it's a pretty straightforward story. Nothing surprising here.

Lauren: But it's clearly a cat you don't know.

Gretchen: Yeah.

Lauren: Or we think you don't know, at this point in the story.

Gretchen: But if I say, "I was walking home last night and I saw the cat..."

Lauren: Oh my god, your cat got out and then you saw it!

Gretchen: So maybe that's my cat, but maybe that's just, like, The Cat of Doom.

Lauren: Mmm!

Gretchen: Or, like, "I was walking last night and I saw that cat."

Lauren: Aw, has it been scratching up all of your plants again?

Gretchen: That darn cat! Or if I say, "I was walking home last night and I saw your cat..."

Lauren: Oh! I mean, that's surprising given that you live in a different city and I don't have a cat, but, you know...

Gretchen: We live in different continents, like, your cat is a good swimmer! "I was walking home last night and I saw many cats..."

Lauren: Oh, lucky you!

Gretchen: Well, depends on how many. "I was walking home last night and I saw a million cats!"

Lauren: "I was walking home last night and I saw at least ten cats."

Gretchen: Like, I'm scared now. You know that thing about “would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or a thousand duck-sized horses?”?

Lauren: Yes.

Gretchen: Like, a million cats, I don't want to fight them!

Lauren: No.

Gretchen: And I don't even think I want them all to sit in my lap, because I think I'd be crushed.

Lauren: Yes, that is a lot of fluff.

Gretchen: Yeah. So what's interesting about determiners is they can – you know, all of these were the same story, except for the determiner. And it's really having a huge influence in terms of what happened and the relationship between the noun "cat" and the rest of the sentence, the rest of the story. It determines which cat I'm talking about, or – "which" being another determiner – or what kind of relationship that cat has to the sentence as a whole.

Lauren: I always think of determiners as a really important reality check in terms of semantics. We often think about whether it was a cat or a dog, like that part of the meaning is really important. It's like, well, that part is, but the determiner is the part that makes it clear just how real it is, if it's a hypothetical cat, if it's a real dog, if it's my cat or my dog.

Gretchen: And especially it tells us things like whether it's been previously mentioned in conversation. Like if I say, "I saw a cat" or "I saw the cat" – if I say, "I saw the cat," that implies that it's been mentioned somehow before, it's an aforementioned cat, or it's a cat that's been previously relevant. Or if I say, "I saw this cat" versus "I saw that cat," those cats are different distances from me. Or, you know, "Do you want this book or that book?" The "this book" is closer and the "that book" is further away.

Lauren: I like to think about this proximity distinction a lot, because English has squandered the opportunity to have yet another proximity distinction. Because we used to have "yon" or "yonder" as part of the regular vocabulary, which was, like, further away than "that." And so I could say, "Tell me about yon cat," and that would be like, "Tell me about the cat that's all the way over there" in the story that you're telling.

Gretchen: That would be great. I think we should bring back "yon."

Lauren: We should bring back the far distal demonstrative.

Gretchen: I'm into it. I was walking home last night and I saw yon cat!

Lauren: Well, I mean, it was the size of a horse, so it was pretty easy to see.

Gretchen: That's why I could see it from so far away.

Lauren: Yep. And there are some languages that still have these distinctions, I think Portuguese is a language that has it.

Gretchen: Yeah, I know Spanish does. You can have, like, "ese gato" and "aquel gato," I think.

Lauren: Yep. And you can have a distinction between "essa," which is like me/you in Portuguese, but you can have "aquela," which is like over there, away from both of us. Which, in terms of like asking people to fetch cake for you, which is a context I think about a lot, distinguishing between the cake that's near you and the cake that is further away on the table and not near either of us, like, English doesn't do that very elegantly.

Gretchen: I think it's really important, you know, if you're going to a bakery or something and you're looking behind the glass and you're saying, "Yeah, I want three of these, and three of those, and three of yon."

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: The cakes over yonder!

Lauren: So English, even though it has a lot of distinctions, we're still missing out on some good semantics.

Gretchen: Yeah! And some languages don't have this distinction between "a" and "the" at all, really! Like, some languages do just fine without it, and it's clear based on the discourse which one is there. One of the other cool things that I really like about determiners is that they can let us do – like a lot of these little little, tiny parts of speech, these little words that are kind of the glue between the big, important content words that have all this very vivid, drawable or picture-able or pointable meaning – you know, you can draw a picture of a cat, you can't draw a picture of a "the" or of a "this." I mean, maybe you want to try! I'd like to see someone try, but I don't know what's in that picture! And so when you're thinking about the type of things that can be pictured, one of the things that lets us bring in and integrate new words, or nonsense words, or fake words, or be really creative with language, is these little building blocks that tell us, when we're bringing in a new fake word, what we're actually trying to do with that word. So it's not just an entire string of gibberish, it's gibberish that sounds like it could be kind of English-y, which is a really interesting halfway point.

Lauren: And it does this by leveraging things like determiners.

Gretchen: Yeah! And determiners are a huge part of this. So if you have a poem like Jabberwocky, which is a great poem...

Lauren: Good old Jabberwocky! I give this to my students and I say, "Well, how do you know what part of speech 'wabe' is?" Because "wabe" is not a real word.

Gretchen: So this is a poem by Lewis Carroll which begins, "'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe." So it's English-y! It's got some English in there, there's an "and," and there's a "the," and there's a "did," and there's an "in," but there's also all these words that aren’t English: brillig, and slithy, and toves, and gyre, and gimble, and wabe. And yet we know that if you say, "'Twas brillig," that the "brillig" there is gonna be an adjective, and the "slithy toves" – "slithy" is also gonna be an adjective, but "tove" has got to be a noun.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: And the reason we know that is because of the "the" there.

Lauren: And similar with "the wabe." There's only one wabe in the Jabberwocky, there's not a million wabes.

Gretchen: Yeah! And you know that because of the "the."

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: And it creates – if you said, "'Twas brillig and some some slithy toves did gyre and gimble in a wabe..."

Lauren: You'd be like, "Oh, just one of those common wabes, yeah, we've all got one."

Gretchen: Exactly! So it really kind of creates a different attitude of perspectives and speakers, like, okay, this thing is common knowledge. We don't know what a wabe is, but we know it's a thing that is previously mentioned in the discourse, or that there's only one of, the way you might say "the sea" or "the ocean" rather than "a puddle."

Lauren: Of course Jabberwocky's all well and good, but I like to use snek memes as my diagnostic tool.

Gretchen: So this is the meme with the snakes in it.

Lauren: And snakes, of course, like all animals in picture memes on the internet, talk really funny!

Gretchen: Yes. And they're particularly good at making things nouns that aren't supposed to be nouns?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: Or that weren't originally nouns. So the classic snek sentence that I always think of when I think of the snek meme is, "Heck off, you're doing me a frighten!"

Lauren: And there are a few others that we have from Snekville here: "I do a flat." "I am much venom." "Snek ned a boopings." "I'm doing a protec."

Gretchen: And so all of these – you have "a frighten." "Frighten" normally in English is a verb, but here the "a" is what's making it into a noun. And you parse it as a noun, that's what makes it work, but the determiner is really what's telling you. It's kind of the traffic signal for the streets that your noun and verb cars run down, that tell them where to go.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: And the same thing with "much venom," the "much" there, another determiner, is telling you, okay, "venom" here, which would be a noun, is now actually I guess kind of...

Lauren: It's a different kind of noun, yeah. It's changing the flavor of the noun.

Gretchen: Yeah. Or "snek need a boopings," you know, you don't normally put "a" with a plural noun. "Boopings."

Lauren: Because "a" is one specific thing.

Gretchen: Yeah, there's a lot of things there that – like, the thing that makes snek an interesting and creative meme is that it has the determiners telling you here's why these nouns and these adjectives and stuff sound weird.

Lauren: I like that you pointed out, when we were assembling our mini snek corpus for the episode, that snek is really obsessed with the use of "a" rather than "the."

Gretchen: Mm, yeah. So snek doesn't say, "You're doing me the frighten," or "I do the flat," like I do the twist, or "snek need the boopings," "I'm doing the protec." Those don't sound very snek-like to me!

Lauren: No, there's something about the indeterminate. Everything is possible for snek, everything is multitudes.

Gretchen: Yeah, whereas when I think of earlier memes, especially the kind of lolcat memes that often respelled "the" as "teh” –

Lauren: Yeah. Well, I think it's just 'cause the "the" as "teh" was so much more salient, because it was graphically irregular, that it kind of seems much more prominently "cat."

Gretchen: Yeah, I think of "teh" as cats and "a" as snek. So each each animal meme gets its own characteristic determiner. Well, and we can even think of, like, the doge meme, which has like, "wow such meme!"

Lauren: Doge was very obsessed with "such" and "much" and these, like, quantifying...

Gretchen: And "many."

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: Yeah, all these quantifier determiners. So, yeah! They tend to draw on a characteristic set of determiners, which I think is kind of interesting.

Lauren: Yeah. "Do me such frighten" would be more doge-y.

Gretchen: Yeah, and like, "Do me teh frighten" might be more lolcat-y.

Lauren: Yeah. Gosh, imagine if Lewis Carroll was alive in the time of animal memes!

Gretchen: I feel like Jabberwocky is already almost a meme. If you put that on some images, it would kind of look meme-like. And I think you can even see – so we did an episode a little while back about the wug test. So the wug test is, you show people a picture of this cute, little, nonsense animal, and you say, "This is a wug. Now there are two of them. There are two..." And you leave open that space for them to fill in "two wugs," which is how you know people can generalise the plural to words they've never heard before, even little kids.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: But the thing that makes that test possible is that we have certain expectations and certain relationships with determiners. "This is a wug." So here's a new piece of information to you, you haven't necessarily seen one of these before. And then saying, "Now there are two of them. There are two..." You know, numbers are also determiners, so "there are two..." fills in, okay, you want to say this again, you want to say this noun again.

Lauren: I wonder if you could mess up kids doing the test by saying, "This is the wug."

Gretchen: Hmm!

Lauren: Because if you say, "This is the wug", and imply that there's, like, one, saying there are two could potentially confuse them.

Gretchen: Yeah, that's interesting! Because there are some things that... Can you do this? Because I'm thinking of, like, there are some proper names that you can say, like, "The Flash," for a superhero, but I don't think you can say, like, "Now there are two of them, there are two... The Flashes?

Lauren: The Flashes.

Gretchen: Like, what if The Flash was in some sort of, like, clone/evil twin weird movie where there was a second The Flash, are they now called The Flashes? How does that work?

Lauren: The Flashes. It sounds like a really bad band or a spate of petty criminals.

Gretchen: This is my band, The Flashes.

Lauren: Yeah, so the wug test also relies on determiners in a really low-key way, but it's still really important for it.

Gretchen: And this kind of brings us into determiners and how they interact with names of people or names of places and other types of proper nouns that are unique and singular.

Lauren: Yeah. So we've said so far that determiners, you just whack 'em on a noun and it's all good, but there are a bunch of nouns that they don't work too good with! And proper nouns are definitely those, so people names and place names.

Gretchen: Yeah, like I am not "the Gretchen," I don't think anyone can say that. Welcome to Lingthusiasm, I'm the Gretchen McCulloch!

Lauren: But you are the Gretchen of Lingthusiasm. Someone could ask if you're the Gretchen from All Things Linguistic.

Gretchen: That's true, yeah! Like, "Are you the Gretchen that's on Lingthusiasm or are you some other Gretchen?" I think maybe it's easier with your name, Lauren, because "Lauren" is a far more common name.

Lauren: Well, yeah, I am definitely a Lauren. Like I talk about being a linguist Lauren on Twitter, and how much I love all the other linguist Laurens.

Gretchen: I know many linguist Laurens.

Lauren: And saying, you know, in the 2000s that someone was a real Britney...

Gretchen: Mmm!

Lauren: It takes on a kind of adjectival title property of that name being very trendy at that time and having certain connotations and extra meanings.

Gretchen: Yeah, like, a Britney is definitely different from a Karen.

Lauren: Yes.

Gretchen: You have different associations between those. So, I read this really weird short story called "And Then There Were (N-One)" by Sarah Pinkser.

Lauren: Hang on. "And Then There Were N Minus One"?

Gretchen: Yeah, it's a pun on the Agatha Christie story, "And Then There Were None."

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: And the premise of the story – I guess this is a spoiler. It's a great story, though, you should read it. I won't spoil the ending.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: I'll just spoil the premise partway through. So the author is Sarah Pinsker, and she kind of involves herself as a character in this story. She gets a mysterious letter that says, "We have discovered the theory of multiple universes such that every decision that anybody has ever made has created a proliferation of universes. And we're inviting you to a convention with all of the other Sarah Pinskers.”

Lauren: Ah, so she's just a Sarah Pinsker.

Gretchen: Right! And so you're gonna meet the Sarah Pinsker that didn't move to Seattle, or you're gonna meet the Sarah Pinsker that didn't end up dating your girlfriend. Like, you're gonna meet all of these different, other Sarah Pinskers.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: And some of the Sarah Pinskers have changed their last name, but they're still a Sarah. And so the story has a lot of her trying to identify the different Sarahs once she meets them. So she's like, "Okay, so this is the Sarah that was wearing the band t-shirt," or, "This is the Sarah that was wearing the cute dress,” or, "This is the Sarah that had her hair in a long braid."

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: Or she'll go into a room and she'll be like, "Well, there were seven Sarahs in the room." Or like, "One Sarah said, and then another Sarah said..." And so you're doing all of these determiner things to this proper name, because suddenly "Sarah" has become a type rather than just a unique referent.

Lauren: "Sarah" just sounds like any other noun right now.

Gretchen: Yeah! Right? Like, you're totally semantically satiated on "Sarah" because it just doesn't even feel like it's a person's name anymore. And by the time I got to the end of this short story, which was very interesting in terms of what it means – you know, interesting questions of identity – it was like, what do all of these Sarahs mean and what does this mean about your ability to make these types of decisions? But grammatically I also thought it was very interesting because you don't often get to have proper names being pluralised and "the Sarah" and "a Sarah" and "one Sarah," "another Sarah," and these kinds of things.

Lauren: Certainly not sustainedly.

Gretchen: Yeah! So you have this whole short story where it does that. We'll link to it, it's a great short story.

Lauren: I find it interesting – we were talking about this briefly the other day when we were talking about this topic – how superhero names do this, and I couldn't find anything, because this is definitely not my genre of popular entertainment, but if you have any links about the use of "the" or not in front of superhero names. It's kind of interesting, because we have, you know, The Flash and The Phantom, but it would be really weird to have The Superman.

Gretchen: The Batman!

Lauren: The Wonder Woman.

Gretchen: Well, I was actually also thinking of this in terms of other mythical creatures! 'Cause you have, like, Santa Claus, not the Santa Claus. But then you have –

Lauren: But you have the Easter Bunny!

Gretchen: The Easter Bunny! And the Tooth Fairy!

Lauren: Hmm! Santa, special status.

Gretchen: Right? And all the reindeer, too. Like, you have Rudolph, not the Rudolph.

Lauren: The Mrs. Claus.

Gretchen: The Mrs. Claus! I guess you have "the elves," because they don't have unique identities, but that's a little bit less distinctive.

Lauren: Yeah. Poor elves.

Gretchen: Well, and the same thing goes for other types of generic items. So you have, like, the internet, but something people kind of make fun of sometimes is often older people who talk about, like, "the Google" or "the Facebook."

Lauren: Well, the Facebook was The Facebook and they made –

Gretchen: Yeah, it was originally called The Facebook!

Lauren: The mysterious forces of branding and naming were like, "It's not cool, just make it Facebook."

Gretchen: I was trying to think of any other major companies that had "the" in them. I'm sure I'll think of one as soon as I stop trying to go for it. Like, you don't have like "The Amazon," or "The Microsoft," or "The Coca-Cola." You know, like... The Coca- Cola?? The Pepsi??

Lauren: It doesn't really work.

Gretchen: The McDonald's? I don't know if there are any that really do that.

Lauren: English isn't that big on putting determiners in front of proper nouns, unless it's in sci-fi.

Gretchen: And you do have, sometimes, "the" in front of other words that are just kind of generic, like you say, "The power went out."

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: It's the power, it's not a power. Like, the electricity is out. It's a specific thing, but it's also kind of not.

Lauren: Yeah. And this is what makes languages always fun to learn, because what you do by default in one language and use determiners all over the place in one context, you might not in another language.

Gretchen: Yeah, absolutely. Like in countries. Most countries in English you don't say, you know, "the Canada" or "the Australia."

Lauren: Welcome to the Australia! It does not sound natural or native to my English speaker intuition.

Gretchen: No. But a few of them – like, you say "the United States" or "the United Kingdom," partly because those are compound phrases.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: You don't say "the Great Britain."

Lauren: No.

Gretchen: Or "the England." And then you also have some like Ukraine, which used to be known as the Ukraine, and now they're like, "No, please call us just Ukraine, because we want to be like all the other countries." But there are still a few countries like the Vatican or the Hague that go by "the"s.

Lauren: Uhh, The Hague is a city.

Gretchen: Is it a city? Okay. Well, so there we go.

Lauren: So there are a few places like the Vatican and the Hague that are still using determiners in English, but it's definitely not a standard convention.

Gretchen: Yeah, exactly. But in French, for example, you do put determiners in front of all your countries. So you have "le Canada," and "la France," and "l'Australie," and these kinds of things. So these are these, like, weird, little subtle variations that even when a language seems like they have direct equivalents, they get used slightly differently in different contexts. My favourite ridiculously complicated word having to do with determiners...

Lauren: Yep. I've already used the word "proximal" in this episode so you're gonna beat me.

Gretchen: This is a word that you only ever use because you can have it, and I've only ever seen linguists use it to be like, "What a great word!" And I've never actually seen it in a context where someone wasn't sign-posting how great a word it was? So definitely don't think you have to know this word to be a linguist, but also a lot of linguistics really like this word. And this word is "anarthrous." I think I'm pronouncing it right.

Lauren: Anarthrous?

Gretchen: Anarthrous. And this means "not having a 'the.'"

Lauren: Mmm! That's a really obscure word for saying "this word doesn't have a 'the.'"

Gretchen: It's such a complicated word for such a simple concept. And so "arthrous," without the "an-", would be "having a 'the,'" and "anarthrous" would be "not having a 'the.'"

Lauren: Anarthrous also just sounds like a really great roller derby name for a linguist nerd.

Gretchen: Hi, my name is Ann! Ann Arthrous.

Lauren: Yep, done.

Gretchen: So a context where you might use this, and a context where I recently saw this word, was in Lynne Murphy's book, which we talked about in a recent episode, where she talks about how Americans will say, "I'm in the hospital," and Brits will say, "I'm in hospital." And so for Brits, "hospital" is anarthrous. And for Americans, "hospital" is arthrous, as in, you put a "the" there. And you can do it with similar things, like, you go to school, you don't go to the school.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: But you go to, like, the grocery store, which is the generic grocery store, even if you mean a specific one.

Lauren: That's a good word. Try to use it in a sentence today.

Gretchen: Use it today! No one will understand you. And then you too will get to explain what it means! This is the thing that's always stopped me from getting any active use of the word, 'cause I know no one else would get it either.

Lauren: We'll post a link to that in the show notes, so you also know how to spell it.

Gretchen: Lynne's got this great point in her book where she talks about the "in hospital" thing, and then she's like, "It's anarthrous!" And then she puts in brackets, "A word which I only use because it's so great, and here's what it means." And I'm like, yeah, I see what you did there.

Lauren: Pretty much.

Gretchen: I would have done the same thing.

Lauren: So we mentioned briefly that even English can't agree on when you use articles and determiners and when you don't use them, and that varies even more cross-linguistically. We saw it with English and French, but I also like that different languages have different resources to draw on. And we talked about how determiners are this diverse group of words that can kind of be invited to the same party and hang out together and do a similar thing. And I think it's really interesting, if you've learnt a couple of languages, you might notice that some of the languages you speak have a distinct word that meets the function of "a" or "an," but some languages just co-opt their word for "one" in doing that.

Gretchen: Oh yeah, that's true!

Lauren: Yeah. So, Syuba is a language like that, the Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal that I work with. So if you want to refer to an indeterminate, just any particular one of a thing, you would say "gùri tɕí," "one cat," and that does the same job as "a" without having to invent a whole other word.

Gretchen: I think there are a bunch of European languages that do that too, because I know French and Spanish do, and German does, you have "un chat," or "un gato," or "eine Katze." And those are all the same as the word for "one" in those languages.

Lauren: And there's a there's a really great WALS map – we've talked about the World Atlas of Linguistic Structures before – that shows where there are languages that have a distinct type determiner and languages that use the numeral one for that function.

Gretchen: Oh, that's very cool. So we can click on this link and see a map of different coloured dots where the word for "a" is the same as the word for "one" and where it's different.

Lauren: Yep!

Gretchen: That's really neat!

Lauren: And the definite equivalent, so the "the" equivalent, is "dì," and that's the same as the word for "this."

Gretchen: Oh, okay!

Lauren: So they don't have a separate "the" and "this," they just have this one form, "dì." They have a distal, and they have a "somewhere between far and near" as well, super cool. And what's really cool is that for the "the" equivalent, you say "dì gùri," or "the cat," and in this case the determiner is before the noun, and with the number, it was after, it was "gùri tɕí" so that's "cat one" as a kind of literal translation. And it's really, again, a nice reminder that determiners can have such different functions and they can occur in different parts of the sentence in relation to the noun, but they still all have this same function.

Gretchen: And there's a map of that, too, of which languages have their word for "this" and their word for "the" as the same.

Lauren: Yep. Thanks, WALS!

Gretchen: What I find is kind of the most interesting thing about determiners as a category is the way that they kind of unify a bunch of things that we think of as similar. Latin actually has this thing that's very similar to what's in Syuba, which is their word for "this," which was "ille, illa, illud" in Latin, became the Romance "le, la, les" or "el, los, las."

Lauren: Ahh! I was gonna say, they sound familiar.

Gretchen: Yeah! And so the Latin word for "this" became the word for "the" in the Romance languages.

Lauren: Mmm!

Gretchen: So this is a thing that happens from language to language, even when they have no contact with each other, and they've never heard of each other, and they're nowhere near each other geographically. This is just a trend that languages seem to have. And the same thing for – have you ever wondered why we have two forms, "a" and "an"?

Lauren: Yes? But it's because – I mean, I know the environments that they occur in, that "an" occurs before something vowel-y or something H-y, but that's a complicated historical complication.

Gretchen: Yeah. But "an" is actually older than "a," right?

Lauren: Ahh! Yeah.

Gretchen: And the "an" that's an "an" is because it has the same root as the word "one" in English.

Lauren: Mmmm! I have the Etymonline links, as I always love to do, for "a" and "the" that I'll put in the show notes.

Gretchen: So if you go to Etymonline and you look up the word "one," you can see that it's the same root as "only," or "alone," or "atone," which is like, "at one," "all one."

Lauren: Mmm!

Gretchen: And in the dialect form "good'un" or "young'un," that "un" is a "one" as well. But the "one" pronunciation came up later, and "an" was also a version of that.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: And so if you have "own" and "an," you can hear how those are very similar to each other, and they're from the same root. So English actually has that connection. But the thing that makes me the most excited about thinking about determiners as a group is that it helps explain a few things about how we use determiners. So if you have a word like "the," you don't just go around saying "the" by itself in a sentence. Like, you can't say, "I saw a cat, and then the kept going on," or something like that. Because that does not work.

Lauren: You missed a word, Gretchen!

Gretchen: It needs a noun there, for support. But other determiners like "this" and "that," they can act by themselves without support. So you can say, "I saw this cat, and then this kept going on." Maybe that's not particularly good sentence, but you can say, like, "Give me this book and then I'll move this here," or something like that.

Lauren: Yep.

Gretchen: And so you can, you know, like the title of this episode, "this, that, and the other thing," the "this" and the "that" in that sentence can each refer to specific things without there being a noun there for support. And what's interesting is that the pronoun "they" in English comes into English from Old Norse, and it has the same origins as "this" and "that" and "the." They're all related to each other in terms of, like, "that one" or "those ones" or "these ones." All of those "the" forms are related to each other. So some theories of determiners group all pronouns together with determiners, because a determiner by itself – at least the ones that can appear by themselves, like "this" and "that" and "many" – act a lot like pronouns as well. And other languages also seem to have this set of relationships between what some of the pronouns can be and what some of what we think of as articles or something can be. And so if we group them into this category of determiners, it actually explains why these seem to have these weird similarities with each other.

Lauren: It explains why everyone's at the same party!

Gretchen: Yeah! It's like seeing into the underpinnings, or the behind-the-scenes view of language and saying, actually, these things, if we think about them from a certain perspective, they do have a lot of weird similarities.

Lauren: So like with Syuba, we have "dì" being both "the," which has to be part of a noun phrase for it to make sense as a "the" equivalent, but it also has its own full life as "this" and can occur independently. And so the thing I like about thinking about all of these things as determiners, rather than thinking about pronouns and articles and all of this, is that it makes a lot of sense as something that would otherwise be really confusing and you'd be trying to give it a kind of double identity that's unnecessary.

Gretchen: Yeah, and it's weird to me that "determiner" as a name for this particular category is actually around 100 years old. It's pretty well-established. And it's weird for me that all through school, I never learned about determiners, I just learned about articles, and demonstratives, and pronouns, and possessive nouns, or possessive adjectives, or whatever they called all of these individual things. And I didn't learn that there was a name for the super category? And you can talk about articles separately if you want to, but it wasn't until I started doing linguistics that I learned there was actually a name for this whole category, even though this is something that's not controversial among linguists, and it's something that's generally accepted and, you know, you walk into Ling 101 and they might start talking about determiners. And it's weird to me that this hasn't necessarily trickled all the way down to high school grammar education, or elementary grammar education.

Lauren: It does make me sad you have to wait until you're in a linguistics undergrad class to know that there's even a party going on and the determiners are all there!

Gretchen: Yeah! And, like, I'd studied a bunch of language and I'd learned what I thought were my parts of speech, and then I walk in and I'm like, "What is this determiner thing? And how is it everywhere? And why is it so cool?" So I think people should know about determiners! I also have some determiner haikus to leave us with.

Lauren: Excellent.

Gretchen: Do you want to hear my determiner haikus?

Lauren: Sure, go for it, now that we know all about them.

Gretchen: Okay. So this is a multi-authored set of determiner haikus from Tumblr a couple years ago, and the first one is:

The best thing about the definite article is that it is the

A good thing about indefinite articles is that they are a

The best thing about using the demonstratives is when you go, 'This!'

Lauren: That was beautiful.

Gretchen: All that my best thing re: some those determiners is all the above

Lauren: Thank you for those. I'll link to them on the show notes if you want to reread them and process them.

Gretchen: You should definitely do that in case people want to write their own grammar haiku. If you write a grammar haiku, tag us in it, and we will retweet it.

[Music]

Lauren: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts. And you can follow @Lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can get IPA scarves and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I tweet and blog as Superlinguo.

Gretchen: And I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, and my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com. To listen to bonus episodes, ask us your linguistic questions, and help keep the show ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm, or follow the links from our website. Recent bonus topics include forensic linguistics, homonyms, navigating linguistics grad school, and our second sweary episode, and you could help us pick the next topic by becoming a patron. Can't afford to pledge? That's okay, too. We also really appreciate if you can rate us on iTunes or recommend Lingthusiasm to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their life.

Lauren: Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire, our editorial producer is Emily, and our production assistants are Fabianne and Celine. Our music is by The Triangles.

Gretchen: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

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larissaloki · 5 years

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Fandom OCs

I'm about to share my boy with you. He's very special to me and he really carried me through rough times, I loved writing him and rping him and he means a lot to me. So I hope you like him too. ^^

Marvel: Milan Egbert Oomen AKA Projekt Akela

Milan Oomen is born in Antwerpen, Belgium on the evening of July 4th, 1918. Right at the end of the first world war. His mother Arianne had an affair with a man named Victor Creed. Something her husband Sander never found out about. Milan doesn’t know of his true heritage. Milan moved to the countryside one year after his birth and grew up there. His childhood was relatively uneventful and normal until he turned 15.

When Milan was 15 his mutation kicked in for the first time when Milan fell out of a tree and broke his arm. The arm set itself in minutes at an odd angle and a crying Milan was transported to the nearest hospital to re-break and reset his arm. After that his parents kept Milan hidden away on the countryside until he turned 20. At that age he immigrated to the United States.

When he arrived in the United States Milan couldn’t speak English and because of it he had to scrape by to even get food. Eventually he got better at it and he managed to land a job at the warf. He could afford a small apartment and food from that point on.

In 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked and it made Milan sign up for the US Army. He asked to be deployed in the pacific as opposed to Europe, he didn’t want to witness the devastation to his country and family. But what he saw in the pacific wasn’t much better. He still has nightmares about the horrors he witnessed. From villagers being used as suicide bombers to American soldiers using Japanese corpses for entertainment.

In 1945 he traveled to Hiroshima and stayed there for a month, he witnessed little boy fall down from the sky and scrambled for cover. Due to his healing factor he survived the atomic bombing and recovered after a few weeks of regenerating. The US Army pulled him back and kept him on a secret base for most of the time. He served in the cold army in an espionage division in St. Petersburg Russia, he was eventually caught and executed with his fellow soldiers. Milan was the only one that survived and he was imprisoned by the Russians. During an American mission Milan was rescued and brought back to the states.

In 1972 he met Sarah Brown during a leave in Hawaii and after ten years of dating her he married her. Not long after their marriage Sarah was expecting their first child. When she was 8 months pregnant Milan was called away to base and she was attacked in their apartment building by a heroine addict who had gotten in and pushed down the stairs. The fall killed her instantly, she broke her back. Milan heard of the incident over the radio in his truck and rushed back home. Her baby was retrieved through a C-section but after a fifteen minute trip to the nearest hospital the baby died in Milan’s arms.

To say it left a mark on him is an understatement, a part of him died that day. Broken and with no will to live Milan tried to kill himself by placing a gun against his head and pulling the trigger. He woke up two days later in a hospital bed. Many years went by, in which Milan attempted many more times to take his own life. All failed and the mentally broken man became a ghost. He lived, breathed and did his job but that’s all he did.

In 1985 Milan was recruited for a special Army devision called NEST, a team that specializes in counter terrorism. He worked hard till he took over the leadership position in 2000. Due to most of the team being older then allowed a new team was recruited.

Not long after taking command of the NEST Team in Kansas, Milan met Kuga. The feral was on leave at the time and he spend a couple of weeks camping in the woods just one mile from Kuga’s home. Kuga came back to Milan every single day and a father/daughter bond slowly developed. Kuga’s little brother James came along with her after a couple of days and he too, took to Milan quite easily. Milan found himself fathering the two young children of 10 and 7 and decided to adopt them as his own after he heard of possible abuse towards Kuga. His request was denied by the court as there was no physical evidence of abuse going on. Milan couldn’t return for James and kuga and instead was kept on acitve duty to train for a new mission.

In 2003 Milan and his team served in the Iraq war where he dealt with his nightmares all over again. He’s directly responsible for the death of several civilians because he led them into a building that was later bombed. He blames himself for that.

In 2008 Milan took the mutant cure that became available, the cure wasn’t permanent however and Milan was forced to live on.

From 2008 till 2010 Milan gets on SHIELD’s radar and several security checks and evaluations are done to determine if he’s possible agent material. He passes and in 2010 he joins the ranks of SHIELD. He’s currently a level 4 agent working for SHIELD’s undercover department. SHIELD has a contract for him with the Army, it states that as long as he’s on active field duty he’s working for SHIELD. If events were to force him to go off active duty he’d have to return to the army.

Milan is currently on probation after the events of the Galoyan rescue mission and the army is about to pull him out of SHIELD. That doesn’t stop him from trying to get along with the other agents though. He’ll try anything to keep his job at SHIELD, even if it means quitting the army.

Milan was pulled off active duty and he was forced to return to the Army. He worked closely with SHIELD agents of the undercover department. Mostly doing their paperwork.

And then, SHIELD fell.

After the fall of SHIELD Milan was picked up and rescued by HYDRA. The organisation captured and imprisoned him, performing multiple experiments on him. They extracted parts of his DNA in order to study his healing factor and replicate it for their next line of super soldiers. They also extracted his ability to see, smell and hear at phenomenal levels. His strength and agility markers were also copied and stored for future use. HYDRA wiped Milan’s memory after they collected all they needed and activated the implants in his brain. He stood under their full control and obeyed every command they gave him. Milan assassinated several SHIELD agents under their command.

After several test runs the implants failed, now only working at 30% capacity. With the failing of his implants, his memory returned to him. Not much, only about 10% but it’s something. He remembers three names of his past, Kuga, James and Bryce. He has no idea who these people are, just that they are somehow important to him.

Milan escaped the compound and ended up in Lebanon, Kansas.

And My current two projects: The Barnes/Brock twins (I am aware this is very self indulgent and it's probably not any good, but I'm having fun. And that's what matters.)

Ben Barnes & Jacen Barnes (Both 17 post SM: Homecoming, timeline ignores IW)

Benjamin Edward Brock-Barnes, born as Ellie Barnes and his brother Jacen Barnes were born to Lauren Barnes and Edward Brock Jr in Queens, NYC. Ben and Jace's father was already out of the picture at their time of birth and both boys were raised by their mother. They are the great grandchildren of Rebecca Barnes, sister to James Buchanan Barnes, and the best friends of Peter Parker and Ned Leeds (Ben) and Michelle "MJ" Jones (Jacen).

Ben wants to be an investigative Journalist and when he's not out scouting for the latest scoop in NYC, he's bugging Peter and Ned on how they can set up their own News network. Where Peter can do their photography and Ned can run the newspaper, of course.

Jacen is more interested in his blogging activities where he calls out the injustice of the world and posts about the protests he joins whenever there's no school going on. He's often joined by Michelle in this.

Ben struggles with his trans identity and being recognized for it while Jacen is more comfortable in his gay and queer identity.

When a field trip to San Fransisco goes haywire the twins are introduced to a slimier set of twins named Sleeper and Hybrid. Shenanigans ensue with the help of Spiderman, the man in the chair and justicegirl101 and before they know it, the twins are bonded to their own symbiote siblings and they're thrown into the fight of their lives.

Venom and Eddie suddenly have a lot of parenting work to do.

And that's what I got on them so far. ha, this was fun. But it also got waay to long. So that's all I'll share today. I've got way more though.

Larissa notes:

Oh my god these are amazing , the top one is my favourite though by far!! So well thoughtout and planned i am in awe! Im in love with Milan :3

Thankyou so much for sharing them with me!

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shortqueershakespeare · 4 years

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ALL QUESTIONS!! ALLLLL (except the one you said you were uncomfy answering ofc)

welcome to my daily essay procrastination (dw it is getting done I've just written like 1000 words and I need a break from literature type writing lol)

1: Full name - Robin, not sharing the rest (like I said)

2: Age - 21

3: 3 Fears - Abandonment, clowns, sleep paralysis

4: 3 things I love - Theatre, languages, my puppy

5: 4 turns on - Being dominated, lip biting, gentle physical contact, increasing physical contact

6: 4 turns off - I genuinely don't know rn can u tell its been a while since I got laid lol, so I guess, being a dick, using certain terms for body parts,

7: My best friend - Char is prob my best friend!! we currently communicate exclusively through animal crossing post lol

8: Sexual orientation - Right this is somewhat challenging still but I'm gonna go gay

9: My best first date - Would you believe I've only really been on two? I can't remember the first one v well but I'd be inclined to say that because all that first love shit was great

10: How tall am I - 5' 3" i think??

11: What do I miss - uni

12: What time were I born - I actually don't know exactly but it was definitely the afternoon

13: Favourite color - Baby blue

14: Do I have a crush - Yup

15: Favourite quote - "The universe is seeming really huge right now. I need something to hold on to."

16: Favourite place - I've got a few, a corner in the orchard at Hom, the nook under my window in my room, the bench up on the hill where I walk the dog

17: Favourite food - Stir fry

18: Do I use sarcasm - I think I was fluent in sarcasm before I was in English tbh

19: What am I listening to right now - Right technically I cheated bc I just skipped a couple songs, but Bad Habit by Ben Platt and the puppy's snores

20: First thing I notice in new person - Smile or voice

21: Shoe size - 4 i think

22: Eye color - blue

23: Hair color - a literal rainbow

24: Favourite style of clothing - uhhh does generally gay count??

25: Ever done a prank call? - nope

27: Meaning behind my URL - one of my friends once called me the shakespeare of nicknames as my other friend called my such a slytherin so i mashed them up

28: Favourite movie - Moana atm, non animated either Let It Snow or Pitch Perfect

29: Favourite song - Obv this changes a lot but the last few days, Wonderland by Taylor Swift

30: Favourite band - Stornoway

31: How I feel right now - Too damn warm and a lil sleepy

32: Someone I love - my sister

33: My current relationship status - furiously single

34: My relationship with my parents - good

35: Favourite holiday - when my friend and i went to austria at the end of year 13

36: Tattoos and piercing i have - zero

37: Tattoos and piercing i want - I want a few transition tattoos, a dodie lyric, something in russian, something watercolour

38: The reason I joined Tumblr - Originally because it was 2013 and my friends and I were v much the typical tumblr demographic, this one to vent feelings about some shitty situations

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other? - Pretty sure they both hate me, I don't hate them, but I hate how things worked out

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? - Sometimes yeah

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? - Nope

42: When did I last hold hands? - Probably when I last went clubbing?

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? - Depends, I have to put T on, once i'm actually out of bed probably 15 minutes

44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days? - nope

45: Where am I right now? - on my sofa in my kitchen

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? - depends where i am, home city it'd be katherine, clubbing in cam, jules probably or char, drinking just in cam, umme or porters

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? - reasonable

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? - usually mostly with mum, currently exclusively with dad because quarantine

49: Am I excited for anything? - getting this damn essay done and sleeping

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? - yep

51: How often do I wear a fake smile? - not that often i don't think, but i am very good at hiding my emotions if i decide to

52: When was the last time I hugged someone? - like 6 hours ago?

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? - not at all unexpected tbh

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? - not at the moment, i think i've managed to stop trusting the person who would've fit this category

55: What is something I disliked about today? - my sister got super stressed and cried and i just wanted to make everything okay

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? - ben platt

57: What do I think about most? - rn animal crossing or work

58: What’s my strangest talent? - i don't think i have one

59: Do I have any strange phobias? - nope

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? - both, i love taking photos and i love having photos of me at important times

61: What was the last lie I told? - god probably something dumb like no i absolutely did not just steal your cup of tea

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? video chatting

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? - no, yes

64: Do I believe in magic? - no

65: Do I believe in luck? - yes

66: What’s the weather like right now? - decent I think?? it's like 2 am so idk

67: What was the last book I’ve read? - What Is to Be Done? by Chernyshevsky

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline? - Fuck no

69: Do I have any nicknames? - Bob, Bobbin, Robs, Rob, Stink, Little'un

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had? - that would probably be me getting a fish hook stuck in my thumb lollll

71: Do I spend money or save it? - both

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue? - the fact that this said a tongue and not my tongue is... unsettling.. but yes

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me? - yes

74: Favourite animal? - elephant

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM? - writing the essay lol

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is? - morningstar i watch too much lucifer lol

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? - rain by ben platt

78: How can you win my heart? - hug me when i'm sad, send me things that make you think of me

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone? - he was there for me

80: What is my favorite word? - mousse

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr - okay so i have five blogs and am so tempted to just list those but sewing-and-showtunes, aeternumregina, oneoveroneisone, ballym, xx-thedarklord-xx

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? - STAY THE FUCK INDOORS

83: Do I have any relatives in jail? - no

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power? - shapeshifting

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on? - do i like myself

86: What is my current desktop picture? - hamilton and laurens lol 8

7: Had sex? - yes

88: Bought condoms? - yes

89: Gotten pregnant? - no

90: Failed a class? - yes

91: Kissed a boy? - yes

92: Kissed a girl? - yes

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? - yes

94: Had job? - yes

95: Left the house without my wallet? - yes

96: Bullied someone on the internet? - no

97: Had sex in public? - yes

98: Played on a sports team? - yes

99: Smoked weed? - yes

100: Did drugs? - no

101: Smoked cigarettes? - yes

102: Drank alcohol? - yes

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan? - no

104: Been overweight? - no

105: Been underweight? - no

106: Been to a wedding? - no

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? - yes

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight? - yes

109: Been outside my home country? - yes

110: Gotten my heart broken? - yes

111: Been to a professional sports game? - no

112: Broken a bone? - no

113: Cut myself? - yes

114: Been to prom? - no

115: Been in airplane? - yes

116: Fly by helicopter? - no

117: What concerts have I been to? - dodie, stornoway, show of hands

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? - yes

119: Learned another language? - yes

120: Wore make up? - yes

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18? - yes

122: Had oral sex? - yes

123: Dyed my hair? - yes

124: Voted in a presidential election? - i'm british

125: Rode in an ambulance? - yes

126: Had a surgery? - not unless my fish hook extraction counts

127: Met someone famous? - yes

128: Stalked someone on a social network? - yes

129: Peed outside? - yes

130: Been fishing? - FISH HOOK YES I HAVE I NEVER WILL AGAIN

131: Helped with charity? - yes

132: Been rejected by a crush? - yes

133: Broken a mirror? - no

134: What do I want for birthday? - a boyfriend lol, or tbh for quarantine to be over

135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names? - oh lord who knows, i like the name scottie and archie for girls

136: Was I named after anyone? - my middle name is after my gran

137: Do I like my handwriting? - ehhhh

138: What was my favourite toy as a child? - my teddy bear

139: Favourite Tv Show? - Crazy Ex Girlfriend

140: Where do I want to live when older? - Berlin, Cambridge or London

141: Play any musical instrument? - used to play the violin v poorly

142: One of my scars, how did I get it? - fish hook or pets

143: Favourite pizza topping? - pepperoni

144: Am I afraid of the dark? - no

145: Am I afraid of heights? - sort of

146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? - don't think so

147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? - yes

148: What I’m really bad at - currently? being motivated

149: What my greatest achievements are - getting into my uni, finally finding an antidepressant that works, coming out

150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me - oh yikes it's way too late at night to open that can of worms

151: What I’d do if I won in a lottery - pay for my damn top surgery

152: What do I like about myself - I'm empathetic

153: My closest Tumblr friend - @oneoveroneisone

154: Something I fantasise about - going to pride abroad

155: Any question you’d like? - I'm gonna pass this to the anons, ask me questions?

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filipinosmakinghistory · 6 years

Text

FAHM17 - October 30, Lauren Bough

Meet Lauren Bough, a freshman at Northeastern University. She is a Filipina-American from Upper Saddle River, NJ and Filipino culture Did Not influence how she was raised.

What challenges did you face growing up as a Filipino/Filipino-American?

When people asked me what my ethnicity was growing up I’d always start by saying that I was half-Chinese. The response was almost always “Really?” or “No way!” I’d nod, but then add that I was half-Filipino. The look on their face became understanding, as though this explained everything. Truthfully, though, I’m not even a full half Filipino.

With one hand I can count the Filipinos in my graduating high school class. In fact, I'd still have my thumb curled into my palm as I ticked us off: one boy and one girl of full-Filipino descent, a half-Russian and half-Filipino girl, and myself—half-Chinese, “half”-Filipino. Just four among three-hundred and fifty students from the four separate towns that make up my high school’s quad-district. In elementary school I was the only Filipino-American and in middle school I was one of two. Thus, I’ve never really felt that my Filipino-American identity had a place in my life. I have always gravitated more towards my Chinese heritage, as at least through that I could meet other Chinese kids my age outside of places like church and my grandparents’ parties.

Have you ever struggled with your racial/ethnic/cultural identity? Describe this struggle and how you overcame it.

My ethnic and racial identity has always been difficult for me to determine or explain without a lengthy explanation, probably because I’m a “mutt” of sorts. Firstly, though, I think a lot of my own confusion and that of people around me regarding my ethnicity starts with my last name, "Bough". The name itself is actually Irish, tracing back to a single Irishman who crossed the Atlantic and married a former slave in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Their son was my great grandfather, Irvin Gustav Bough, who himself traveled across another ocean as a missionary to the Philippines. There, he married and had three kids, the youngest being my grandfather, Irvin David Bough. Irvin Gustav passed away when my grandpa was still young and thus my grandpa grew up as a fully-fledged Filipino, not having much connection to his family in St. Croix, but looking more like his black family across the sea. My grandmother on the other hand has a lot of Spanish blood, so she doesn’t look like a “brown” Filipino either. With this weird combination my dad and one of his sisters popped out with dark skin, while his other two sisters could (and do) easily pass for Caucasian women. Mixed with our mother’s Chinese blood, my siblings and I somehow turned out looking more Filipino than my dad and his sisters. Just as my genetics are mixed, the culture I grew up with is mixed too. Nonetheless, my parents are both very ‘Americanized’, so I’ve never felt particularly connected to any of the cultures my family is a part of. As lengthy as this whole explanation is, however, knowing my family history and listening to the stories my family members tell me about their lives and the relatives I’ve never had the blessing to meet is how I’ve come to feel most comfortable with who I am and where I stand in terms of ethnicity. Of course I still usually simplify all of this down by saying I am half-Chinese, half-Filipino, and somehow all-American when people ask, but even if I am the only one who knows the truth to my heritage, I can settle some of my own confusion.

How has being involved in a Filipino cultural organization helped you to connect with your culture?

The day after NU Barkada’s second GM the beginning of this past September I called my grandfather and I excitedly told him how I had decided to join the Filipino student organization on campus. All of the members I’d met so far had been overwhelmingly nice and welcoming. My grandpa was ecstatic---especially when I told him that many of Barkada’s members were from Bergen County, NJ, just like we were. He asked me first for their names, but at this point I had met so many people in such a short amount of time that it was difficult for me to remember. It didn’t matter though as my grandpa was already rapidly continuing his speech. “This will be so good for you!” he kept repeating. In part, he said this because he really honestly believes that all Filipinos are outstanding students, (and #barkademics has only proved this to be true,) but I knew that he also was happy that I would be exposed to more of his culture---and I have been! Before Barkada the things I knew about Filipino culture were limited to a few foods (pancit, lumpia, and balut), a couple of words and phrases (literally just salamat and a couple other words), that my grandma is from Tacloban but most of her family is in Manila nowadays, and that all of my (many) Filipino aunties and uncles had strange nicknames. I’ve only been a part of Barkada for two months, but I’ve already learned so much more about our culture than I ever would have at home.

Describe your immediate/household family.

At home, there are six of us in total: my mother, my father, my two older brothers, my younger sister, and myself. We’re all very close, and very sarcastic! Being kind of mean to each other is how we joke and show our love for one another, hahaha!

Is having a knowledge of family history important? Why or why not?

With a family history as complicated as mine, knowing its in's and out's has helped me understand who I am and where I am coming from, even if no one else around me also understands. In April 2017 I actually went to a family reunion in St. Croix, USVI. There I met so many people who I’d never think could or would be part of my family, and yet they all shared my last name! I always make a point to ask my parents and grandparents about the family I’ve met and those that I haven’t.

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itsahamandjlaur-blog · 7 years

Text

New Year (Daveed Diggs x Reader)- Part two

Part One - Part Three . Masterlist

Summary: Daveed and reader think a lot about each others after they parted ways at Halloween. They meet again tho. My boi Lin appears too.

Warnings: probably swearing, sex is mentioned. Alcohol.

Word count: 1410

Enjoy and please give some feedback!!

-J. Laurens

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

You still weren’t over with the fact that you had a famous rapper in your house, on Halloween night. Of course, you did your homework and got to know that he was starring in Hamilton, as Lafayette and Jefferson. You had listened to the musical before, because at the moment it was kind of a big deal, plus Lin-Manuel Miranda was known in the business for his genius. I mean, you owned a bookshop, you had to do with books. You just knew about the Pulitzer winners, even if you didn’t really follow them.

Weeks had passed, but his smile populated your dreams at night and your thoughts when the day at work was slow. You often felt yourself thinking what he was doing, if he was okay, and you fantasized that he waltzed in your bookstore by chance, maybe with one of his cast mates, in a moment of pure boringness.

Even though you dreamed about meeting him again, you were too shy to admit that you desperately wanted to see him again. Days passed, it was Christmas. You closed the shop and went home, you were originally from New York, but your family had moved upstate because they didn’t like the chaos of the city anymore; so you went to see them and spend some time with your parents and grandparents.

Your brothers were both married and had kids, which made you the subject of the family talks. Kind, isn’t it? You loved them, but sometimes it was a bit too much, so you stayed over for the last week of December, going back to New York only on the 30th, to spend New Year’s Eve alone, in Time Square, alone among thousands of people.

Daveed could not stop thinking about you. That nerdy girl who owned a bookshop and cooked a heavenly lasagna and wonderful cookies. You were always on his mind and he even knew where your workplace was, but he was too anxious to just go there and greet you. He had done that before, asked girls out, dated. But with you…it all seemed different. He wanted to get to know you, he wanted to do what he hadn’t done with the other girls. He felt something more than just butterflies in his stomach, and he didn’t even know you; so, after the last performance before Christmas break, he decided to leave the Big Apple and go back to Oakland, to spend time with his family and celebrate. He thought it was the best way, not being in the same city as you had its perks. He could think about you, talk about you with his best friend, Rafa, who wouldn’t go to the bookstore and tell you Daveed liked you; like Lin would’ve done.

Daveed came back the same day you did, almost at the same time. You had took the train, you liked the journey in the green, it helped your imagination and usually wrote good pieces to print out on bookmarks you gave freely in the shop; and then the subway. He had took the plane, then a taxi to his loft in the Village. You both were exhausted once arrived home. Your movement mirrored: you took a shower, put on a pyjama and then went to bed.

You spent New Year’s Eve at home, crawled on the couch reading, listening to music and watching tv; until it was 10 in the evening, when you finally decided to leave to go and see the concert in Time Square, only to come back 3 hours later, change again and go to bed.

Daveed was at a party with some friends. It was loud and people were everywhere. Normally, he would’ve loved the atmosphere, but he was off. You hadn’t left his mind in so long; it was the first time a girl had that effect on him. So he did the only thing he knew that would’ve silenced his mind: drank. Daveed started drinking some beer before getting on with the stronger beverages, only to set on tequila for most of the night. Only in that way, he could really have fun. He didn’t notice that, when the clock stroke 12, he kissed the first girl that was trying to get on with him and then brought her to his bed.

The morning after, he woke up with a stranger in his bed, a pounding headache and a sense of guilt on him. He sighed, then got some Advil to calm his head, and then went to wake up the girl, whose name ignored, who got up and slutry whispered a “call me” to him, who reluctantly nodded and closed the door once she was out.

You didn’t get any sleep all night. People were partying hard and you just felt lonely, and had no friends to attend parties with. You just spent all day curled in bed only to fall asleep again.

Why did a boy mean this much to you?

It wasn’t only the week after, when you had reopened the bookstore, that you two met again. It was a cold January morning and snow was everywhere. You were at the front desk, as usual, sitting on the little chair and sipping a cup of tea while reading a book; classical music was playing for the speakers and a smile was dancing on your face. You were in your happy place, and at the moment you weren’t worrying about a certain rapper that you barely knew and who had seen you at your worst.

You were lost in your trail of thoughts when the door opened and two really loud men entered the shop. “I’m telling you, man! This is really good! We should add it to the choreography. The kids are going to love it, trust me.” The shorter said. He spoke a lot and very fast, accompanying his words with gestures of his hands, that got faster when he grew more excited. You didn’t see his companion because was hidden by the shelves. They had a tour and moved their conversation in a part of the shop you didn’t see. You sighed and continued to read your book, until he spoke to you. “Hi! I’m looking for this book! It’s a very old one and I used to own a copy but I lost it, never trust the moving companies. I can’t find it anywhere. Do you have it?” the guy with the goatee was in front of you, smiling and ranting about this book, White Nights, by Dostoevsky; one of your personal favourites. You smiled and nodded, then got up and gestured him to follow you.

“I’m sorry, it’s a bit messy. I- uh. Here is where I keep the Russians. Let’s see… War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Idiot… Ah! Here it is! White Nights, by Fedor Michalovich Dostoevsky. One of my personal favourites,” you said, smiling to the man, who tanked you and took the book from your hands.

You turned to get to your desk, but you ended up into someone, the second man. “I’m so sorry I- Daveed?” you said, looking up from his chest. “[Y/N]?? Oh God I’m so happy to see you again! How are you? Is this your bookstore?” He said, a smile on his face. You nodded enthusiastically, stepping away from him, and blushing. “I’m so happy to see you too! I’m good, what about you? Yes it is…I know it’s not much but it’s homey enough for me.” You replied, smiling even more. You were back at the front desk. “I’m good too…I wanted to ask you something” He said, only to be interrupted by his friend saying “Daveed, I’m heading back to the theatre. How much for the book?” He asked, you shook your head “It’s on the house, no one ever buys Dostoevsky anymore and it makes me sad, so it’s a gift.” You said and saw the man smile, “Damn Diggs, I like her! I will see you around, bye!” He said, then he was off. You laughed at his behaviour and saw Daveed blush.

“Did Lin-Manuel Miranda just say that he likes me?!” “I’m pretty sure that he just did. And he will ramble about you for days because you just gave him a book important to you for free.” He chuckled. You smiled and got back to the main topic.

“So, you were saying?” “Do you want to go on a date, with me?”

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vocalfriespod · 4 years

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Between Iraq and a Hard Place Transcript

Carrie Gillon: Hi and welcome to the Vocal Fries podcast, the podcast about linguistic discrimination.

Megan Figueroa: I’m Megan Figueroa.

Carrie Gillon: And I’m Carrie Gillon.

Megan Figueroa: [Squeals] Carrie!

Carrie Gillon: Yes, Megan?

Megan Figueroa: We have a fun, fun mug that I’m so proud of. It’s like, okay, I’m gonna launch it on Saturday. We’ll do the intro for the episode on Monday, and I get to talk about how proud I am of this darn mug. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: I’m proud that you chose the color options that I suggested.

Megan Figueroa: Yes! Well, I fought with photoshop for a while about it, but…

Carrie Gillon: Oh, yeah. I’m sure it was a nightmare.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: This is why I’m like “I hope you wanna do it because I can’t design worth shit.”

Megan Figueroa: In case someone out there did not see our Twitter yesterday on Saturday, we launched a mug. You just have to see it. I don’t wanna ruin it for you.

Carrie Gillon: Well, okay. How do they find it then?

Megan Figueroa: Um, oh, shit. I guess I don’t wanna force you to go to that one tweet. So, there will be a link to it in our Vocal Fries Twitter bio. It’s real cute, makes a great gift for yourself or loved ones or enemies. I dunno. [Laughter] Please buy it for your enemies.

Carrie Gillon: We now have some ads. So, if you are a patron, we’re gonna start putting up all our episodes on patreon.com. If you’re at the $3.00 or $5.00 level, then you get free access to this podcast going forward. So, if you want to have ad-free episodes – www.patreon.com/vocalfriespod. Someone did say something to the effect, “Oh, you guys should talk about the Fiona Hill situation.”

Megan Figueroa: Yes!

Carrie Gillon: And I thought, “We probably should do a real episode on it.” But we can at least talk a little bit about this because it just happened this week.

Megan Figueroa: Yes. Which also, speaking of a real episode on it, anyone who’s listening right now and is like “I know exactly who you should talk to” or whatever –

Carrie Gillon: Or you are the person to talk to.

Megan Figueroa: Or you are that person. Let us know. Because Carrie tries really hard to teach me about the limited information she has on British accents and classism and regionalism. But she can only do so much.

Carrie Gillon: Right. Yeah. Because it’s definitely not my lived experience.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, so Fiona Hill was – what is her role?

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, okay. She was an intelligence analyst under Bush and Obama. Then, Trump appointed her as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs on the National Security Council.

Megan Figueroa: Okay. Then, she resigned in July of this year.

Carrie Gillon: She resigned in July because obviously –

Megan Figueroa: The phone call. The impeachment hearings and why we’re having these impeachment hearings, right?

Carrie Gillon: Well, the phone call happened after that. But it’s all part of that stuff, right, because Trump was trying to pressure Ukraine to do what he wanted blah blah blah. A lot of stuff there that we are not really the experts on. Anyway, that’s what she was. Yeah, she just had a – there was a hearing with her and some other dude, who had some amazing expressions. However –

Megan Figueroa: The real star…

Carrie Gillon: The real star, or the thing that we’re most interested in, is that – so she has a British accent, an English accent, and in the US it’s interpreted as being kind of posh because any British accent sounds posh to most Americans. But within –

Megan Figueroa: Problematic, but yes.

Carrie Gillon: Well, yes. Of course, all of these judgements are problematic in any direction, right? Anyway, she commented on this like “Yeah, people think that I have this posh accent. But really in the UK, my accent is very working class and Northern.” Those two things, especially in the ’80s when she was growing up, were seen to be very bad, right? She definitely does not have a posh accent within the UK. Yeah, it’s just an interesting clash of cultures.

Megan Figueroa: Clash of cultures and how important context is. And this – I mean, I think I said it last year when we kinda talked to each other about what our favorite episodes were or what we learned that we really just did not know before – it’s me learning that in /nuwaɹlɪnz/ – [laughs] in New Orleans.

Carrie Gillon: In Louisiana.

Megan Figueroa: In Louisiana, that French is disparaged. I was just like “How is this possible?” Where I am in the Southwest, French is thought of as a quote-unquote “posh” – or, you know, you only learn it –

Carrie Gillon: A fancy language.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, you only learn it if you just have all these mental resources freed up and you’re like “I might as well learn French,” right? It doesn’t seem as practical. Whereas, Spanish in the Southwest is like, unless you’re non-latinx then it’s – I’ve talked about it before – it’s just, depending on who’s speaking it, it’s seen as good or bad.

For me to learn that French was actually something that was disparaged in the United States just blew my mind so having that context was really helpful for me. Having the context with Fiona Hill, I always forget the north and south thing. Northern –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah. That’s really huge in the UK, within England itself, right? There’s also the Welsh and the Scottish in that one island and then, obviously, there’s Irish and blah blah blah. But within just the English part, within England, yeah, there’s this huge north/south divide which, yeah, London is the seat of power blah blah blah so…

Megan Figueroa: And London’s in the south, which you have to remind me. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Oh, boy. You should visit London. We should go visit Issa.

Megan Figueroa: Yes, Issa Wurie. No, that would be great. But, yeah, it’s just an important reminder that classism, regionalism, all of these things are always at play. That’s why we have job security here. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: “Job.”

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, I know, I was like “Should I say the word ‘job’ just to” – That’s a fake. That’s not real. That’s why we have side project security.

Carrie Gillon: Yes, yeah. We could talk about these things forever – forever.

Megan Figueroa: There’s posh of the worlds we haven’t even got – “posh” of the world? There’re parts of the world we haven’t even got to.

Carrie Gillon: Most. Most of the world.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: I mean, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, London and, like –

Megan Figueroa: And Ghana.

Carrie Gillon: And Ghana. I think that’s pretty much it.

Megan Figueroa: And Spain.

Carrie Gillon: Oh, and Spain. A little bit of Spain. But we haven’t really even delved deep into Spain, right? There is stuff to talk about in Spain.

Megan Figueroa: Oh, my god. Layers. An onion! [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: So, yeah, this episode we talk to Zach Jaggers about different ways of pronouncing words that are more like the language we borrowed it from or less like the language we borrowed it from. It’s interesting. I learned some things.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. I mean, I always say that there’s a lot of characteristics that we have that are all bundled into certain beliefs. How we pronounce some words is kinda bundled into our belief about the world. Zach tells us about that.

Carrie Gillon: Very cool.

[Background music]

Carrie Gillon: Today, we have Dr Zachary Jaggers who is a postdoctoral scholar of linguistics at the University of Oregon. Welcome, Zach!

Zach Jaggers: Thanks! Thanks for having me.

Megan Figueroa: So happy to talk with you today.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, me too! You approached us, and I’m so glad that you did, because this work is really important and really interesting.

Megan Figueroa: As cool as Carrie and I are, we don’t know all the amazing people that are out there and that exist, obviously.

Carrie Gillon: No, how could we?

Megan Figueroa: So, please approach us with the amazing stuff you’re doing because 1.) we get to talk to you and learn things ourselves, 2.) your work gets out there, and 3.) we get to have a new friend. Thank you, Zach.

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, I know. I appreciate it. I love that there’s more of this kind of stuff going on too because I think that’s exactly it – getting it out there for a broader audience and just having more of these discussions and like, yeah, just a more relaxed kind of setting.

Megan Figueroa: Absolutely. Just imagine we’re over a tea or a beer or something – that kinda thing.

Carrie Gillon: I’m literally drinking tea right now.

Megan Figueroa: See? Exactly.

Zach Jaggers: Well, I saw on your website how like, I think one of you does knitting and one of you does cross-stitching. And I was like “I do crochet! Let’s just have a needle-crafters party.”

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, exactly!

Megan Figueroa: Everyone can imagine us doing that right now as it’s cold outside.

Carrie Gillon: I do actually want to learn crochet because, I dunno, it’s a new skill and it’s related, so that’s next on my list.

Megan Figueroa: And one hook. One hook.

Zach Jaggers: One of these days. One of these days.

Carrie Gillon: And one hook, yeah.

Megan Figueroa: I mean, different sizes depending on – but yeah. Anyway.

Carrie Gillon: Okay. You have an article – a journalistic article – which is nice because not very many linguists do this – so, awesome – with PBS called, “Your political views can predict how you pronounce certain words.” Maybe just tell us why you started working on that area.

Zach Jaggers: Yeah. I look particularly at loan words, so words that come into a language from another language, and this was following up, actually, on work by Lauren Hall-Lew and colleagues where they were looking at the variation of /ɪɹɑk/ versus /ɑɪɹæk/ and how it was pronounced by politicians in the US House of Representatives. They had found that democratic politicians were more likely to say /ɪɹɑk/, which is more like how that sounds in Arabic, the source language of this word. Whereas, Republicans were more likely to say /ɪɹæk/ or /ɑɪɹæk/.

I was really interested in that and just wanting to follow up on that, and so I wanted to just kind of look into what is under the hood of that, in a sense. Like, okay, if we just imagined this patterns with political identity – I’m not gonna tell you which party says it this way – you could probably predict which party says it which way. So, I was wanting to get at why is this happening in this way. I followed up on that, looking at people’s globalist and nationalist ideologies, but also other ideologies like their language contact receptiveness – how they feel about multilingualism and language contact and, also, their specific attitudes about Arabs, Arab-Americans, Islam particularly.

But then also because of these broader factors, like language contact receptiveness or globalism/nationalism, I was also predicting that this was gonna happen with other loanwords of less political charge too, so words from other languages across the board like Spanish, or German, or French – just any loanwords at all. Then, I found that same pattern that, in general, people who identified as either republican or politically conservative – I didn’t quite treat this as much of a partisan thing but more just like a gradient political continuum, a more multifaceted thing – tended to use less “source-like pronunciations,” is the term that like to use, so just pronunciations that sounded less like how it’s pronounced in its original language or where it comes from – how people who identify with this more as the source say it.

Whereas, people who identified more as democratic or as liberal tended to use more source-like pronunciations. I also like to use “less or more source-like,” I think, because if you think about /ɪɹɑk/ versus /ɑɪɹæk/, even the /ɪɹɑk/ pronunciation isn’t exactly how it’s pronounced in the source language, right? It’s not like you’re doing the flipped R in the middle or getting really into the phonetics – like the uvular stop at the end, you know? It’s not exactly like how it’s pronounced. Both of these are entirely pronounceable even within the confines of the English sound system, but one of these still sounds closer to how it’s pronounced by speakers of that language who identify more with that word and how it’s pronounced. That’s what I mean when I say, “more or less source-like.”

Megan Figueroa: Well, I like that too because then you’re getting away from this language that’s more or less “correct,” right?

Carrie Gillon: Right. Yes.

Zach Jaggers: Yeah. A lot of the discussion around this pronunciation variable, too, tends to get used in that way where people are like “This is the correct way to say it.” I also really like to reframe that discussion as “Let’s move away from thinking of this as correct and let’s really reframe this as thinking about who identifies with this word.” Then, that helps us think about how are they impacted, possibly, by the way this word is pronounced, or how might they be impacted by the way this word is pronounced, and what can that reflect.

That’s where I think thinking about this ideology of globalism/nationalism and getting a little into what that was – this was also a multifaceted questionnaire/survey that I did. The three main aspects that it was getting at was – 1.) was just the general kind of nationalism, which is someone’s hubris or pride in their country. Then, another was just the general interest in people or cultures or places that they might consider foreign or different from their country. The other facet of that is what I think of as this prescribed homogeneity – the idea that it’s like “We should all be one.” But what that can sometimes end up meaning is, “We should all be similar to each other. We should all be alike.”

There’s degrees of that where you can see like “We should all have similar ideologies” or “We should all have similar thoughts.” But sometimes that can also extend into demographics. This was all along a scale of seeing how people identify – to different extremes or, like, in the middle of these things – but also along these different facets. This was a multifaceted thing that I was trying to get at in terms of this ideology.

I think seeing that people who identified as more globalist rather than – like, more globalist or less nationalist – were using these more accommodating pronunciations, these more source-like pronunciations. I think that seems to be reflecting this kind of trying to be accommodating to people who identify with the source of these words and with the pronunciations of them. That’s at least what it seems to be reflecting.

Megan Figueroa: Underlying that, to me – I mean, this is me editorializing it – but the word “respect” comes to mind. You’re trying to respect that culture, that person, whatever it might be. Was your questionnaire open-ended, or was it like a check box, or like a Likert scale, 1 to 5? How did you get at nationalist or not nationalist – these kind of things? Because I’m wondering about – all these words that are coming to mind.

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, this was a Likert scale. This was a series of Likert scales, so getting at those different facets and then multiple statements of, like, Likert scale agreement. One of them would be, in terms of the assimilation – so the prescribed homogeneity I talked about – would be like “I think that” – hi. [Laughter] I’m waving at a cat walking by, okay?

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, that was Mu.

Zach Jaggers: I want you to be behind me so I can pet you.

Carrie Gillon: She would love it. [Laughter]

Zach Jaggers: So, thinking about the prescribed homogeneity part, one of the statements was something along the lines of “I believe that immigrants to the country should be expected to adopt American cultural practices.” That would be this idea that’s like “Foreign people should assimilate to cultural practices. We should have these shared values or practices” You can see that kind of analogizing to words, right? It’s like “I feel like people who are foreign who come into the country should assimilate in their practices to a way that feels less foreign and fits in more.”

You can see that also applying to words, right? Like “I feel that words that enter the language should assimilate to a pronunciation that fits in more and feels less foreign.” But, yeah, I also did a follow up perception survey getting at people’s – this was another rating survey, but getting a little bit more at people’s ratings of how they think of people, like a speaker, when they use more source-like or less source-like pronunciations of loan words. Very similar percepts where I think of more source-like pronunciations as more globally oriented as this person being more likely multilingual.

Also, there was this, kind of what we were getting at, which is this conflict where it was more pleasant in one sense but also – more along a humble/pretentious scale – more pretentious. It’s this I think that they’re open-minded and accommodating, but I think that they’re also pretentious or trying to be above it all, in a sense. I think that is a conflict that comes into play with this which is, I think, this decision that people seem to wrestle with which is “I am accommodating but who am I accommodating to? Am I accommodating to the borrowing language and this force to assimilate?” or if someone is a speaker of the borrowing language “Am I accommodating to this surrounding force around me to assimilate these words to the borrowing language? Or am I accommodating more to the people who identify with these words?” That’s what this ideology and where you fall on it is being reflected in your pronunciations.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, I’ve definitely felt that in myself that I wanna pronounce it as close as possible to the original, but it does have this feeling of “I sound pretentious now.” People talk about it on Twitter, too, “Oh, you’re pretentious if you pronounce it whatever way.” Even, like, the /ɸoɪjɛɪ/, /ɸoɪjɹ̩/ difference, I say /ɸoɪjɛɪ/. I’m Canadian, so we pronounce it closer to the French. But I feel more pretentious here saying it that way.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, you should’ve heard my inner dialogue just calling you pretentious when you said that. [Laughter] I’ve never heard you say that word, so I didn’t know you said it that way. But this is getting really complicated because there is some power structures going on here where I’m like “Oh” – well, we have an episode on this. I’m just thinking about French globally and, like, it’s fine. Then, I think about how we’re in the American southwest – Carrie and I are – and I’m like “Well, Spanish is under attack because racists.”

Zach Jaggers: Yeah. I think those power dynamics are definitely a thing. I think there’s a lot of factors that go into influencing how loanwords get pronounced and how they get adapted into the borrowing language. I think there’s just the sound system in general, right? I was talking about – like with /ɪɹɑk/ versus /ɑɪɹæk/ – and just how the sound system has an overriding factor in general in a lot of cases where you’re probably not gonna do that flipped R. Or if you do, that’s really saying something about how accommodating you’re wanting to be to the source language and people who identify with it, which is a statement in and of itself.

Or something about, like, we’ve also seen effects of how bilingual the community is where these loanwords are being used. If there’s a higher degree of bilingualism in that community, then you would expect maybe even some transcending of the constraints of the borrowing language system where there might even be some phonetic level incorporation of sounds that wouldn’t necessarily be considered allowed in the borrowing language. I think these power dynamics and the prestige dynamics also come into play a lot, even with the borrowing of words themselves too.

When we think about borrowing of words, oftentimes we’ll think of it just as the borrowing of a cultural concept or a cultural transmission or a conceptual transmission, right? If we are borrowing something – if we think of words that English and German share where it’s like this is just shared inheritance not even a borrowing at all. We think of “hound” versus “Hund.” This is something that’s not a loanword, but this is something that they still share, right, where the sound and the meaning are shared, right? Whereas, they both are shared from Proto-Germanic. In German, it used to mean just general “dog.” And in German, it still does. Whereas, in English it then shifted to become “hound.” It also shifted in meaning to mean a narrower kind of dog.

We also see loanwords between German and English where there’s these cultural transmissions that after that split historically, long after German and English became distinct languages, there were these cultural transmissions, like “kindergarten,” “zeitgeist,” “schadenfreude” –“schadenfreude,” you know, enjoying someone else’s pain. This is the kind of word where people were like “You know, I can say that. I don’t need this word from another language to say it,” but it’s appreciating like “Oh, this other language has this succinct word that I can use to express this idea. I’m gonna use that.” We also see cases where there’s a loanword from another language used in a borrowing language where it’s not because there was some kind of, quote – hand quotes. Sorry, I gesture a lot. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: No, it’s okay.

Zach Jaggers: I’m sure this is such a challenge with podcasting. I use my hands a lot when I talk.

Carrie Gillon: So do I. It’s fine.

Megan Figueroa: We all do. Or lots of us do – yeah.

Zach Jaggers: Hopefully my gestures are audible. [Laughter] So, when we think about how there’s not necessarily – hand quotes – “gaps” that are because of – that that is why a loanword came into another language. If you think about cases – even “salsa” could be considered something where it’s like we could’ve used “tomato sauce” or “dip” or something like that where it’s like, you know, it doesn’t necessarily accurately capture it, but it could have been not borrowed in to represent that concept.

Or if we think of cases like – so this is getting back into the prestige factor, so the French/Spanish asymmetry. Hang in there with me. Thinking about cases like, if we think of “veal” versus “horse.” “Veal” was borrowed into English from French, so this was right around the Norman conquest time when French was in really intense contact with English but also with a lot of prestige. Whereas, right now, in the US context, there’s a lot of contact with Spanish but not with a lot of prestige, right? We see a lot of this contact with French where “veal” gets borrowed in.

We also see, like, “pork” – and these are already now the long-adapted versions of them – but “pork” is the French etymological origin word for “pig,” gets borrowed in. Those are the French words for those animals, but those ended up getting used to represent the cooked versions of them. We also see “cuisine,” which is the word for “kitchen” in French. That gets used to represent food. We see this asymmetry of the older Proto-Germanic origin, the English words, they’re representing the labor-side versus the fancier side, in a sense. “Kitchen” is where the labor of preparing the food happens. Then, the farm animals are the English side. Whereas, the French side is where the animals are cooked and you’re eating them, and the “cuisine,” that’s where the cooked food is coming out and you’re enjoying the cooked food.

It’s like that asymmetry of these words that you have the exact parallels of, that asymmetry ends up getting semantically reflected in which language’s version of those words you’re using in a sense. We also see that in the pronunciations too. A lot of times people will say, – but you have these really old words too where you don’t see these variables at all in pronunciation. Or cases like “veal,” people don’t even know that that’s a French loanword. But you see these reflections of these ideologies and of this prestige around French still being reflected in the way that we use it historically, right?

You also even see that in the pronunciations too. In Old English, Old English couldn’t allow for the sound V – like, the voiced /v/ – to appear at the beginning of a word. But when there was this huge influx of loanwords from French, you then had all of these words with the /v/ sound – the V sound – at the beginning of the word. But because people were using all of these French loanwords and because they were, in that case, not even just using more source-like pronunciations of them within the confines of the English sound system but they were actually breaking the rules of English and being like “I’m going to pronounce these so French-like. I’m going to break those rules and maintain this V sound at the beginning of the word,” that carried on where these words are still pronounced with the V sound. And that totally changed the sound system of English.

The English sound system can have V at the beginning of the word now because of all of these French loanwords and because people pronouncing them in more source-like ways because of the prestige that was associated with them. It’s like, not only can you just pronounce these words more source-like as a reflection of your attitudes about the source language and the people associated with them, but you can even in some cases break the rules of the borrowing language if you associate the source language with that much prestige.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. It has survived so long, these sound changes to the English language.

Zach Jaggers: Where you don’t even know it.

Megan Figueroa: Wow! I had no idea. I mean, if I would’ve thought about it, I would’ve probably realized that Old English shouldn’t have a V sound at the beginning.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah. I didn’t know that. But I didn’t know that we borrowed sounds from French. I just didn’t know about French at the beginning.

Megan Figueroa: Wow. That’s really cool. It speaks to, I mean, it just shows that if you examine language a little bit deeper, you’re gonna see all of these things that reflect how we think about people.

Carrie Gillon: Absolutely.

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, how social dynamics just really come through and get reflected historically. They manifest in language and just thinking about how they propagate in language. I think, coming back to just thinking about with new loanwords too is just raising that question of do people want to use more source-like pronunciations and what do we want that to reflect. Do people want that to reflect a kind of accommodation or openness?

Because when we think of how even if people aren’t thinking of, “Oh, I’m using this initial V sound as a way to signal openness to French speakers” anymore, it still does kind of in a way. It leaves English and French sounding a little bit more similar to each other. You’ll think about these – I’m thinking about these YouTube videos where – have you seen where someone who speaks two really different languages but then they’re asked, “How do you say this word in your language and this word in your other language?” And then they’re like “Oh, we have these two words in common even though” –

Megan Figueroa: Oh, I have seen those. Yeah.

Zach Jaggers: But you just see this and, like, they’re probably loanwords, right? But they have the sense of like “Oh, we have this shared linguistic thing in common. Yay! This is a fun friendship,” or something like that. It’s just like, when you have this linguistic thing in common, you have this shared sense with each other. Even if you aren’t actively thinking about that, just thinking about how are your propagating that for future accommodation.

Megan Figueroa: I’m thinking specifically, when you said that, of Spanish and Arabic. I’ve seen video where someone’s like “Almohada – Hello.” What? What? You guys are – Arabic? Yeah, no, you’re right. It’s never like – I mean, of course they probably wouldn’t be trying to find the most terrible people in the world to record – to do this – but every time they’re just like – it’s like an opening. Their world has opened a little bit. That’s what it feels like when you’re watching this. Those are quite lovely. I do like those.

Carrie Gillon: Let’s go back to the /ɪɹɑk/, /ɑɪɹæk/ saying. Is it the case that if you pronounce it, let’s say /ɑɪɹæk/, that you’re for sure a republican or for sure a nationalist?

Zach Jaggers: No, no. I think a lot of times people will want to read this as a generalization. It’s hard. When I do public-facing work, it’s hard to make this connection with people but also be like “Hey, you saw how in my article I used relative adjectives,” you know, “likelier than,” right? So, yeah, no, definitely not.

What I found was these were definitely relative likelihoods where, in terms of across these loanwords across the board, people who identified as more politically conservative or republican were likelier to use less source – like republications – than people who identified as democrats or as politically liberal. Actually, for most words, there was still more of a default of the more-adapted, less source-like pronunciations. People would be usually – across the board, across people – would be likelier to say something like /ɪɹæk/ or /ɑɪɹæk/ than they would be to say /ɪɹɑk/.

But if they identified as politically liberal or as democrat, they would be likelier to say /ɪɹɑk/ than other people. There was still a slightly higher likelihood that they would use more source-like pronunciations. Then, when I looked at the other predictors, the stronger predictor – I won’t get into the weeds of statistical comparison and stuff – but the better predictor was actually the globalist/nationalist alignment. That actually seemed to explain a lot of the pattern with politics. It was a better predictor whether they aligned as more globalist or nationalist whether they would use a more or less source-like pronunciation, which I think also helps get at, a little bit, trying to remove politics from this in a sense or at least thinking about how, if this is a better predictor than political identity, then maybe both of these pronunciations and also these ideologies are not necessarily the same as political identity in and of themselves.

There’s at least some room for thinking about some nuance in there and thinking a little bit more about maybe these pronunciations are reflecting how people think about these pronunciation’s impacts on people who identify with the source, you know – that that’s reflecting these ideologies a little bit more. I mean, maybe that’s a little too far-reaching or getting at my wanting to try to get away from the politics but thinking about what this data is saying about some of the nuances in there.

Megan Figueroa: I came of age – are you a US citizen? Did you grow up here?

Zach Jaggers: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: I came of age right when George W. Bush was president and 9/11 happened, so what I heard over and over again – I’m trying to remember. I think he said /ɑɪɹæk/, right?

Zach Jaggers: Mm-hmm. I have some recordings of /ɑɪɹæk/ and also some of /ɪɹæk/.

[Recording of George W. Bush] My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm [ɪɹæk], to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.

[End recording]

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, so I was – but yeah.

Zach Jaggers: By Bush.

Megan Figueroa: So, /ɑɪɹæk/, /ɑɪɹæk/ over and over again. That’s how I thought that was said because I was, like, 13, 14, until I realized – and I feel like the rhetoric from him around that was like “We need to beat them. They are evil. We are not evil,” which is a very nationalist thing. When I started to get more nuanced into my understanding of the world, I was like “Oh, here comes other people.” And then Barack Obama comes, and they say /ɪɹɑk/.

[Recording Barack Obama]

As a candidate for president, I pledge to bring the war in [ɪɹɑk] to a responsible end.

[End recording]

I’m like “I’m gonna start saying it like that.” I made a conscious decision because I was like “He’s talking about it a certain way, and I’m noticing he’s saying it in a different way. I’m gonna pronounce it like him.” Did you have any experience with that?

Zach Jaggers: Well, yeah. I think that’s a big thing too is just recognizing that the pronunciations that you’ve heard around you definitely matter, right? I think there should be a huge asterisk that as much as this seems to, at the aggregate level, be predicted by people’s ideologies, that that doesn’t necessarily mean that every single person’s pronunciation of every single word is this very conscious decision saying something about their ideologies and definitely not saying something about, like, they surely fall along the extreme on all these ideological or political dimensions. There should be that huge asterisk there. What people heard pronounced around them definitely matters.

I think thinking about that – that’s kind of the past, right, what things they have heard influence them. But there is also the thinking about what this means moving forward. I think those ideologies also seem to influence people there too. I think that that is part of that is deciding like, okay, maybe now I’ve heard a different pronunciation, or maybe now, if I have this different ideology, do I want to be more attentive to looking up pronunciations or how these words are pronounced in their source languages and try to evaluate, is the pronunciation I’m using now the degree of accommodating the source pronunciation that I would like to apply? Or is there a degree further of accommodating that source pronunciation that I would like to apply further? That is a reflection of your ideology.

I should just claim that I also did – so Lauren Hall-Lew and colleagues’ study – they were looking at politicians. Those politicians were from lots of different regions. They controlled – they didn’t control – but they were able to account a little bit for those politician’s regional identities and their regional accent varieties. They did not find that to have a significant effect. It did not necessarily seem like their political identities were – that the effect that they saw was totally just because of political identity correlating with regional accent variety.

I had to take a different approach. I totally controlled for regions. I just ran this all in one place. By still finding this effect even when I was doing the study in one place, that was what was suggesting to me like “Okay. This effect is still real and not all just because of people’s regional accent.” But, caveat, I wasn’t looking at the whole country. Part of that study was as looking – and thinking about the moving forward component – I also did a study looking at how people treated new words.

I exposed people to fake words that they never heard before. I framed those words to people as like “This is a foreign word from a foreign language,” and they were just fake words. So, “sheenya” versus “sheeniya,” or “sloxy.” I exposed them to those words in a short story that they heard. Afterwards, then I had them read a sequel that then got them to say those words out loud again. Then, I could see, like, how well did you imitate the word that you heard? Then, I found the same effect where people who were more nationalist aligning than globalist aligning were more likely to stray from the pronunciation that they had heard. If they had heard, “sheeniya,” they were more likely to say, “sheenya” or vice versa. Also, if they had heard “sloxy,” they were more likely to say, “slosky.” Whereas, if they had been more globalist aligning, they tended to be more faithful to the pronunciation that they had heard before. At least in terms of, like, new words, there also seems to be that same effect.

When you’re stripping the effect of the pronunciations that they had heard before, that effect seems to hold. But we should still remember that the pronunciations that people have heard before do matter. We should still be careful about – just because you’re using this pronunciation, that definitely means all of these things about you.

Megan Figueroa: I say as a scientist, that’s a really fucking clever experiment. That was really good. Very cool.

Carrie Gillon: With Iraq, I feel like my pronunciation varies quite a bit from sentence to sentence. I even studied Arabic for two years, pre 9/11, so I knew how “Iraq” should be pronounced. But, yeah, even with all that background, I still sometimes say /ɪɹæk/. So, yes, obviously one pronunciation tells you nothing.

Zach Jaggers: Right. And audience is totally a thing too. I think also thinking about how these pronunciations are clearly charged given the whole pretentious judgement thing too, thinking about how who you’re speaking to matters, and especially thinking about – given all of the political charge just around everything lately, but also around this topic, around this speech feature – thinking about if you’re talking to different groups and not wanting to add a political charge element, is there a degree of accommodating that you wanna do there? Again, then also weighing that with how much are you accommodating people who might not be in the room, you know, that kind of – yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Right. I thought it was really interesting that you brought up Obama and /pɑkəstɑn/ as opposed to /pækɪstæn/.

[Recording of Barack Obama]

I am gravely concerned about the situation in [pɑkəstɑn].

[End recording]

I don’t hear that very often in the United States, that pronunciation. It’s very rare. It’s not that common in Canada either, but I think it’s a little bit more common to hear it, the /pɑkəstɑn/. He was even thanked for it, which I thought was very interesting. Should we maybe be trying to do this more often if it makes people feel better about their language or their country or whatever?

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, it’s a really complicated – I think definitely, like I said before, in terms of just how the pronunciations you’ve heard around you and how that plays a really big role and just how your sound system plays a really big role in the pronunciations you use, one element is just, like, to what degree are you considering a pronunciation more or less source-like. I think we should just be really careful in judging people’s pronunciations right off the bat, especially if we’re thinking about the intent there.

I think that’s one case where I think avoiding judging certain pronunciations as, like, would-be – just, in general, we should avoid judging certain pronunciations, especially given that we see that there are a lot of factors at play. I think that would be really crucial. But I think that this does balance a certain line, right, of also thinking about how pronunciations can reflect certain biases and also manifest and propagate those – thinking about that too. A lot of times, this tends to be on the perception-end that we want to try to encourage people to be more accommodating – accommodate being accepting of different people’s language varieties because they identify with those language varieties, right? We want to give them that space.

I think what this variable raises – what this linguistic variable, this phenomenon raises – is the question of “Does pronunciation come into play there a little bit?” There are other realms where thinking about language production also comes into play. When we think about ways that the language people uses seems to be a way of manifesting and propagating certain biases, right? That does tend to be the times when people, like, identify directly with a certain form of language and the usage of it.

I think even just, like, growing up as gay and hearing, “That’s so gay,” used as a pejorative, where I’m like “That’s something that I identify with,” right? Obviously, this analogy’s somewhat different. There’s those flags to raise. But this is a linguistic form that I identify with but it’s being used in a very different way than I would like to hear it used, frankly. Trying to advocate for, like, “Hey, it’d be nice if people didn’t use it that way,” is a hard thing to do.

But, also, I remember seeing articles – even articles citing linguists and quoting linguists – where linguists are like “You know, language changes. This meaning is changing. Some people are just using this in a way that means something different. So, we should just be careful in the way that we think about that and judge people about it.” And I get that, in some ways too, right? Or it’s like – because people are using this in ways that they don’t know, right? They don’t know the biases that this is getting at and they maybe do think of this in a different way.

I think this is – getting back to the pronunciation – a similar, at least analogous, in some ways where it’s like “What biases is this reflecting and propagating?” but still is there a way that we can kind of call out that and try to propagate some kind of accommodating space, some kind of space for – I think the way to reframe that discussion is thinking about how do people identify with this form of language and how might they be impacted by that.

I think, in terms of thinking about the use of something that someone really directly identifies with, like the use of “That’s so gay” in that way, is a very clear case of this is something that people are using that is discriminatory. There are ways that we can try to make people aware of that discriminatory nature of it, even then, without necessarily being judgmental of them because we recognize that they have been indoctrinated into this usage and because this is a reflection of the broader society that they have been around.

I think the pronunciations, too, especially pronunciations like someone’s name that someone really directly identifies with, right? We see this with names a lot of times too where people’s names, especially people from ethnic and linguistic minority backgrounds with names that get mispronounced a lot, where they personally identify with that, it would – Mary Bucholtz has a really good paper on this talking about how we can be attentive to students’ names and thinking about how to make sure that we try to pronounce them in the way that they want them to be pronounced. I think that that is a really crucial thing to be attentive to because they identify with those names and the pronunciation of them. Hearing them pronounced in a different way does feel marginalizing.

We can then move forward in thinking about does this apply to loanwords too – maybe to a lesser degree, maybe not – but also maybe mitigated by other factors like the sound system or factors like how long this loanword has been established in the borrowing language, so factors like that, but still asking ourselves, “Is there a degree to which we can accommodate a more source-like pronunciation of this word that gives space for people who identify with the source pronunciation of this word that feels less like this enforced assimilation?” It is a complicated variable where there is a lot of elements to think about, like how directly do people identify with the source pronunciation and what mitigating factors there are and how can we keep this from feeling super prescriptive and judgmental while still thinking about the biases that might be reflected and propagated in the use of less source-like pronunciations. But I think really framing this as thinking about the people who identify with the source is a good steppingstone.

Carrie Gillon: Well, to go to names, I do feel like proper names and place names, they’re closer than, say, /ɸoɪjɛɪ/. It feels less important to pronounce /ɸoɪjɛɪ/ the closer-to-French way. Although, again with names, it depends on what sounds are in that name how likely it is an English speaker’s gonna be able to pronounce it correctly. It’s tough. You should try. You should still try.

Megan Figueroa: Oh, yeah. Then there’s the whole – I’ve said this before on the show because my last name gives me problems with people who are like – so, maybe they’re overcorrecting. And I mean that – from the bottom of my heart I appreciate it. But I’ll say, “Yeah, my name is Megan Figueroa,” and they’re like “No, but how do you really say your last name?” And I was like “Oh, no, no, no.” That’s how I really say it sometimes. And it’s okay.

What you just said before, Zach, was beautiful and nuanced and I love it. I have so many thoughts, so many beautiful thoughts. But I’m thinking, yes, listen to the person. That might be the one thing to take away because, yes, language changes. We should not use that as an out because once we know that that language change is coming from a discriminatory place, we have the responsibility to take proper action and be like “Okay, oops. I’m sorry. I’m gonna do better next time.”

Zach Jaggers: Yeah. If it’s your own name, just like how, you know, there’ll be people who prefer to use different versions of their name, especially – so there’ll be lots of people who have Chinese names but who prefer to identify with Anglo names in the US because they don’t want to use Chinese names. But then, there’ll be people who are like “No, but really, I want to use your Chinese name,” and they’re like “Mmm, no. No, I would like you to use this name.” Listen to them.

I think there is space where this does come back around to loanwords too, but where it is also complicated because we do see there is discourse where we can see people who are latinx and who are like “Mmm, maybe don’t go so far in pronouncing your Spanish words with totally Spanish phonetics when you’re speaking English.” Especially if you’re white, you know.

Megan Figueroa: Well, yeah. Sometimes, that feels like mock Spanish, right?

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, exactly. So, broaching that territory, being attune to that or just trying to be attuned to that. There was also, when my article came out, someone on Twitter linked my article to another thing that had happened where the prime minister of Australia, he was at this Diwali, Deepawali, celebration event, and he was talking about celebrating diversity, and he was using the melting pot analogy, which is nuancedly complicated, but his melting pot that he used was an Indian dish. He pronounced it /gəˈɹam məsɑlə/. But people in the audience – so this is a totally South Asian Australian audience – and someone in the audience was like /ˈgɑɹəm məsɑlə/. They tried to prod him like “Mmm, could you change your pronunciation because that’s not how we say it?”

So, there is some degree to which even non-proper words are still something that people identify with and would like there to be some accommodation of those pronunciations too. But I think, yeah, thinking about the people who identify with them and what they want is something to be attuned to and to keep trying to be attuned to and the nuances thereof as well.

Carrie Gillon: I think in this case it’s because it’s a culturally significant thing. Whereas, /ɸoɪjɛɪ/ is not. I don’t think the French would care at all. [Laughs] Maybe I’m wrong. Please tell me if I’m wrong.

Megan Figueroa: Some of us don’t have foyers. I don’t have a foyer. Excuse me. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Okay. This has been a really, really great conversation. Maybe, as the last question, how can we go about not being assholes about all of this?

Zach Jaggers: I think really this has all kind of just summed up is, like, not judging people, thinking about how there’s lots of factors that go into their pronunciations, but still at the same time thinking about how people might identify with the source, or as the source, especially with names, and thinking about how using more or less source-like pronunciations might be a manifestation of certain biases or attitudes about them, and how there’s still room to move forward, and thinking about the degree to which people want to accommodate to those people with their pronunciations.

Carrie Gillon: I was thinking, too, sometimes speaking up and saying, “Oh, it’s actually pronounced this way,” is really hard. Just a little effort on your part, after someone did something really hard. Even I actually did eventually correct one of my professors because he would always say /kæʀi/ because it’s spelled with an A, and in the UK, you make a distinction between /ɛ/ and /æ/. But I can’t do that before R. It has to be /kɛʀi/. I don’t have /kæʀi/. So, I finally corrected him. And, you know, I’ve got a bunch of privilege, [laughs] and it was still hard for me. So, yeah, if someone tells you, yes, definitely listen to them. He never fixed it. [Laughs] It’s all right. It doesn’t matter.

Megan Figueroa: Well, that was a sad ending to that story. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: My grandmother also pronounced it that way because she had a more British – even though she was born in Canada – she had a more British accent, slightly, because her dad was English. Yeah, it’s fine.

Megan Figueroa: You know who you are.

Carrie Gillon: For me, it’s not the end of the world. But, yeah, no. Okay. Well, thanks again so much for coming on the show, Zach. This was great!

Zach Jaggers: Yeah, thanks for having me. It was great hearing your thoughts too.

Carrie Gillon: It was awesome.

Megan Figueroa: Ya’ll don’t be assholes.

Carrie Gillon: Don’t be assholes. [Laughter]

[Background music]

Carrie Gillon: The Vocal Fries podcast is produced by me, Carrie Gillon, for Halftone Audio, theme music by Nick Granum. You can find us on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @vocalfriespod. You can email us as [email protected] and our website is vocalfriespod.com.

#transcript #linguistic discrimination #Iraq #Pakistan #Obama #Bush #foyer #pronunciation #borrowings #place names #proper names #names

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chappelllangballe22-blog · 6 years

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irenenorth · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Irene North

New Post has been published on http://www.irenenorth.com/writings/2017/12/my-2017-reading-list/

My 2017 reading list

Every year, I make a list of the things I read – books, long articles, graphic novels – and share them. Hopefully, you will find something interesting to read here and expand your mind.

To make it easier in case you don’t like one type of reading, I created sections for each type of reading and then listed in the order I read them.

BOOKS

The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid

Does a wealthy country have an ethical obligation to provide access to health care for everybody? Do we want to live in a society that lets tens of thousands of our neighbors die each year, and hundreds of thousands face financial ruin, because they can’t afford medical care when they’re sick? This, of course, is the “first question” that Professor William Hsiao asks whenever he reviews a country’s health care system. And on this question, too, every developed country except the United States has reached the same conclusion: Everybody should have access to medical care. – Pg. 242

Though the question comes near the end of the book, it is researched throughout. Reid looks at the different models used around the world – Bismark, Beveridge, National Health Insurance, Out-of-pocket. If you want to understand health care, you should read this. You will learn there are very good, working models around the world that the United States could use or adapt so everyone has access to care.

Quiet by Susan Cain

There’s a reason this book is a best seller. It provides new insights into introverts and can also be beneficial to extroverts to learn about and understand their friends, family, and coworkers.

Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War by James Risen

Most of what Risen writes about was not new to me. I had read the stories in other books, newspapers and magazines. By, if you want to know what goes on in Washington, D.C., you need to read this book. It covers everything the United States government has done wrong since 9/11 and shines a light on the many abuses of power of the American government under the cloak of “providing security” and making American safer.

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder

One of the best books I read this year. I could hardly wait to get home from work each day to continue reading the book.

There are two stories here. First is Sergei Magnitsky’s life and death and second is the corruption and murder in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Browder recounts his journey to becoming the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. When his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in prison for uncovering hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud by officials in the Russian government, Browder became vocal about human rights abuses in the country.

Actually, I’m surprised Browder made it out alive.

America’s First Great Eclipse: How scientists, tourists, and the Rocky Mountain eclipse of 1878 changed Astronomy forever by Steve Ruskin

I interviewed Ruskin before the solar eclipse that passed through Nebraska on Aug. 21, 2017.

As easy read that can be accomplished in a day or two, the book discusses the solar eclipse of 1878, including emerging technologies that allowed scientists to better view the sun as well as citizen scientists helping out and the sheer joy surrounding the event.

It’s only $8.99. Pick up a copy and lose yourself in the joy of a total solar eclipse.

Planck: Driven by vision, Broken by War by Brandon R. Brown

Max Planck is considered the father of quantum theory. He was good friends with Albert Einstein. And he was German. Planck stayed in Germany after World War II broke out. He spent his life fighting the fact that he did not think as his government did, but was compelled to remain in the country.

I get a lot of book recommendations from the science and history subreddits on Reddit. This one was highly recommended. However, I found myself slogging through the book, feeling like I had to finish it because I bought it. It was a chore that needed to be done.

There is no doubt. Planck is an influential scientist and more should be known of him. If you’re a fan of Planck, this will probably be a fun and interesting read. It just didn’t do anything for me.

They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook

I think I read too much because a lot of these stories I already knew.

The book covers a part of Civil War history that isn’t covered nearly enough – that of the women who fought in the war. Hundreds of women fought in the war by disguising themselves as men. The book explores their reasons for enlisting, and staying, as well as their combat experiences and what their fellow soldiers thought of them.

Each of the women in the book could have biographies of their own. Some probably would, if they had been men.

A well-researched book on a topic not many people know about.

Paper Tiger: An Old Sportswriter’s Reminiscences of People, Newspapers, War, and Work by Stanley Woodward

https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Tiger-Sportswriters-Reminiscences-Newspapers/dp/0803259611

I really enjoyed this book. I’m not a big fan of sportswriting and I don’t read much of it today, but this book is so much more than that. Woodward is considered one of, if not the, best sports editor to have ever held the position in America. Throughout the book, he discusses the problems within a newspaper, many of which still plague the industry today.

One day, toward the end of my vacation in 1955, I received a letter from Mr. Welsh, my managing editor. He said that I was a wonderful operator but that my salary was too high for the News and therefore I was fired. I can’t say I was terribly distressed, for I wanted to get North not only because I hated the South but also because I was afraid one of my girls might marry a Floridian. God knows enough of them were hanging around the house. – Pg. 261

It doesn’t make any difference to me what happens to the newspaper business; that is, it doesn’t make any difference to me economically. But I can’t bear the thought of a general newspaper collapse. For I still believe what Nick Skerrett told me when I was a cub reporter – “The American newspaper is the greatest institution in the world.” – Pg. 286

Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Need to brush up on your grammar? Check out this book. I’m still probably never going to get the “that vs. which” thing right. But that’s why I have a copy editor.

Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis

https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Wind-Movement-John-Lewis/dp/1476797714/

Senator John Lewis recalls his life and journey to Washington, D.C. It is an important story about the Civil Rights Movement and one everyone should read.

“There is an old African proverb: ‘When you pray, move your fee.’ As a nation, if we cre for the Beloved Community, we must move out feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill. In the final analysis, we are one people, one family, one house – the American house, the American family.” – Pg. 503

Extract from a Diary of Rear-Admiral by Sir George Cockburn

https://archive.org/details/extractfromadia00cockgoog

Another recommendation from Reddit.

The full title is a mouthful: Excerpt from Extract From a Diary of Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn: With Particular Reference to Gen. Napoleon Buonaparte, on Passage From England to St. Helena, in 1815, on Board H. M. S. Northumberland, Bearing the Rear-Admiral’s Flag.

This manuscript was found in Cockburn’s own handwriting among his other writings. It was published due to its intrinsic value to history about the late career of a soldier.

Cockburn was there when the White House was burned and was chosen to escort Napoleon to Saint Helena for exile. Though Cockburn would later die at Saint Helena, this is his journal of the voyage there.

Minatare Memories: A Historical Account of the Tabor-Minatare Community of Western Nebraska by the Minatare Historical Committee.

A history of Minatare, Nebraska. I came across some ladies documenting the history of Minatare. They planned to write a book when they were finished, charging only what it cost to have it printed. I wrote an article about them. Then, I wrote another when the book came out. U.S. News and World Report picked up my story. I didn’t plan on it, but I’m on page 139.

After printing, the ladies noticed a few typos and they received even more information than what they had. I know how that feels.

Black Hills Doc 1892-1945 by C.W. Hargens, M.D., Edited, by D.M. Hargens-Hallsted.

This is the story of an instrumental figure in the history of Hot Springs, South Dakota. D.M. Hargens-Hallsted, or as I know her, Dorothy Waldren, brings her grandfather’s story to life.

This is a great and easy read to learn about how life was along the frontier. It tells the story of Dr. Hargens from his early life in the Missouri Valley teaching to becoming a doctor to settling in Hot Springs where he helped transform the city.

Tales in the book include his thoughts on how women should be treated and the “discipline” men received when women were bullied, a run in with Calamity Jane and enforcing the use of masks in public during the Influenza epidemic of 1918.

A novel feature of Kidney Park was a contribution box, urging patrons to drop a coin in order that good works might be carried on. The box was attended daily by the Chief of Police; we overlooked no possible source of contributions, even to having the night cop sit on a chair observing the late night comings and goings from certain establishments, a report culminating in an early morning call for a donation or perhaps an invitation to leave town on the next train. – Pg. 141

These dances by the Indians, with shuffling feet and synchronous movements and the songs in a plaintive monotone, brought to the sympathetic viewer visions of a western scene never to be forgotten but later to be tarnished by the restrictions and degradation of reservation life. – Pg. 144

The Battle of Wounded Knee had occurred on the Pine ridge Agency in December of 1890 and was a massacre of Indians by the Seventh Cavalry. The Indians’ presence there was attributed to the Custer massacre, the current Messiah craze among the Sioux and the mistreatment of Big foot’s band by the whites. The Indian warriors wore “ghost shirts” which they had been told would magically protect them against the bullets of the white man. Victims of this fallacy were buried in their shirts except for a few shirts taken as souvenirs by those handling the bodies. – Pg. 146

I have always admired the Indians use of his environment; the religious and moral convictions which abhorred waste of any part of the animals he hunted, particularly the buffalo; his early use of the horse, his reverence of the Black Hills as an abode of the ruling spirits of his people. Any white man who claims superiority to the Indian because the Indian was defeated by an advanced armament is deluded. White men in no way, mentally, morally or physically are superior to the Indian. We defeated them only because of the “advantages” of a more developed science.- – Pg. 188

The Indian believed profoundly in silence, the sign of perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of the body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his silence ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence, not a ripple on the shining surface of the pool, not a leaf stirring on the tree, that man, in the mind of the unlettered safe, is in the ideal attitude and conduct of life. – Pg. 188

This is a fascinating read. If you’d like a copy, the best way would be to call Dobby’s Frontier Town and they can put you in touch with Dorothy. Alternatively, you can pay way too much for it on Amazon.

This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm by Ted Genoways

Genoways follows Rick Hammond and his family from harvest to harvest where they raise cattle and crops on Hammond’s wife’s fifth-generation homestead in York County, Nebraska. The book goes back and forth between the struggles of the Hammond family and the future of family farming to the history which got us here.

As the family fights to keep their operation afloat, they must deal with a myriad of issues, including the Keystone XL pipeline and the ever-increasing demands of security precautions put into place from DuPont Pioneer for the transportation and planting of seed to the ultimate harvest.

Far from an isolated refuge beyond the reach of global events, the family farm is increasingly at the crossroads of emerging technologies and international detente.

If there’s one thing I learned from this book, it’s that I don’t ever want to be a farmer. If you know nothing about corn, soybeans, and modern farming in Nebraska, this is the book you want to read. Genoways weaves the Hammonds story into complex issues without ever making the reader feel overwhelmed with information.

When I finish reading a book, I usually pass it on to others. I’m keeping this one and recommending you all go get your own copy.

Longer readings

The Things by Peter Watts Have you seen the movie “The Thing” and wondered what the thing was thinking? Now you can read what it thought of us.

I Just Wanted To Survive by Tisha Thompson and Andy Lockett A college football player thought he and a friend were going to meet up with two women. Instead, they were abducted and tortured for 40 hours — all because of a teammate.

How American Lost Its Mind The nation’s current post-truth moment is the ultimate expression of mind-sets that have made America exceptional throughout its history.

This article was adapted from Kurt Andersen’s book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire—A 500-Year History.

The First White President The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy. The essay was drawn from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book, We Were Eight Years in Power.

Interview with Edward Snowden by Martin Knobbe and Jörg Schindler In an interview, whistleblower Edward Snowden discusses his life in Russia, the power of the intelligence apparatuses and how he will continue his battle against all-encompassing surveillance by governments.

Jesus as Whippersnapper: John 2:15 and Prophetic Violence by Hector Avalos, Professor of Religious Studies, Iowa State University

This essay challenges a pacifistic interpretation of John 2:15. In particular, it addresses the linguistic, historical and literary arguments of N. Clayton Croy, who argued that Jesus should not be portrayed as committing any act of violence in John 2:15. More recently, Andy Alexis-Baker concludes that Jesus did not even strike any animals with a whip, which was made of materials too soft to injure anyone or any animal. A violent portrait of Jesus is consistent with the Deuteronomistic view of divine anger and prophetic zeal that may have influenced the portrait the Johannine Jesus. Otherwise, the temple episode in John exemplifies another case where some streams of Christian scholarship seem reluctant to characterize Jesus’ behavior as unjustifiably violent.

The Danger of President Pence by Jane Mayer Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own risks.

How the Elderly Lose Their Rights by Rachel Aviv Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it.

A Generation in Japan Faces a Lonely Death by Norimitsu Onishi The New York Times examines the growing problem of forgotten senior citizens in Japan. The story follows two apartment residents who eat lunch together in a retirement community in the suburbs of Tokyo. They have outlived nearly all their blood relatives and are simply ignored or forgotten by the rest.

Who Gets to Live in Fremont, Nebraska? by Henry Grabar A new Costco plant could save the town—by bringing hundreds of immigrants to the only place in America that passed a law to keep them out.

This massive Twitter thread about the 2016 election and True Pundit is a pro-Trump fake news site that began publishing on June 9, 2016 by Seth Abramson

“It’s time to tell the biggest untold story of the 2016 election: how a cadre of pro-Trump FBI agents and intel officers—some active, some retired—conspired to swing the election to Trump. The story involves Flynn, Prince, Giuliani, and others. Hope you’ll read and share.”

Is This Genocide? by Nicholas Kristof Survivors describe Myanmar soldiers killing men, raping women and burning babies in a Rohingya village.

From the article:

“Ethnic cleansing” and even “genocide” are antiseptic and abstract terms. What they mean in the flesh is a soldier grabbing a crying baby girl named Suhaifa by the leg and flinging her into a bonfire. Or troops locking a 15-year-old girl in a hut and setting it on fire.

The children who survive are left haunted: Noor Kalima, age 10, struggles in class in a makeshift refugee camp. Her mind drifts to her memory of seeing her father and little brother shot dead, her baby sister’s and infant brother’s throats cut, the machete coming down on her own head, her hut burning around her … and it’s difficult to focus on multiplication tables.

“Sometimes I can’t concentrate on my class,” Noor explained. “I want to throw up.”

An honest, dark, and moving piece about what is happening to the Rohingya and whether it should be considered genocide. Yeah, it’s genocide. Go read the article anyway. It tells of the brutality the Rohingya have suffered and the indifference the world and those in Burma seem to have about them.

Burmese politician Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and the defacto leader in Burma[http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41139319], continues to defend the army. She has called reports of sexual assault by soldiers as “fake rape” and, essentially, believes there is an “iceberg of misinformation” about the Rohingya.

It is a graphic and harrowing account of what the Rohingya have been forced to live through. If only we would listen, and take action.

A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America by Ed Pilkington The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation.

Alston’s journey takes him into the “dark side of the American Dream,” where the richest country in the world is also the host to abject poverty.

The two men carry on for block after block after block of tatty tents and improvised tarpaulin shelters. Men and women are gathered outside the structures, squatting or sleeping, some in groups, most alone like extras in a low-budget dystopian movie.

We come to an intersection, which is when General Dogon stops and presents his guest with the choice. He points straight ahead to the end of the street, where the glistening skyscrapers of downtown LA rise up in a promise of divine riches.

Heaven.

Then he turns to the right, revealing the “black power” tattoo on his neck, and leads our gaze back into Skid Row bang in the center of LA’s downtown. That way lies 50 blocks of concentrated human humiliation. A nightmare in plain view, in the city of dreams.

Alston turns right.

There are many great points in the article, including this:

The link between soil type and demographics was not coincidental. Cotton was found to thrive in this fertile land, and that in turn spawned a trade in slaves to pick the crop. Their descendants still live in the Black Belt, still mired in poverty among the worst in the union.

You can trace the history of America’s shame, from slave times to the present day, in a set of simple graphs. The first shows the cotton-friendly soil of the Black Belt, then the slave population, followed by modern black residence and today’s extreme poverty – they all occupy the exact same half-moon across Alabama.

As one gentleman in the article said, “The safety net? It has too many holes in it for me.” These are people who are in despair and America turns a blind eye to it, preferring to believe people cause themselves to be in these situations when that is far from reality.

Where Wind Farms Meet Coal Country, There’s Enduring Faith in Trump by Clifford Krauss

Hoping for more unfettered production of coal, oil and gas even as it erects wind farms, a Wyoming county sees the president as a key to job security.

The Making of an American Nazi by Luke O’Brien

How did Andrew Anglin go from being an antiracist vegan to the alt-right’s most vicious troll and propagandist—and how might he be stopped?

This is a really long read, but a good one and a damned fine piece of journalism. This is why I have a subscription to The Atlantic.

On December 16, 2016, Tanya Gersh answered her phone and heard gunshots. Startled, she hung up. Gersh, a real-estate agent who lives in Whitefish, Montana, assumed it was a prank call. But the phone rang again. More gunshots. Again, she hung up. Another call. This time, she heard a man’s voice: “This is how we can keep the Holocaust alive,” he said. “We can bury you without touching you.”

When Gersh put down the phone, her hands were shaking. She was one of only about 100 Jews in Whitefish and the surrounding Flathead Valley, and she knew there were white nationalists and “sovereign citizens” in the area. But Gersh had lived in Whitefish for more than 20 years, since just after college, and had always considered the scenic ski town an idyllic place. She didn’t even have a key to her house—she’d never felt the need to lock her door. Now that sense of security was about to be shattered.

There are also these unsettling things in the article:

In the summer of 2015, another great white savior—himself a troll—appeared to Anglin, this time gliding down a golden escalator in Manhattan in front of a crowd of paid extras.

Anglin immediately put all his resources toward willing a Trump presidency into reality. He churned out cheerleader posts and deployed his trolls on behalf of Trump, directing several of his nastiest attacks at Jewish journalists who were critical of the candidate or his associates.

His absentee ballot arrived in Ohio from Krasnodar, a city in southwest Russia near the Black Sea, according to Franklin County records.

Anglin worshipped Putin, and seemed like exactly the type of online agitator Russia might use to sow chaos during the U.S. election.

Also from Whitefish: Ryan Zinke, Richard Spencer and Whitefish Energy, the two-employee company who were originally given the no-bid contract to restore power to Puerto Rico. I suspect we will hear more about Whitefish in 2018.

O’Brien also did an NPR interview about the article and his findings.

Graphic Novels

No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure By Susan Hughes

https://www.amazon.com/No-Girls-Allowed-Dressed-Adventure/dp/1554531780

This is a great little graphic novel geared toward children under twelve. Within its pages, you’ll discover women throughout history have had important roles, including viking, pharaoh and general in the Kahn’s army.

It also covers topics, such as women disguising themselves as men and why they needed to do so. Most the these women risk it all, including their lives to pursue their dreams.

A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting by Guy Delisle

A delightful little read. Hilarious. I say this is how you should raise kids.

The Dark North – Volume 1

The illustrated prose-art book consists of five new stories by some of Scandinavia’s premier illustrators and concept artists. Everything was well done visually and the stories were compelling. The art is what is on display here and it does not disappoint.

This is not your typical graphic novel, and it isn’t trying to be. The artists are trying something new and, for the most part, it works.

The Forever War by Joe Haldemann (Author), and Marvano (Illustrator)

Released in Belgium in 1988, the science fiction graphic novel by Marvano is closely based on the novel of the same name by Joe Halderman, who provide the dialogue. It was originally published in Dutch and later translated into several languages, including English.

The Forever War tells the story of William Mandella, an elite soldier fighting for Earth in an interstellar war, which lasted for centuries. He is one of a handful who eventually survives the entire war. Mandella eventually settles on a planet with other veterans called, “Middle Finger.”

The Forever War focuses on many themes, including the dehumanizing effects of war and the changes in society as the soldiers continue to fight.

Like Halderman’s book, the graphic novel touches on themes from the Vietnam war, such as the treatment of the enemy and propaganda.

The original was released in three volumes, but has since been incorporated into one. The art is part of the story and often enhances what is taking place. In almost every place, the art is intertwined with the story and it feels as if each pane is meant to be with the text.

The only drawback is that in a graphic novel based on a book, there will, necessarily, be cuts. If one reads the book, they will learn more about why only people with IQs above 150 were drafted, why military-approved drugs were allowed, and more about how partners were sexually assigned.

The relationship between William and Marygay is also diminished, but I didn’t feel it took too much away from the graphic novel. It may be because I have read the book so I went in with some notion of the story.

All in all, it’s a good graphic novel that I recommend, even if you’re not a graphic novel kind of person.

That’s it for 2017. I’ve already got 20 books stacked up on my desk for 2018. Happy reading and I hope you find a gem or two in my list.

#books #graphic novel #reading

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caveartfair · 7 years

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This Photographer Captured the Glitz and Despair of the Global Culture of Wealth

Lindsey, 18, at a Fourth of July party three days after her nose job, Calabasas, California, 1993. Lauren Greenfield Fahey/Klein Gallery

There were many people for whom the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States came as a total surprise. Photographer Lauren Greenfield was probably not one of them. For nearly three decades, Greenfield has been meticulously documenting wealth: those who have it, those who aspire to it, and its pernicious influence on our culture.

In that period, she’s watched how a worship of prosperity has spread, transmitted and amplified through technology, popular culture, and the media. Is it any wonder that someone who so perfectly embodies our fascination with wealth, and all the emptiness and artifice that so often lies beneath it, ultimately snaked his way into the White House?

“Generation Wealth,” opening later this month at the International Center Photography, features over 200 of Greenfield’s photographs from her decades-long exploration of the culture of affluence in its many facets. It’s accompanied by a mammoth book of the same name, published by Phaidon this May and bound (naturally) in gold cloth.

Greenfield decided to bring these works together, she said, in the aftermath of the financial crisis. She, like many Americans, found herself reflecting on what had caused an entire nation, seemingly, to run amok.

She realized in looking back at her early work that what she had documented was “a time of cultural change, and of change in our values and change in technology which was a big driver of these values,” she said. “Where I started ended up being really important, because it was kind of the beginning of all of these trends which I ended up covering for 25 years.”

Greenfield had not intended to become a visual chronicler of the wealthy and their aspirants, an F. Scott Fitzgerald or an Edith Wharton wielding a camera instead of a pen. She grew up in what was then the grungy neighborhood of Venice, Los Angeles, but attended the ritzy private high school Crossroads, alongside the children of Hollywood’s rich and famous. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987 with a degree in visual and environmental studies, she embarked with her mother, a psychology professor, on an assignment for National Geographic in Chiapas, Mexico. She quickly realized her status as a cultural outsider (and the discomfort her subjects felt with being photographed) was hindering her work; she longed instead to return to Los Angeles and “[turn] the camera on my own culture,” she said.

That project became her first book, Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (1997), a broad exploration of Los Angeles youth culture, which took her to East and South Central L.A. to photograph the young people who were part of, or adjacent to, the gang culture that Crossroads students, enamored of hip-hop and graffiti, tried to emulate. At the same time, she notes, the youth in South Central and East L.A. themselves lusted after the markers of wealth (gold chains, designer clothes) the Crossroads kids took for granted.

“There was this kind of homogenization of culture that I was seeing from kids from really different backgrounds, even in the ’90s,” said Greenfield. “Part of Fast Forward is about the rich kids and [their] disproportionate influence.” The Generation Wealth book, she added, is “really not about wealth, it’s more about the influence of affluence and the aspiration to wealth.”

So what does Generation Wealth look like? Greenfield notes that it’s “really not about wealth, it’s more about the influence of affluence and the aspiration to wealth.” As the photographer writes in the introduction to the book, her subjects “seek material-based status, from Minnesota to Milan, South Central Los Angeles to Shanghai, Dubai to Moscow.” At one end of the spectrum, there are mansions, designer handbags, two-year-olds getting pedicures, the staid rituals of France’s aristocrats, portraits on the tarmac in front of a private jet.

But just as compelling, if not more so, are the images of what it looks like to merely aspire to that lifestyle, with varying degrees of success. There are unfinished homes in Dubai after the financial crisis, women making thousands of dollars a week as strippers to support their families, people posing on a toilet made of solid 24-karat gold in Hong Kong, four-year-olds sporting tiny false teeth at beauty pageants, the funeral of a teenage gang member in an L.A. suburb. Across the social and economic landscape, power and money tends to concentrate in the hands of men.

“It was important to me to include so many different kinds of places because in a way, what I’m looking at are the similarities more than the differences,” Greenfield said.

In chronicling Russia’s emerging elite, for example, Greenfield meets a Moscow real estate developer whose luxury homes come pre-stocked with a library of the finest Russian, British, French, German, and American literature, and an art collection for which he’s also printed a hefty catalogue that the buyers of his homes can leave prominently displayed, in case there’s any doubt as to how important the art collection is. But Greenfield is quick to point out that deploying culture to signal taste and class is on a continuum with the behavior of a newly flush finance bro in New York, only more visible.

“As an oligarch, you could buy culture. And in a way that was the ultimate thing to purchase: education, class, culture…kind of what money can’t buy,” said Greenfield. That explicitly transactional approach to culture might seem extreme, she said, but it can make visible similar, if more hidden, dynamics around us.

“In New York, you might have a wealthy person who hires an art consultant who buys for them, and so the owner doesn’t actually know anything about the art,” she said. “Well, that’s a hard thing to document here: It’s like so subtle, they probably would not want to share that they don’t know the provenance of their actual art.”

In both the book and the show, Greenfield’s photos are accompanied by the subjects’ own words. There is a series of portraits of Jackie Siegel, the wife of time-share mogul David Siegel, dubbed the Queen of Versailles (after the spectacular mega-mansion the couple was building before the economy collapsed in 2008). Siegel started her career as an engineer at IBM in upstate New York, but quickly realized she’d fare better modeling in New York City and marrying rich. “You can never be too rich or have big enough boobs,” she told Greenfield, reflecting on her four breast augmentations (whose end result fills the entire frame of one photo).

Adam, 13, and a go-go dancer hired to entertain at a bar mitzvah party at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in West Hollywood, 2012. Lauren Greenfield Fahey/Klein Gallery

Or consider 13-year-old Adam, a subject in Fast Forward who told Greenfield that he and his peers feel compelled to spend $50,000 on a bar mitzvah or risk being unpopular. “Money affects kids in many ways. It has ruined a lot of kids I know. It has ruined me.” His parents know that, and send him to summer camp in Michigan where “the kids are so different,” he said. “They are nice.”

“He had so much insight,” Greenfield said. “He was kind of a social critic, but was still affected by these pressures, and right in the middle of them.”

That helped her see that the subjects’ voices were a critical component of the project, documentation that rounds out—or often stand at odds with—the accompanying images. “A lot of my work is about this conflict and contradiction between image and substance,” she said.

“Photography is a great medium to think about image, because I can use glossy colors and shiny surfaces and strobe,” Greenfield continued. The interviews, by contrast, “provide a deeper cut, sometimes even a contradictory cut to what’s going on. The photographs are really my perspective, and the interviews allow their voices to come through in a deeper way.”

She knows that ambivalence from her own relationship to material goods, even as her decades-long dive into the culture of wealth has made her extra conscious of how destructive it can be to covet.

“If I didn’t care about those things I don’t think I’d be able to document it either,” she said. “I’m not immune to the things that I cover. When I go into a store I’m…attracted and excited by shiny objects. I kind of know that about myself so I try to stay out of that environment unless I really want something or need something.”

Lauren Greenfield, Ilona with her daughter, Michelle, 4, Moscow, 2012. © Lauren Greenfield/Institute. Courtesy of Phaidon Press.

Greenfield credits her kids with holding her accountable, describing a recent incident when her youngest son chastised her for putting a $55 face cream in the grocery basket. Perhaps more Americans could use a similar watchdog. The nation’s credit card debt hit highs this year not seen since 2009, and defaults have begun to climb, too. The worship of affluence, by some measures, is as strong as ever, with Donald Trump its reigning deity. Greenfield’s ongoing examination of wealth (she’s currently working on a related documentary film) feels more urgent than ever.

Incidentally, Trump is one person who she never got to capture on film, even though she tried, although she observed that time-share magnate David Siegel (who called Trump’s election “the greatest thing that’s happened to me since I discovered sex”) embodied many of the same qualities.

“The one dream shoot that I never got for Generation Wealth is the President, because he embodies so many of the qualities of Generation Wealth,” she said. “That was probably the fish that got away.”

—Anna Louie Sussman

from Artsy News

#Artsy News

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miamibeerscene · 7 years

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6 Craft Beer Bars That Changed Their City’s Beer Scene

The Avenue Pub is a cornerstone in Louisiana’s craft beer scene. (Credit: Donavon Fannon)

June 6, 2017

Breweries and craft beer bars have a symbiotic relationship. Pubs have been community centers of social activity for hundreds of years.

Over the past 30 years or so, a growing number of bars and pubs have focused on bringing beer drinkers a better variety of beers, especially those from small and independent brewers.

The connection between beer bar and community is stronger than ever, be it a showcase for beers made steps from the bar, or a place where beer geeks from all over the world can come together to drink and discuss the newest trend to classic styles.

(READ: Brewers Association Releases 2017 Beer Style Guidelines)

In cities with passionate local beer scenes, you’ll often find a craft beer bar that’s anchored the scene, be it for five, 10, 20, or 30 years. The longer the beer bar has been around, the earlier that community of brewers, publicans and drinkers came together as a cohesive community enriching everyone.

Here are six iconic U.S. craft beer bars which have strengthened beer communities in the cities where they operate, from oldest to newest.

The Toronado | San Francisco

As a brewer, Jesse Friedman from Almanac Beer Co. says being able to say you’re on tap at the Toronado is a big deal – a life goal. As a customer, he adds, the gruff demeanor of the Toronado bartenders is part of the whole experience.

Dave Keene opened the now-iconic Toronado about 30 years ago in San Francisco’s Lower Haight neighborhood on August 5, 1987. The service is no-nonsense, the beer is cash-only, and the bathrooms are well known for being small and grungy. It’s also one of the most prestigious and well-respected beer bars in the world.

Friedman says that while the pioneering Toronado cares about freshness and cultivates relationships with breweries, hype doesn’t really matter to Keene & Co. “They set their own path and invariably it works out their way.”

Vinnie Cilurzo, co-founder of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California, notes that the Toronado is one of the oldest craft beer bars in the United States.

“I think it goes without saying that Toronado has influenced the San Francisco and Bay Area beer scene more than any other establishment,” Cilurzo says. “It really means something to a brewer or brewery to have their beer on tap at the Toronado.”

(READ: Great American Beer Festival 2017 Ticket Sales Announced)

San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewing co-founder Nico Freccia jokes, “I love to talk about the Toronado. It’s one of my favorite subjects and where I asked my wife to scatter my ashes.” (He notes that Keene does not know about this plan.)

When Freccia started going to the Toronado regularly in 1994, he describes it as primarily a neighborhood bar, but also one of the few places anywhere where Belgian beer was available. He also points to the bar’s Barleywine Festival, which started as an annual event in 1993 until 2015, as evidence of Keene’s beer-forward thinking.

“People didn’t know what a barleywine was [in 1993]and most breweries didn’t brew one,” Freccia says. But the Toronado found more than 30 examples in those early years, and as the festival progressed over time, added multiple verticals, which helped people understand how beer ages.

The cash-only bar only sells two things, beer and t-shirts, which Cilurzo sees as one of the reasons for the Toronado’s success. “Because of this, they can focus on selection, inventory and clean lines.”

Hopleaf | Chicago

Michael Roper, owner of the 25-year-old Hopleaf beer bar in Chicago, remembers that in 1992, there wasn’t much of a local beer scene in the area.

“It was a very small, very troubled scene,” he says. Chicago city leadership did not issue one permit for breweries or taverns in the 12 years Richard M. Daley was mayor (1989-2011). That’s why Three Floyds opened in Indiana, Roper says, and all the employees live in the Chicago area and commute.

Chicago’s Hopleaf beer bar opened in 1992. (Credit: Michael Roper)

Hopleaf opened in February 1992 with eight beers on tap and 35 bottles. Roper refused to carry the popular standard macro lagers of the day. Early customers who walked through the door were always surprised.

“Why do I have to carry beer that I’m not passionate about?”

Of the bar’s 65 taps, 15 are reserved for Belgian beers and 15 for Chicago breweries. He believes carefully curating your beer list is the key to staying relevant.

“Our draft list changes every day,” he tells us. “I print out 250 menus every day. It’s a full-time job just to keep up with the thousands of beers available now.”

The Hopleaf has supported the legacy breweries like Firestone Walker, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada from the very beginning.

“Because of that loyalty we get a lot of special releases from those breweries,” Roper says.

Gabriel Magliaro founded Half Acre Brewery in 2006, and prior to that (and since then) visited the Hopleaf frequently.

“It had the best selection of Belgian beer, and early on provided a true, authentic publican experience,” he says. As soon as Half Acre was incorporated, he started working with Roper. “It’s a great example of a place we’d love to have our beer sold.”

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Falling Rock Tap House | Denver

Falling Rock Tap House’s 20th anniversary is June 2017 and owner Chris Black has scheduled a week of celebration. He’s flown all over the country to brew collaboration birthday beers with some of the breweries that have come to think of Falling Rock as a second home, especially during the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).

GABF is a big part of why Black opened Falling Rock Tap House in 1997. He’d moved to Denver from Houston, following a career in beer, working for beer bars like the Ginger Man, breweries and distributors. He moved to Denver to do something with beer, and although the Wynkoop Brewpub was popular at that time and Great Divide was making local beer for the market, there were no beer bars.

Falling Rock Tap House in Denver (Credit: Adam Bruderer/Creative Commons)

“During GABF, bars would put up banners, and sell a bucket of Sam Adams longnecks for $20, but that was the extent of it,” he explains. “I thought if I opened a place and put on a whole bunch of cool beers, no one else is doing that and I had all these contacts going back 10, 15 years. That would appeal to the uber beer geek coming out to the festival.”

Lauren Limbach (formerly Salazar), the specialty brand manager and wood cellar blender at New Belgium Brewing in nearby Fort Collins, says, “During GABF, we share [the Tap House]with the entire beer drinking community. It’s the maddest of all madhouses. Tappings every hour on the hour. Everyone comes out of the woodwork.”

Last year at GABF, the Falling Rock Tap House held 31 events in six days, with special brewery offerings being tapped almost every hour. Although during the high season of the Great American Beer Festival, rare kegs are plentiful.

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“We were the only game in town for a decade. Then things exploded. Now, there are three or four places in Denver I really like to go. Great Divide is my local haunt if I don’t want to be at the Tap House.”

Brian Dunn from Great Divide verifies this, adding that his staff are regulars at Falling Rock. “Chris comes to our taproom bar, he’s a big supporter of local breweries. We go there all the time, and he brings his crew to brewery events.”

“We’re lucky to have them in Denver,” Dunn says. “And after 20 years frequenting the Tap House, there are so many stories I can never tell.”

J. Clyde | Birmingham, AL

The Birmingham scene was bleak when Jerry Hartley opened the J. Clyde on April 13, 2007.

“There was nothing here. No place to get craft beer, and only one brewery in the state,” Hartley says.

He moved to Birmingham in 2004 after living in Germany for several years and tried to find quality beers in his city, like the ones he loved overseas.

The J. Clyde craft beer bar is a staple in the Birmingham, Alabama, beer scene. (Credit: J. Clyde)

Originally, Hartley wanted to open his own brewery, but Alabama’s restrictive laws regarding breweries and beer at the time made it too difficult. Instead, he opened the J. Clyde, a beer bar and restaurant and worked to help change state laws and the local beer culture.

“If there were people like me looking for quality beer,” Hartley says, “I knew there would be others.”

The J. Clyde started with 40 taps, which Hartley filled with imports and quality craft he could find under the state’s legal ABV limit. He worked with the legislative advocacy group, Free the Hops, to change the antiquated beer laws and the group used the J. Clyde as a meeting place and rallying point.

In 2009, the ABV limit was raised from 6% to 13.9% and in 2011, The Brewery Modernization Act was signed into law, allowing breweries to open taprooms and sell their beer on site.

“As taprooms opened in 2012, that ignited people’s interest in local beer,” Hartley says. “We remodeled our back bar with 13 taps exclusively for Alabama beers and four more to pour at cellar temps.”

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The J. Clyde helped Good People, Birmingham’s first brewery, in their early days with “research and development.”

“Whatever they brewed, we’d tap it and give them the feedback we heard,” he says.

Michael Sellers, Good People Brewing co-founder, says that both the brewery and the J. Clyde started around the same time, which created a common goal between the two businesses to promote craft and local beer.

“You could get beer there you couldn’t get from other bars and you were exposed to different styles of beer,” Sellers says “There’s so much more craft now, so the impact is lessening but for years, it was the place to be for craft beer in the area.”

ChurchKey | Washington, D.C.

Greg Engle worked at the Brickskeller in Dupont Circle before joining the Neighborhood Restaurant Group as a partner and beer director. The Brickskeller first opened in 1957 and was the site of the first tasting that Michael Jackson held in the United States, due to its strong Belgian beer program.

The owners of the Brickskeller, the Coja family, also worked to change import and distribution laws so that the District of Columbia could serve beer from all 50 states.

Inside ChurchKey in Washington, DC.

Although the Brickskeller closed in 2010, its owners set into motion a progressive beer culture, which is directly responsible for the current success of all beer bars in Washington, D.C. The legendary beer hall, Engel says, continues to influence DC beer culture due to the pioneering vision of the Cojas.

Engle and his partners opened ChurchKey in 2009, the group’s first property in Washington, D.C. The concept, as overseen by Engle, includes a five-engine cask program, heightened levels of service, and a temperature-controlled draft system. The 24 beers on tap are carefully sourced. The attention to service means menus are always updated, the food menu complements the beer, educated staff is at the ready, and proper glassware will be deployed.

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“ChurchKey has provided a lot of consumer education – for example, breaking the menu down into approachable style categories with descriptors,” DC Brau founder Brandon Skall says. “Now it’s an educated populace.”

DC Brau, the first distributed brewery in Washington, D.C., opened in 2011, two years after ChurchKey.

“The city’s been purveying great beers since the 1950s,” Engle says. “We were a city of beer bars before having a brewing community.”

The Avenue Pub | New Orleans

Polly Watts turned the Avenue Pub into the beer bar you know today. (Credit: Johan Lenner)

Polly Watts took over her father’s neighborhood bar on St. Charles Avenue knowing nothing about beer. Now, she’s the local leading expert.

The Avenue Pub converted to a craft beer bar in 2009, the same year that NOLA Brewing began producing beer. At that time, the only other local option was Abita, Watts says.

“The only other breweries we had access to were Rogue, North Coast, Harpoon and Brooklyn. That was it,” she tells us. “There was very little out there.”

National breweries and local distributors were unwilling to take a risk and send specialty styles to the untested New Orleans market. But Watts began talking to her connections with importers, and they would go through their list line by line with her.

“We started turning people onto sours, Belgian pale ales, saisons and barrel aged imperial stouts,” Watts says. “And all the beers were exceptional – they blew people away. You do that a few times and you get a beer person.”

She transformed the beer selection.

“No one had heard of anything on the menu before, and that was a deliberate strategy. If you put on a bunch of new beers and one familiar, people will gravitate toward the familiar,” Watts says. “This way, at that time, chances were that no one knew anything about the beers or the styles and they had to talk to the bartenders to learn about them. It got people to be more experimental in the city.”

“The Avenue proved that there was safety in showcasing the higher end, experimental beers – and they could really shine there,” says Dylan Lintern, COO of NOLA Brewing.

The Avenue Pub is a cornerstone in Louisiana’s craft beer scene. (Credit: Donavon Fannon)

Watts says after a while, American breweries started to trust her, so they started sending her special beers.

Over the past five years, the number of breweries in Louisiana has tripled, and working with the Avenue Pub has helped local breweries succeed.

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“Part of our job is to champion the best local beer. And I always give new breweries a chance,” Watts says. “At first, if they brewed it, we’d tap it — but now we have to be more selective.”

“She changed the game and there are still no other places like it,” Lintern says. “She brought a new element to the beer world here.”

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Nora McGunnigle

Nora McGunnigle is a freelance beer and food writer living in New Orleans, focusing and the unique food and beer culture of Louisiana and the Gulf region. Her work can be found in Beer Advocate, All About Beer, and Louisiana Kitchen and Culture and is a regular contributor to Southern Brew News, Alcohol Professor, Eater NOLA, and the New Orleans alt-weekly, The Gambit. Keep up with her work at NOLAbeerblog.com. Read more by this author

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