if anyone ever tells you that english isn’t ridiculous remember that the reason why we have a silent b in debt is because a group of guys got together to standardise english spelling and got to the word debt, which at the time was primarily spelled either ‘dett’ or ‘det’. so they basically went:
‘everyone speaks latin, right? so let’s put a silent b in debt. like debitum, which is latin for debt. problem solved.’
also the reason why there is a h in ghost is because when the printing press first came to england the only people trained to operate it were flemmish speaking, and they put a h after g because that’s what you do in flemmish. they put shit like ghirl and ghoose, but the only reason why ghost stuck is because people saw ‘the holy ghost’ in the bible and were like ‘well, that MUST be right’.
so yeah english is a really stupid language with some of the most ridiculous spelling
white dude in this horror movie : *translates old arabic text* *somehow it rhymes perfectly in english*
Now I really wanna see a horrible faltering translation from one of these movies, like “Whomsoever enters this room, they shall… well, this word is like… literally it means ‘unbecome,’ but it was used as a euphemism for death, pooping, and—wait, when was this carved? was it 15th century? Cuz it was a euphemism for sex too in the 15th century. This is either a cursed crypt, a bathroom, or a royal bedroom. Who wants to roll the dice?”
“You guys, I’ve gotta be honest, okay? This thing’s written in some kind of weird localized dialect, and I’ve only ever studied the standard form of the language. I mean, this part right here…I can’t even tell if it’s some kind of error, or an obscure slang phrase…whatever it is, I have no idea what the fuck it means.”
‘this is written in ancient sumerian. it’s about… uh… well that word is… uh. okay this is either a poem about farming, or straight-up a nasty sex guide. it might be both. i want a shower.’
“okay see the thing is in one dialect this word is the name of a terrifying Demon but in a completely different language from the same area that has the same writing system and gave a lot of loan words to the first, it means ‘horse’ - and the context is really not helping”
“You know what? This thing is bound in human skin and the walls are bleeding let’s just leave.”
Anonymous asked: I just went to deathtocapslock and I'm reading sistermagpie's ridic reread and I'm boggling at this. "Lupin continues to impress me with how smoothly he polishes up the story dishonestly on the fly. (Seriously, I love Lupin.)... he adds that James pulled Snape back from the tunnel at “great risk to his own life.” Except James is an animagus, as we’ve already learned, and werewolves are only dangerous to people." Is she suggesting that James saved Snape as an Animagus? Wow. The illogic is scary.
If Snape had seen James transform into a stag to save him, I find it very difficult to believe that he wouldn’t have told anyone. He’d certainly have told Dumbledore at the very least. And if Dumbledore had known that James was an Animagus prior to the end of POA (I’m assuming that he had a conversation with Sirius while Harry was unconscious), people would have been a lot more careful come POA to keep Sirius out of Hogwarts, because it was known that James and Sirius were inseperable (though many would still not think to include Peter) and that Sirius was likely one as well. And since we know from POA itself that Snape will drop hints and try to find ways to tell people something about someone he dislikes even if he’s been told to keep that a secret, I find it unlikely that Snape would have never dropped any stag hints to Harry in those first three years if he’d known and Harry didn’t.
The simple fact of the matter is that a certain segment of Snape fans will shit relentlessly on James, jeering at the idea that he matured and changed from his bad teen behaviour and stopped being a bully, preferring to think that Lily was just too gullible and stupid to know James’ true self (or else selfish enough to not care because he’s rich). They sneer at the idea that James spent three years working his ass off to become an Animagus for Remus, because somehow that counts as a selfish act, not a brave compassionate one. They discount that he saved the life of someone he hated because oh, he wasn’t really putting himself at risk, and anyway he didn’t do it for the sake of the person he hated (who he also bullied, did we mention that?), he did it for the sake of someone he liked so it just doesn’t count. And any character who says anything that contradicts that view of James (no matter how well they knew James and the sort of things he’d be likely to do) must be ‘polishing up the story dishonestly on the fly’.
And okay, fine, they’re free to say so. But then they seem really confused and even genuinely hurt as to why people apply those exact arguments to Snape. They’re bewildered that anyone would even dream of pointing out that Snape’s adult behaviour involved bullying others and that there’s not much to admire there, because to some of them Snape wasn’t a bully at all. They can’t get why people aren’t swooning over Snape risking his life to save Harry for Lily’s sake (which suddenly becomes admirable and romantic as fuck) by… sitting on his bum and staring at Harry and his broomstick really really hard while mumbling under his breath, because gosh, such a risk he was taking! His clothes caught on fire, doncha know? Also, Hermione is bad for daring to set said fire in an attempt to save Harry’s life, because she should have somehow assumed that Snape was trying to save the life of a kid he hated and bullied (and continued to bully afterwards). But Snape is totally kosher in thinking that James was in on the attempt to get him killed, because he’d been bullying Snape and continued to do so afterwards.
The double standards, they burn.
[video]
Anonymous asked: What the fuck is a dreamworks face
Most folks know that Fox News is not reliable despite, somehow, being a genuine news broadcaster but I’m always seeing The Daily Mail articles being passed around so keep in mind that TDM is just as bad as Fox News.
When it comes to science news try to avoid general news, they usually either get it completely wrong or are very misleading. Try to find the journal it was originally published in or, at least, somewhere with the abstract. Science Direct, the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the Wiley Online Library are good databases.
When you see social media screencaps make sure a link is included, if there’s no link try to find the source for yourself and if you can’t find it than don’t put any stock in it. It’s incredibly easy to falsify facebook, twitter, and even tumblr posts.
I’ll admit to being occasionally frustrated with Tumblr’s penchant for taking a myth and running with it. But to be fair, this is hardly exclusive to this website.
All of these tips are sound, I just want to add a few more:
Donation drives for bloggers in need: check to see if (1) the original blog post still exists, it might have been deleted because the OP voluntarily put an end to the drive, (2) the original blog still exists, (3) the original blog is just a couple days old, in which case err on the side of caution and either move along or investigate a little more (even if they give a reason)
Missing person posts: check to see if
the OP gives details such where and when was the person last seen,
what clothes they were/might be wearing, whether they have access to
a car, etc. Contact info for their relatives or Amber Alert
details/police contact info is always a good sign that it is a legit
cry for help. Also check to see if the original post/blog still
exists, the person may already have been found or it may be a fake
post. Double-checking on Google to see if it’s a legit or recent
disappearance may also help Please remember that SOMETIMES ABUSERS
TRACK DOWN THEIR VICTIMS RESORTING TO FAKE MISSING PERSONS POSTS and
that there are people with legitimate reasons to want to not be
found!!!!
Lifehacks: Snopes it before you reblog
– most of them are bullshit or ineffectual. Still, reblogging bogus
lifehacks is not as serious as reblogging fake missing persons posts. Some lifehacks, however, are famously illegal or harmful to a person’s health (eg Oreo mascara)
Rape prevention tips – DO NOT REBLOG.
These are 99% of the time just CLICKBAITING SCARE TACTICS who won’t
save ANYONE from harm and will only result in contributing to a
culture of fear, chiefly among women.
Crime reporting signal boosts – this
includes: letters from a company that is purportedly a front for a
human trafficking operation, needles infected with HIV scattered
around public places, and other chainletter fare. These are most
often than not bogus. In any case, Snopes is your best friend. Check
to see if they give a date or a place for said crimes being committed
– if they don’t, it’s the first sign it might be fake.
Call-out posts with Twitter/Facebook
screengrabs – check to see if they provide a link to said postings.
If not, it might just mean that the person deleted them but BE AWARE
THAT INTERNET TROLLS OFTEN DOCTOR SCREENGRABS to make it look like
other people (usually women) have said hateful things that they NEVER
SAID. They do this to try and get them attacked by social
justice-conscious people.
Please remember that for every bogus
missing persons post, fake donation drive and poorly fundamented
problematic screengrab you reblog, you’re making it a little hard for
people who are actually in need to get the visibility and help that
they need. I don’t blame you for being trusting, but it would be in
everybody’s best interests to exercise some caution in what you
signal boost. <3
ED: someone mentioned this and it’s very much worth adding: also please be warned that the internet is full of assholes, and sometimes if you ask for assistance (especially technical assistance) in some less reputable forums and internet communities you might get people intentionally feeding you bad info that will damage your property, because they’re dickheads who get off on tricking gullible people into breaking their own stuff. Do NOT immerse your iPhone in water or put it in the microwave to “charge” it!!!!
