Is this technically Valentine’s Day weekend? Are you celebrating this weekend? Or are you observing “Cupid is Stupid” instead (I totally stole this phrase from a radio commercial – it works, no)?
With Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, I’m assuming most revelers will be out this Saturday night. We don’t do much for Valentine’s Day, but I always enjoy a handful of conversation hearts (usually on February 15th, when they are half-price.)
Whether you’re in or out of love – what’s going on with you this weekend?
945 replies on “This Weekend Open Thread Bleeds Red”
Any other linguaphiles in the building? I’ve been constructing a language for the past month or so, and it’s funny how little I’ve achieved (or, at least, that is how it seems). I have been steadily building the vocab in this time, but I have literally gone back to my very first draft of the verbal inflection/declension. It’s actually funny to flip through my notebook (which is almost full already) and see all the different charts, and the variations of the Latin alphabet and of the spelling (vowel harmony, I love you; but you’re bringing me down) I’ve gone through.Today my plan is to build my case system back up. I completely tore it down to the basics, but I’ve decided that I liked my complex case system more (which had about 25+ declensions per noun).
ooo hello friend! I have a Linguistics degree and still love it. I’ve never dipped my toe into conlanging though, despite reading the Dothraki blog religiously.
25+ declensions! Tell me more?
I’m taking a hint from Ugric and Quechua languages in that regard. It’s sort of my goal to create a wholly synthetic, agglutinative language; so I have the main noun cases (nom., acc., gen., dat.), plus a jillion prepositional cases. It’s weird to have all this freedom with it. Like, I just sit here sometimes thinking, “but I can do anything that I want with it,”and my mind just draws a blank. (I’m having that problem with verb inflections at the moment. Trying to come up with a unique concept of time is difficult, thanks to Gregorian conditioning.)
Ooo. Excellent.
Would it help to think about what you don’t like about other languages’ concepts of time? Either the one(s) you speak or have studied…
I’m mostly trying to just stay away from Euro-centric ideas. Not that they’re not good; just not what I’m looking for.
(Sidebar: People have always tried to make auxiliary languages Latin-based, or a giant mixture of Indo-European languages. However, I’m trying to do the exact opposite and take as little influence as possible (which, of course, is futile, as most of the influence will be subconscious, for that is how my brain has been taught to work; but it’s worth a shot.)
I was reading about Quechua languages, and I found an excerpt about their concept of time which said that their word for ‘in front’ is the same as their word for ‘past’, and the same with ‘behind’ and ‘future’, because they see themselves on the time line with their backs toward the future (because they can’t see what’s coming), and their fronts to the past (because they can see what went on).
That is SO awesome.
Jumping Jiminy Crickets. 900+ responses.
My mind, she is boggled. :-D
(And jealous I didn’t jump in over the weekend!!)
Sally J. swooped in and took the crown for “most comments on a single post, ever” this weekend. The rest of us are now gunning for her record.
I just noticed I’m beaming because of all of the new folk.
Well I’m beaming because of the new site, so we shall have to beam together.
And our brightness will shine out over the wide world, showing the Internet can be made of rainbows, unicorns and intelligent, fun women.
And men! I claim my penis in the name of the British Empire.
So, um, we were all ladies (except for a few casual fellows/significant others) for a long, long time, so I apologize that both our ranks and our language are so lady-centric. Your British penis is totally welcome, as are all nationalities of penises.
LOL no if I had a problem with it I wouldn’t have joined in the first place! =D It’s all good.
Oh Selena you make me laugh.
Signed,
– non-penis-possessing Irish lady
Penises for some, tiny Persephone flag pins for all!
It’s very important that those two things don’t get mixed up in any way.
And men. I’m sorry, British Penis.
I think it says a lot that that’s not the worst nickname I’ve ever been given.
I really wanted to add a tiny PM to it, but the floaty thing didn’t work.
This thread is like a reunion (family or class, you decide)!
I think it’s better, because no one’s pretending to have invented Post-Its, and no one’s hiding in the corner, drunk and wishing everyone would just shut up about Rush Limbaugh already.
Romy and Michelle reference? Did I get a pop-culture reference today? My day has been made, it was totally worth waking up early. YAY!
Stick around; you’ll soon learn I communicate almost entirely in pop culture references, gifs, and bad poetry.
Well I’m An Academy Award Winner, to be honest. They just haven’t realized it yet.
Hi, everybody! I’m another who has found her way over from Jezebel. Over there I am Forglemmegei. I must say, I am thrilled with the community over here just from flicking through articles and comments. Currently I’m introducing myself, while I should be going over the contents of my suitcase. I leave for Tanzania in two days to do research for my bachelor’s thesis and I’m a little terrified. (Of the thesis, not Tanzania.) I look forward to beating the heat in the evenings with lovely articles from Persephone.
(And beer, too.)
Welcome! Â It’s a rockin’ good time around here.
I have 3.5 hours before my exams start, a large pot of coffee, and about 200 pages worth of notes. I think I can make it.
You can totally make it! Remember to come back and tell us how it went.
You are probably off doing your exams. Two hundred pages worth of notes makes you a BAMF. Good luck!
I’m finally done! And I think they went well. If they did, I only have three sets of block exams and two finals to go before I’m doneeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! YES!
that is so awesome! well done!
This open thread is madness! It’s awesome to see so many new people I recognize from Jez.
“Do you recognize me?”, she asked, hoping to God the answer isn’t, “Yes, because you flamed me, you horrid person.”
Norma! Norma! Norma!
Yay!
/thatisall
Just came over from Jezebel. I will now be reading this site instead! I am very excited as what I have seen so far is awesome! Tonight I am doing sociology homework..blah..while eating my weight in cereal. Thanks for having me Persephone!
Welcome! I love all of the Jefugees we’re getting! Because I’m nosy, what kind of sociology?
Thanks! I am working on my Sociology BA.. I will be finished this summer! Woo! Now it is time for decisions regarding grad school/career path. Scary.
Nifty! I didn’t want to make any career decisions, which is why I went to grad school in the first place!
Welcome! I’m a recent Sociology grad myself.
And I love your name/avatar!
We have a Sociology category that’s terribly lonely for content, if you feel like writing for us.
Oh my goodness, thank you for the offer, but I’m probably a terrible choice. I only have my Bachelor’s, I’m very rusty on my sociology, and I switched career paths and am now teaching dance.
But if I can think of anything worthwhile to contribute, I’ll certainly let you know!
OK, you beautiful people, as of right now, I have three unclaimed donations. I’m going to bed, but will be up bright and early with my writing pants on (spoiler: no pants), so please PM me if you donated and haven’t been the recipient of a terrible poem!