Just got done reading an interesting article about how language affects the way we think and perceive the world. There were some interesting examples. Like how in Spanish, the word bridge is masculine, while in German, it is feminine. So native speakers of these languages describe the same thing differently. Spanish speakers will comment on how strong or sturdy a bridge is, while German speakers will comment on how elegant or beautiful it is. Another example that blew my mind was the Guugu Yimithirr language. So, most languages, including English, use an egocentric type of directional language (turn right, left, behind, in front.) these directions are relative to you as a person. Well, the Guugu Yimithirr language uses fixed geographical directions (North, East, South, and West) no matter the context. If you were to put an English speaker and a Guugu Yimithirr speaker in the same hotel, and put them in rooms opposite sides of the hallway from each other, the English speaker will see the exact same room (that person will see the desk to the right of blah and the closet in front of blah) but the Guugu Yimithirr speaker will see a COMPLETELY different room because the bed will be facing south instead of north, and all of that jazz. And the article went on to state how speakers of this language might even have a lower sense of egotism, because directions do not revolve around them, they’re just another part of the picture. Really fascinating. It made me think really long about language imperialism and how rapidly we’re moving towards a world that deals almost exclusively in English. It makes me sad to know that we’re losing completely different ways of thinking. Completely different perspectives, just gone. I guess that’s why I always get upset when people say that language imperialism isn’t so bad, and that English as a language is connecting people together. The world is a great big place, with completely different perspectives, and I think the fastest way to kill a culture is to take away the language, because not only are you taking away a method of communication, but a way of thinking.
every so often a british writer has a character call ‘shotgun’ for a situation not involving a car, or even a mode of travel at all, and for some reason i find this absolutely adorable.
i thought of making a post to explain the history and usage of the term, but if i did that they might stop.
i’m an american and i don’t know the history. i guess it’s because people drive with a shotgun next to them?
nope.
ok i’ve been informed by a couple people that outside america, it just means ‘dibs’, so it’s unlikely they’ll give up being cute about it if i explain, so imma explain.
it comes from this:
see, once upon a time, the american west was very sparsely settled, and between the few towns there were lay hundreds of miles of wild animals, criminals, desperate ex-confederate soldiers with raging ptsd and more ammo than food, and semi-nomadic first nations bands who at any moment might be at war with the us government, each other, and/or local landowners, or just looking to make their name by taking some trophies and bragging rights.
so if you wanted to get mail, goods, or passengers from one place to another, you better be prepared to defend yourself and run like hell at the same time.
enter the shotgun rider.
see in the picture, the fella that’s not holding the reins has a long gun over his knee? he must be confident, that’s a bit longer than the usual coach gun. you’d load with shot instead of slugs because you wanted scatter – aiming from a galloping coach isn’t easy even for a sharpshooter, and the intent was to deter, not kill. you’d aim for your attackers’ horses if you were smart. a man with buckshot in him might chase you harder in anger, but a horse with a peppered flank was goddamn done with your nonsense.
of course, such exciting episodes weren’t going to occur on every trip. so as a matter of practicality, while keeping watch for attackers, the shotgun rider was also navigator, relief driver, snack-fetcher, and in charge of entertaining you so you didn’t nod off and drive your horses in a circle all night.
the modern usage is sometimes just ‘dibs the front passenger seat’, so i see how it became just for claiming stuff across the pond. but the general connotation is also that you’re the main support guy. the co-pilot, the map-decipherer, the one who phones ahead and asks mom if you need to pick anything up on the way back. it’s not just about getting to ride up front, it’s about being in charge of stuff, which is very appealing but also a responsibility.
and that’s why you don’t call ‘shotgun’ for things other than driving. because that’s the only situation, really, where you’re calling dibs on being somebody’s right-hand guy for a task.
driver still picks the music, tho. that’s a cosmic law.
Passenger shuts his cakehole
it’s the American Way
Tbh it didn’t occur to me until I read it that anyone would take the passenger seat and NOT act as the right-hand of the driver.
Like, I’ve hand-fed my friends chips when we were on a long trip, so they wouldn’t have to take their hands off the wheel. Helped zip through the radio stations to find one that wasn’t static, or fiddle with the tech until bluetooth worked.
Passenger is in charge of making sure google maps or waze is working properly. In charge of answering any texts or calls to the driver. Checking in to make sure the driver isn’t tired on long trips, volunteering to take over if they are. Coordinating bathroom breaks if we have other passengers in the back, and figuring out where we should stop to eat or the nearest gas station.
Shotgun is a very important position on longer trips (and keep in mind, driving across the U.S. takes several days of driving. Twice a year I drive 7 straight hours from my house to visit my parents for Christmas, and I’ve driven westward on a 17-hour trip before.)
Driver’s responsibility is driving safely and maybe pumping gas.
ANYTHING else is for Shotgun.
Shorter trips, it’s not as big of a deal, but if it’s over an hour or two, you’ve got responsibilities
a fine addition.
it occurs to me that part of why the nuance gets lost in europe and new zealand is y’all don’t take car trips long enough to need a shotgun rider. or when you do, it’s a big damn deal, so you probably overprepare and take lots of breaks.
around here we’re like “hey let’s go up the lake this weekend” and next thing you know we’re off on a 260 mile daytrip with two cans of redbull and a joke mixtape from high school. i’ve soloed one of those and by the time you get to silver bay you’re speaking in tongues. you need a copilot if you’re going to be in any shape for fishing on arrival.
In New Zealand we mostly say bags rather than dibs or shotgun. I.e. ‘bags sitting in the front’ or ‘bags not picking that up’. No idea where it comes from though.
O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil’s kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck thy mother.
Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig’s snout, mare’s arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother!
So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won’t even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we’ll conclude, for we don’t know the date and don’t own a calendar; the moon’s in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day’s the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!
– Koshovyi otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host.”
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire
In case anyone needed a dramatic reading of the above historical letter.
I’m dying!
Oh my god.
I’m now dying to know what happened next.
Period invective at its finest, even if it may not be quite as period as you think.
(NB – Peter Capaldi’s reading is probably NSFW without headphones.)
Here’s a link to much larger versions of the painting. Take a look at the full-size one: the facial expressions are a treat.
Also, check out Repin’s later, revised but uncompleted “sketch” version, which seems to have Vlad Dracula as a guest star just right of centre.
Listening to Capaldi’s reading you can really imagine this crowd of bros around a table yelling at the guy with the pen not to forget their favourite insult.
Tag yourself–I’m “don’t know the date and doesn’t own a calendar”
I love that one of the restrictions on name changes in the UK is that your name cannot “promote criminal activities” and fucking hell every name I can think of that violates that is just stellar honestly like fucking hello nice to meet you my name is Commit Arson, I’d like you to meet my daughter Dont Pay Taxes and my son Steal From Work
and it’s a zeugma where one of the words is literal and one is metaphorical which is the BEST KIND
I didn’t know about zeugmas until just now! That is so awesome, everybody:
zeug·ma
ˈzo͞oɡmə/
noun
a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g.,John and his license expired last week ) or to two others of which it semantically suits only one (e.g., with weeping eyes and hearts ).
She dropped her dress and inhibitions at the door.
What’s this? My favorite rhetorical device showing up on my dashboard?
IT HAS A NAMEEEE!! OH MY GOD!!!
So this is what I’ve been looking for! I knew there was something I could have included to improve my writing. So happy I found this post!
Some of these could be considered paraprosdokians! (One of my favorite things!)
A paraprosdokian (/pærəprɒsˈdoʊkiən/) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a form of syllepsis.
artherra 
