Cropped image of medieval-stylized printed text, focused on a line which reads: “This wenche thikke”
/end image description]
Thank you for adding this image description! Just wanted to clarify that it’s not stylised, but actual Middle English. The text is from The Canterbury Tales.
Okay, had to track it down. It’s from the Reeve’s Tale, and it’s a description of a 20yo young woman:
This wenche thikke and wel y-growen was, With camuse nose and yën greye as glas; With buttokes brode and brestes rounde and hye, But right fair was hir heer, I wol nat lye.
In modern English (had to look up “camuse”, so that’s as good as my source, but I know the rest)
This wench was thick and well-grown With a pug nose and eyes grey as glass; With buttocks broad and breasts round and high, But right fair was her hair, I will not lie.
The fact that Chaucer had “big butt” and “I will not lie” within two lines of each other is causing me disproportionate amusement. Also the fact that “this wenche thikke” works equally well in Middle English and in modern slang.
SOMEBODY needs to get it right but even if they both manage to irretrievably fuck up I’ll still be there because I’m ride or die for Persuasion.
Can explain what they should get right? I am really curious. *whispers* the love confession scene
They need to include the moment when Anne is being bothered by an undisciplined small child and nobody else is doing anything effective to help her until Captain Wentworth just picks up the toddler and carts him away without a word in a power-move they call the Ovary-Buster.
The moment just DRIPS with Could Be A Fantastic Father of Your Children energy and I’m aghast and unsurprised that no man responsible for the direction of a major adaptation has ever thought it necessary to include this vital moment of inspired Competence Porn.
Um, I may have just forwarded this VERY IMPORTANT POST to a friend of mine.
The friend of mine who is a producer on one of those two adaptations.
I think part of the issue is people assuming that everyone MUST want to move upwards. Like… it’s the next logical step for a person to want to move up the chain: from worker to manager, to district manager, eventually owner.
But I always think of growth like plants.
Aspens grow tall to reach the sun, for sure. But dandelions grow deep, understanding themselves fully so that if some misguided fool tries to uproot them they’d have to try damn hard. And then there’s thyme and other creeping plants, which spread themselves out so much that if you chop a part of it off it roots wherever it can find dirt to root in.
It’s okay not to have lofty dreams. You know what kind of plant you are better than anyone else.
This reminds me of a business problem called The Peter Principle that’s been written about for years but few businesses have been willing to make changes because of it
The concept is that a worker is really good at their job, so good that they clearly deserve better compensation for all they bring to the company, but business is structured so that the only way to get more money is to be promoted to a higher position. A new position comes with new job requirements, but not everyone is going to be right for those. Example: an amazing computer programmer might be useless at managing staff, but if you promote that programmer to head of the department they’ll be required to manage staff. It seems like the best thing for everyone, the company included, would be to put that employee back in their original job and let them keep the higher salary since they clearly do the job well enough to deserve it. However companies want those lower level jobs to be seen as undesirable so workers will feel upper staff deserve their higher wages. Because of this, putting the employee back in the job they’re right for is considered a demotion, so instead companies let the employee keep the upper level job they’re bad at forever or until they have just cause to fire them. Clearly the company was better off with them in the job they were good at, but the illusion of hierarchy to justify higher waged employees is more important
Just because capitalism says everyone should climb the corporate ladder doesn’t mean it’s actually the right thing for everyone
This moment is significant for several reasons. First of all, this is the project that introduced MK to Shipwrecked in the first place, and without it we wouldn’t have ended up with the Core Four. Secondly, MK is great in all of KitR, but I particularly love her in this episode because of the contrast between sweet, optimistic Anne and rude, sardonic Lily - both played to absolute perfection. Third, because MK is the perfect Anne of Green Gables, she has been putting together absolutely delightful radio-play-style readings of the books, and the first one can now be heard in its entirety on Spotify and Apple podcasts, which I would highly recommend checking out. And fourth, this quote inspired the title of her Patreon-exclusive podcast that is basically a combination of Craftversations and MK’s Corner, so if you’re a longtime fan who’s been missing those shows, that’s an excellent reason to become a patron. Also patrons have very early access to Anne chapters, so that’s another related reason to become a patron.
If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll probably know that one of my favorite books of all time is The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery. It’s my life’s mission to make everyone read it, so here are some reasons why you should:
It’s almost like a really really excellent fanfiction, I can’t say more or risk spoiling it, but trust me it really is, there are so many good tropes
Friends to lovers
I just really like the romance in it, imagine your OTP
The characters are great even the unpleasant ones
Valancy is a super relateable protagonist and is a massive nerd who loves books. She also uses her imagination as an escape mechanism #Icanrelate
The book is basically about discovering you have agency and that it’s never too late to get out there and live your best life regardless of the people trying to hold you back
Valancy is such a nice person
She’s also 29, so quite a bit older than most of Montgomery’s heroines, and I really like it. I think this book really conveys how you might think life is getting away from you when you hit your late 20s, but actually you’re still super young and you have so much ahead of you so just go and live your dreams
Involves a triumphant escape from emotionally abusive relations
The characters are great. LM Montgomery is spectacular at writing odious relations and petty social drama
Hilarious and snarky but also deeply heartwarming
So much great nature stuff
The descriptions are so good you guys
Seriously, the more I think about this book the more it seems like a super good fanfiction, which is probably why I’ve read it like 15 times
I’m totally biased, but if I’m sad and I read this book I feel better afterwards
Angst with a happy ending
Doing things to shock your terrible relatives and it’s amazing
PLOT TWISTS
Putting yourself out there and getting what you want
I can’t tell you all the good bits because it will spoil it so I guess you’ll just have to read it yourself, I’m not joking, you will not regret it
Seriously, go read it
If I was stuck on a desert island and could only take one book with me it would be this one
I read this book when I was in my pre-teen LM Montgomery phase and I didn’t love it. I re-read this book LAST NIGHT (yes, in 1 night) based on this post alone.
It’s so true and so good! The theme of the unmarriagable 20-something reminds me a little of Persuasion by Austen. It’s so good, and everyone should read it.
