20240421: noblesse oblige
Noblesse oblige refers to the idea that people who have high social rank or wealth should be helpful and generous to people of lower rank or to people who are poor.
—
The city was a bright shining beacon, a beautiful landscape of gleaming towers and glass castles, smaller older churches and warehouses nestled in the cracks leftover, the winding alleyways making art spaces and encampments for the less privileged. The tall trees shook gently in the wind, the expensive pure bred dogs barked happily in the expansive parks.
The mayor stepped over a pile of human feces on one of the main thoroughfares, wrinkled her nose as a man with pants belted around his ankles wandered by. She murmured a low note to an assistant hovering by her elbow, and a third assistant strode up to the man, offering him a box of leftover day old doughnuts from an artisanal bakery up the road.
Let them eat cake.
29240419: underwhelm
To underwhelm someone is to fail to impress or excite them.
—
They looked over the city, expecting to feel something, anything, by the utter destruction of everything they’d known. Their childhood home had been flattened, their first school turned to rubble, a demon spawn nest had formed by the tree where they first kissed their ex-girlfriend.
They turned a brick over with the toe of their boot, and sighed. Time to get moving, they supposed.
20240418: qua
Qua is a preposition used in formal speech or writing that means “in the capacity or character of (someone or something).” It is used synonymously with as to indicate that someone or something is being referred to or thought about in a particular way.
—
“Oh she’s a shitshow,” he said, taking a drag of his cigarette. “But she’s good in bed, and her humanity qua human is not as interesting to me as that.”
I recoiled slightly, both from the noxious fumes, and the belligerent uncaring attitude. “Is she okay though?”
“Fuck if I know. But she’ll be at the orgy with me Friday.”
I decided then and there that I, in fact, was not attending the orgy with him.
20240417: circumlocution
Circumlocution refers to the use of many words to say something that could be said more clearly and directly with fewer words. Usually encountered in formal speech and writing, circumlocution can also refer to speech that is intentionally evasive.
—-
The old man stood at the podium, peering ominously at the gathered children. They had gathered to hear his speech, promised wonders by the surrounding cacophony of noise and lights of the circus. Young eyes looked up eagerly.
And still he stalked, the words he had practiced drying in his throat. “Ah…”
A smallish girl frowned at him expectantly. “Well?!”
He looked down his long nose at her, drew in a deep breath, blew it out slowly… then turned on his heel, topcoat billowing behind him as he left just as abruptly as he had appeared.
She blinked at the empty podium. “Well.”
Polly Amber Ross presents Buck's Motor Lodge
She runs her hand along my jaw, and I nip the meat of her palm as it passes. She tightens her grip for a moment, grins at me as she lets go.
And this was the moment I knew I was fucked.
themonsterthing reblogged
being disabled is so fun because sometimes you can just be going about your day like normal and with zero warning your body will be like you have to lay down Right Now or you will pass out
Mine is: “oh hey you need to eat. You need to eat RIGHT NOW oh well you missed your opportunity. Guess we’re gonna puke just from standing up.”
Fandom post:
Has anyone noticed the connections in VE Schwab’s “Shades of Magic” series - specifically the recent release, “Threads of Power” and Robert Chambers “The King In Yellow”? References to The Someday King versus The King in Yellow; Osaron versus a Shadow King, etc.
(I haven’t finished TOP just yet but I can’t help but draw connections.)