Something I dearly love about language is when a word we already know becomes a THING, especially when it manages to seem suddenly completely necessary (how did we live without being able to express what this expresses?!) AND totally unnecessary because we actually have words that do this well…we were just a little tired of … More Dog-Adjacent, Flea-Adsurgent
Hello! I’m here to ruin a word for you: EMULSIFY. Because I was a kid who read a lot, once I hit college or so, it was noticeable and memorable to me when I encountered a word (outside an Obvious Learning Situation like a class/reading) that I didn’t know the meaning of. (It still is! … More A White Amorphous Mass
So, Black Panther is the best movie and Shuri is the best character (fight me) and this is one of her best lines and I can’t stop thinking about why it’s so goooooood. Tthere are a million reasons but I mean why the WORD is so good. Here’s where I’ve landed: “Colonizer” is a word … More “Don’t Scare Me Like That, :izer!”
Hello! Holy cannoli. I have realized that I cannot do all of the following pieces of my life: momming Renn, working a full time job, staying connected to beloved ones near and far, making public things out of words, and working politically. The first two are non-negotiable, and I’m needing to combine the others in … More Compassionfruit
Oh yes, it’s a day of announcements! (See Part 1 if you aren’t sure why you aren’t on inter ruralia) I was born Sarah Winchester Boddy, and now my name is Sarah Jackson Boddy Norris. I’ve had a wonderful time being known as Sarah Winchester Boddy. Sure, there was a lot of “boody” and “body” … More Newly [Née]med Part 2: Taking My Daughter’s Name, Taking My Mother’s Name
Hello friends, I have retired the name “inter ruralia.” I loved it so, and still do! But I mean…it’s a 10 minute walk to a brewery, a cidery, a French bakery, a cake shop, a taco shop, a pizza place, a dumpling place, and an “URBAN HOMESTEADING STORE.” “Inter ruralia,” while honestly one of my … More Newly [Née]med Part 1: The Pun Is Dead, Long Live the Pun!
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Usually in weeks where the news is this terrible, I don’t want to write, unless it is about that terrible news. I think this is because to write about some word I think is neat seems disrespectful , particularly to those most directly affected by the catastrophe. This week, though, there is so much terrible … More Une chanson pour ma sirène/Una canción para mi Siren[n]a
Maybe two or three weeks after Renn was born, Maria stopped by with some lactation cookies she’d made. She said: “they are full of GALACTAGOGUES!” I thought: no way is that a real word. But if it is, it means something about spaceships, so these will be exciting cookies. I was right–they were exciting cookies–and also … More Intergalactic Mamammary!
I am so curious how many people without children or experience with childbirth have any idea what the hell a placenta is or does. I certainly had no clue–I knew the term “afterbirth,” which I think I associated with novels set on the plains before statehood, as likely to feature animal births as human ones. … More And Eating It, Too
interlexionality 