"there may come a time when you are tired / tired as a dream that wants to die / further to fly"

[larryhammer]

1. In English, "abdicate" is normally an intransitive verb, but when writing about Heian-era politics I keep wanting to use it passively, as if it were transitive -- as in "Emperor So-and-so was abdicated for acting with too much independence." I suppose I could make do with "was made to abdicate," but that's not only less elegant but suggests more agency on his part than sometimes seems to have been the case.
   
   This complaint was brought to you by the kana tsu and ki, and by the number of cherry petals blowing in the moonlight.
   
   
2. The number of things wrong with the phrase "he lied like a prone thing" is finite -- even countably so -- but I still like it.
   
   
3. OTOH, this Corpspeak to Layspeak translator is just plain wrong. (But not just plane wrong.) (via)
   
   
4. An instructional video on how to swear in English if you're Korean. Taught purely so one knows when one has been cussed out, of course. Completely.
   
   
5. Three yakuza members review a yakuza video game and find the characters realistic but outdated. Because, as you know Bob, we live in fallen times. Honor is an outdated concept now. (via)
   
   
6. 'Twas brillig, and these are slithy toves, borogroves, and mome raths milling around. "Burble-burble, burble-burble."

---L.