The contextual foreignness of firm breasts in a society that doesn’t use bras
This is funny and charming
By far one of my favorite posts.
I love that across cultures, every woman grabs their boobs.
My friend is an army wife and spent some time with her husband on his Pacific posting. One day the locals invited the families from the British base for a big get-together. It was going really well but after a few hours the British women noticed that a lot of the local babies were crying, so my friend asked one of the mothers if there was something wrong, like a bug going round or something. The mother replied,
“Oh no, they’re just very hungry.”
So my friend asked, “Why don’t you feed them?”
And the mother said, “We will when you’ve gone. We use our breasts to feed them and we don’t want to embarrass you.”
And my shocked friend said, “But we do that too!”
So all the British mothers who had babies sat down and whipped out their boobs to feed them (whether they were hungry or not) and the relieved local mothers then did the same.
Two things:
– because western ladies usually cover their boobs the local ladies weren’t sure whether western women use boobs for what they’re supposed to be for
– women everywhere are considerate of other women
I also really love this photo set because, far too often, we only see pictures of African women as anthropological archetypes. They are treated like exhibits to be studied, similar to exotic animals or landscapes, rather than human beings. I LOVE these pictures, because here we have women of two different cultures laughing and talking and playing around. You can see their personalities shining through and I LOVE IT
How do you
in Nonnyland? Here we are having a very hot and uncomfortable summer, but thankfully
in the last few days we have been blessed with a delicious cool breeze.
It pains me
to see you so concerned about Miss Swift’s reputation. How immensely thoughtful you are to take such pains in
enquiring about a young lady that is merely a passing acquaintance of yours.
But fear
not, my friend, because I can assure you that the situation is not as dire as
it sounds. It’s true that a few weeks ago, when we first learned that Ms. Swift
had eloped with Mr. Hiddleston, we all believed they were going straight to Gretna Green to get married.
We later knew that their travels had taken them elsewhere, and our concern for
Miss Swift’s safety grew every passing day.
However, I happen
to know now from very reputable sources that Miss Swift’s family and friends
are taking every possible measure to see this situation arranged without delay. In fact, as I write to
you Mr. Swift has send a relative of his entire confidence to London, in search
of Miss Swift and Mr. Hiddleston; and this relative has promised he will not
return until he has seen them properly married.
I can
confide in you, my dear Miss Nonny, that I have the firm conviction that the
issue will be resolved soon in the most satisfactory way. After all, Miss Swift
is a very accomplished young lady: not only is she sufficiently beautiful, sweet
and sensible; she has also had the benefit of a good education, being well
versed in all the arts, but especially in music, singing and dancing. And let
us not forget that she has an income of seventy million a year, and very likely
more! Any young man, from London or from the countryside, would call himself
lucky to join in matrimony a young lady of such excellent prospects.
But perhaps
your concern on the matter comes from your mistrust of Mr. Hiddleston’s
character. To this I must again answer you with reassuring words. Although I
don’t have the pleasure of being acquainted with the gentleman in person, every
report I’ve had of him and his family has been impeccable. In case you haven’t
heard it already, I must let you know that the young man attended Eton College in
his youth; and then Cambridge University, where he became greatly versed in the
Classics. Besides, he has a sizeable income of his own, which dispels those alarming
rumours of him being a fortune hunter that some uncouth people have been
spreading all around the country. All of his acquaintances speak wonders of his
gentle humour and amiable character, and I have to say that he would be the
last man in England of whom I would expect a villainy of any kind.
Undoubtedly,
a gentleman of such high character and respectability would never have the
audacity of taking a lady away from her friends and family without the
intention of making her his wife. Under this circumstances the elopement can
only be due to a moment of foolishness and, I dare say, an excess of passion, that I am sure will be placated as soon as they
are properly joined in Holy Matrimony.
I sincerely
hope this letter will find you well, and I expect it will also quench all your
fears. I will pass your kind regards to Mrs. Swift, who, despite being justly concerned
about her daughter’s welfare and respectability, shares with me and with all of
her friends the undying hope that this unfortunate
adventure will end very soon in the most satisfactory way.
You must
promise to visit the next time you’re in Spain. I trust that the situation will be
resolved by then and we will be able to raise a glass to the health of the
newly married couple.
My duty to
all your family, and especially to your dear aunt Mrs. Incognito.
Ever your
friend, Violet
Hunter.
Madrid, July
14th, year of Our Lord 1816.
This, my friends, is the most epic anon hate smackdown I’ve ever read.
I like to ask people why they think it is that chimpanzees–our closest living relatives–can’t speak. Usually people say it’s because they’re not smart enough, but that isn’t quite the case. Many chimps (and other apes!) have been taught to associate words, and pictures with abstract concepts in laboratory settings. Koko the gorilla famously learned ASL! Now they don’t have a great grasp of syntax, so it isn’t an exact 1:1 language ratio, but a chimpanzee can work its way through a (rudimentary) sentence.
So why can’t they speak like us? It’s more of a physical incapability than a mental one. Humans have much more precise muscle control over the larynx, tongue, and all those other lovely mouth and throat organs responsible for producing the many differentiated sounds that make up human speech. It’s theorized that this precise muscle control and resulting ability to make so many differentiated sounds was a vital evolutionary precursor to us developing speech. An example from an old textbook of mine said if a chimpanzee tried to say “peanut butter” it would come out “eeeahhuhhheehhr”, just rough almost vowel noises.
That brings us to birds. Birds don’t have vocal chords or a larynx like us mammals, they have something way better!
Magic!
And also, a syrinx, which is their analogous vocal organ.
Fun Fact: vultures don’t have a syrinx, and the only sound they make is like rasping death.
Syrinxes can do all sorts of cool things. For example, birds can push air through either side of this organ at will, enabling them to make TWO UNRELATED noises at the same time! They can also change the tension in their bronchial membranes, which is the important factor in their ability to mimic human speech.
But you really only have to stick your head outside for a minute to know that birds can and do make a lot of cool noises. Imo, the how of birds mimicking human speech is a lot less interesting than the why.
We know that birds are very auditory(and visual, but that’s not relevant now). Birds are also highly social, and highly intelligent just like our chimp cousins. And since they have the ability to make all these different noises, they do just that to communicate. Birds sing, they make contact calls, they make begging calls, they make alarm calls, they chatter at each other to express mood and condition, etc. Some species of birds have names; both family names parents give to their young so they can recognize each other, and names specific to an individual. Family groups, and overall social structure is very important to birds, so they invest a lot of energy and brain space in maintaining those relationships–just like us.
So why do parrots talk? Well, parrots are among the most social and intelligent of a group of extremely social and intelligent animals. The reigning theory on why parrots so readily mimic human speech is –absent any other recognizable conspecifics–they become so desperate to connect to the other members of their flock, that they start to copy human noises in an attempt to communicate. This has mixed results. People like when their pets ‘talk’, so the bird succeeds in getting attention, affection, and probably a treat. But the question remains, are they getting what they actually want and need? Because at the end of the day, every single pet parrot is a captive bred (or outright stolen) wild animal capable of forming deep social bonds within their chosen family groups that is instead riding a tiny unicycle and singing a pop song because people think it’s ‘cute’ and ‘funny’.
(this last photo is meant to represent humanity’s relationship with the avian world, and my thoughts on parrot ownership)
For more on how bird brains and language acquisition work and how birds are basically superior to us in every way, I recommend “The Genius of Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman! http://www.jenniferackermanauthor.com/genius-ofbirds/
the thing about writing fantasy stories is that language is so based on history that it can be hard to decide how far suspension of disbelief can carry you word-choice wise – what do you call a french braid in a world with no france? can a queen ann neckline be described if there was no queen ann? where do you draw the line? can you use the word platonic if plato never existed? can you name a character chris in a land without christianity? can you even say ‘bungalow’ in a world where there was no indian language for the word to originate from? is there a single word in any language that doesn’t have a story behind it? to be accurate a fantasy story would be written in a fantasy language but who has the time for that
Tolkien had the time apparently
LIsten. Linguistics Georg, who invented over 10,000 conlangs each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted.
Kimchi and Justice 