family etymologies

every family has it’s own weird lexicon and bevy of in-jokes, and I think that gets compounded if you have immigrants/non-native speakers in your immediate family tree. I only have a few examples, but I just get so curious when I try to figure out where the heck these came from. Some examples:

frutz/frutzy – noun/adjective; squirrely person/squirrely behavior. “Such a frutzy boy.”

Almost 100% sure this is from the German Fratz, which either means brat/rascal/scalliwag or bitch/hussy, depending on which translator you use.

obshoilek – adjective; gross, dirty, badly done. “It just looks so obshoilek!”

Someone once told me this was exactly like the German word for same, but I can’t find it anywhere to verify. I hope it’s a dirty dirty swear

EDIT: @stadtschrat and a lovely anon mentioned “abscheulich,” which which means abominable/detestable. Thanks for the assist!

canooter/canuter – verb, to complain, fret pointlessly. “Stop canuttering already, we’ll get there when we get there.”

This one might have its origin in ye olde salty car talk! The canuter valve is a fictional part of the engine that an unscrupulous mechanic might try to tell you is malfunctioning. I can kind of see how that might transition to complaining needlessly about something stupid. My grandfather on my dad’s side was a huge car nut, and this might have come from him.

peazock – verb; to bother, pester with the intent to annoy. “He liked to peazock the cats.” “Stop peazocking your brother!”

Welp. Pizoc is a last name that exists, but I highly highly doubt that’s where this came from. Mispronouncing peacock???

pls share yours with me

coelasquid:

theveryworstthing:

its International Vulture Awareness Day so what better time to post drawings of Foxglove’s funeral directing vulture moms.

On the left is Ms. Fifteen-Stab-Wounds Hubris, funeral director, caterer, and grief counselor. she’s a black vulture who grew up on the island and prides herself in her knowledge of obscure burial practices. she’s very outgoing and positive, which is sometimes mistaken for naivete. a mistake she is all too willing to exploit when she wants to mess with someone. she likes rabbit bars and has a few fidgety rabbit mannerisms.

On the right is Ms. Irresponsible-Botany Hubris, grave slab constructor, medical examiner, and cleansing insect handler. she’s a leucistic turkey vulture who was born on the mainland but immigrated to the island with her parents when she was young. she’s an artist who’s a little better with animals than people. she’s soft spoken, loves watching fights, and makes all of Foxglove’s jewelry.

they’re both priestesses who met during their training in the holy city and bonded over their strange upbringings on the island. they decided to return home shortly after they finished their training when they heard a few funeral attendant positions had opened up.

these positions just happened to be the worst. low pay, no time off, terrible conditions, upset customers, just generally terrible management. they took every hit without complaint (at least not to their bosses faces) and went about their lives in saintly servitude to the dead as they learned the trade.

then they opened their own funeral home nearby and mercilessly ran them out of business.

they were married in the empty shell of their former workplace, now known as their bug kennel/craft room.

quick facts:

for vultures, first names are always causes of death. the parents usually pick these from a meal they had while gravid.

family names are a little more existential but pretty much the same thing. Irresponsible took Fifteen’s last name since she never really like Folly.

they have two other children besides Foxglove, twin boys named Bee-Stings and Baking-Accident. they are very proud of all three of them, even though Baking accident set fire to that one guy.

they are good moms.

Oh no they’re adorable.

crossconnectmag:

Sara Kipin

The modern-day fairytales of Sara
Kipin combine digital crispness with classical themes of sacrifice, conflict
and undying love. Although her drawing signature is clean and stylized, the elegant
character designs and detailed landscapes breathe a magical sense of nostalgia.
Sara’s determined lady knights and sassy witches make you wish for them to come
to life in an animated feature all their own.

Travel along with Sara on her Tumblr page


Follow our mighty Facebook page and Twitter for daily art snacks! | Posted by Falco

We all do this, right? We fumble, we ask friends for help, we hope for the best. Unlike cooking, which can often be fiddled with along the way, checked and rechecked and iterated, baking involves precision and a kind of prayer: it’s in the oven; there’s nothing you can do. You are hoping for success, and in its absence, you are hoping for support.

What emerges over the course of the show is that it doesn’t only have a style; it has an ethic. Mary and Paul do not fall victim to the misdirection of small but spectacular-looking mistakes. If the custard in the middle of whatever you’re making doesn’t quite set, the entire thing may collapse and run all over the counter, but they’ll taste it anyway! And they’ll tell you that your custard not setting isn’t necessarily a bigger mistake than anything else; it just looks worse. If you can’t get your cake put together, they’ll still taste the layers. You may not be out. Do not lose heart. Do not lose heart.

Don’t laugh, but this is life, in a way, as we all hope for it to be. You screw up, but not entirely. You see your hoped-for result dashed on the counter in a pile of goop, but someone says, “I see what you put into this; I see what you intended.” Someone you trust who is better than you are at whatever you’re trying to do says, “We both see what you did wrong; I can help you identify what you did right.” You still might lose. You still might go home crying with disappointment. But someone will have said, “Next time, take it out of the oven five minutes sooner and you’ll really have something.” It’s a show of such…hope. Hoping everybody else is going to be willing to try the imperfect layers of your particular not-quite-put-together cake is often the only way to get through the day, after all.