[tweet by Laureen Bazzi @laureenbazzi: idk how to explain this but thursday, october, and 8:00pm are all the same end ID]
80% of the work week, 83.3333% of the day at 8pm, 83.333% of the year in October.
It’s so charming to see this on my dash because Thursday, October, and the number 8 are all the same rusty brown-orange color according to my synesthesia.
Hot dog water - there’s a Tumblr post out there I’ve seen saying hot dog water is the opposite of holy water, due to the fact that a single drop of it will contaminate what it touches. I assume this was partly inspired by this allusion but who knows for sure.
Also the the idea of holy water as inhuman and cleaning vs hot dog water as the remains of feeding someone - often a child - and entirely human. It may be dirty and I do not want it on me but God hot dog water has some memories. You will not wash away my sins. They’re mine. Also, anyone can make hot dog water but holy water is refined, restricted (yes anyone can make it in an emergency but lay people are restricted from it)
“you and I both know”
Unlike baptism for babies, this one is done between two people who are both aware of what is happening. The one receiving the baptism gives the orders about what they want to happen. The giver and receiver are portrayed as equals. They are equally aware of their humanity.
“the holy stuff won’t take”
Ooof heartbreaking, amazing line. Raises so many questions. What does it mean when the water “takes”? What has the receiver done that makes them unfit for holy water? Or, what has the holy water done that makes it to weak to help, to be a part of your life?
The poem as a whole - I love the lack of capitalization. It adds a sort of intimacy to the poem, and the statement from the speaker. The high words “baptise” and “holy” being offset by “take” and “hot dog”. Also “hot dog water” vs “holy stuff.” The cadence! I would lick it.
I love the serious analysis, and I think I find it persuasive.
This also sheds a lot of light on some plot points in Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
Not to turn this into another house full of chintz, but I'mma fuck this poem on the floor.
Meter
There are two readings of the poem’s meter that I immediately identify, the first is how I’d want to read it, and the second is how a normal person would probably read it, but both make the same point.
In my interpretation (left), the first line is four wholely irregular feet: an iamb into a dibrach into two trochees; The second line is two trouches into a hanging stressed syllable; And the third line is three iambs.
In the more normal interpretation(right), the first line and second line are six trochees all together plus that hanging syllable in ‘knowing’ which transitions the poem to iambic trimeter.
And look at the interesting result of that laid bare:
In English poetry there’s a tradition, all other things being equal, that iambs are considered the sophisticated foot with trochees often being contrasted as the vulgar or common foot.
The vulgar in specificity “hot dog water” is put in trochee, while the respectably vague “the holy stuff” is afforded iambs. Without the poet having thought of the stress things the pattern actively, this incapulation of the English poetic tradition is astounding. Especially when you consider the
Chiasmus
Chiasmus is a figure of rhetorical construction, in which two pairs of ideas are laid across each other, A B B A. It’s one of the more popular figures of rhetoric and if you’re looking for it you’ll see it everywhere.
In the most literal sense, it’s about repetition; but, you can apply it more liberally to ideas, thoughts, or in this case, parts of speech:
The nouns and verb pairs in the first and third lines crossover each other. They are in chiasmus. Structurally, the inversion makes the poem feel more solid, while still furthering emphasizing the contrast between the idea of hot dog water and the holy stuff.
thr funniest part of therapy to me is when you first come in and you’re exchanging niceties and they say “hello! how are you” and you say “im fine how are you :)” and then 30 seconds later they put on their therapist voice and say “so how are you doing?” and you go well lisa. believe it or not im doing Bad
It’s called “environmental amnesia” and it’s an actual issue environmentalists discuss how to combat. The climate crisis makes it more widespread but it’s been something that’s happening for generations. The story of The Lorax describes it beautifully. The idea that what you remember is what you consider normal, but if the changes happen slowly over generations, you don’t see how large they are because you don’t personally remember them being very different, even if you were told stories about it.
i feel like every human should max out at one disability or chronic illness. like when i hit adolescence and my brain chemistry went “bipolar time now?” the response should have been an error message like sorry! this slot can only contain one (1) item and has been filled with childhood asthma. i would even allow the possibility that you can overwrite previous disorders like “you have equipped chronic migraines and so no will no longer display symptoms of bipolar disorder.” i just think it should work that way.
read the first sentence as “max out one disability or chronic illness” and I was like “I’d spec all my points into my autism if I could”
ok not to be adhd on main but if you even JOKINGLY make fun of me for my interests thats it. i wont ever be able to trust you again because im positive youre constantly judging me and making fun of me behind my back. thats just the way it is!!
to all the people vaguing people in the tags: get better friends
it ABSOLUTELY is, adhd and autistic experiences overlap so so much and i have both so this post is solidarity
just so it shows up in the notes: this is an extremely good thing, which is why you will see the internet/cell companies revolt against it– it will prevent them from selling your data to spamcall companies and selectively throttling their competitor’s sites, among other things.
also remember that the internet has basically replaced phone service entirely now, with most phones now simply operating via VOIP. legislating the internet the same way as landlines were is really a no-brainer, it’s the same service in a slightly different form.
“there are only two sexes, it’s literally third grade biology!” and pronouns are taught in kindergarten and you dont seem to understand those either
ok its literally this
this is why, when someone tells me “there are only two sexes, it’s basic biology!” my favorite response is to ask “what, you never made it to advanced biology?” like don’t load the gun and then hand it to me lmao
My Twitter account once got suspended because I replied to a guy with this meme and they said it was a death threat.
Meanwhile on Tumblr, I can openly fantasize about how much I’d like to see Boris Johnson get hit by a bus, and nobody bats an eye.
This is why I roll my eyes when someone says they got “death threats online”
Because okay, did someone give a credible and motivated threat to your well being? Or did someone send you a shitty photoshopped jpeg compressed image of an anime girl with a gun?
ALT
