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Category: linguistics

E is for Edinburgh

E is for Edinburgh

Published by Kai on April 6, 2023
This entry is part 8 of 22 in the series AtoZ 2023 - The AtoZ of Me

Princes Street Walk I am a native of Edinburgh,Auld Reekie born and bred, scrappy, beautiful, like our famous dog,And a beauty over a gory, bloody history. A melting pot of cultures,loud bagpipes, in endless loops1the Fringe, Hogmanay, Beltaine,the city alive, beautiful, brilliant. Athens-like Folly2, overlooksome modern shames, like the evertripline replacing trams3, whose tracks warp, even in theflash summers of Scotland. The misheard street names,that of Princes Street, in front of Queen,we stand there, by the Scott Monument,our picturesque ‘Goth Rocket’4waiting, for the One o’clock gun,tourists asking when, bemused residents answering,asking one another “if it’s not just in the name?”…

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D is for ‘dont call me that’ – aka Donna #Mondayblogs

D is for ‘dont call me that’ – aka Donna #Mondayblogs

Published by Kai on April 5, 2023
This entry is part 7 of 22 in the series AtoZ 2023 - The AtoZ of Me

I’m going to get right to the point with this post. My birth name isn’t Kai. Or Kaiberie. My birth name is Donna. A name I don’t relate to I personally believe that our name is one of the things that define us. And while I know the definition of Donna is ‘lady’ in Italian, I’ve never felt particularly ladylike. I am, in fact, the biggest tomboy moving. I’m actually quite proud of that fact, and don’t avoid hobbies just because ‘that’s not for girls’ (it comes up less now, but it was quite common, even in the gaming community…

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Catching up

Published by Kai on April 2, 2022
This entry is part 2 of 10 in the series Blogging From AtoZ 2022

A- D for the Blogging AtoZ challenge will be up in the next 24 hours or so, and I’ll be hopping around all of the blogs and hopefully meeting some new, neat people. We’ve got family visiting this weekend though, so, I’m prioritising the visit and a belated Mother’s Day celebration 🙂 Previews… A is for Alive, in a sense… B is for Books C is for Covid D is for Dancing in the rain E is for Elden Ring F is for Fantasy G is for Gaming H is for home/hope I is for Indie Authors J is for…

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The Covidcoaster – a week of ill #Mondayblogs #rungirlrun #kaiatus #Bloggingfromatoz

The Covidcoaster – a week of ill #Mondayblogs #rungirlrun #kaiatus #Bloggingfromatoz

Published by Kai on March 28, 2022

Last Monday, I posted about how myself and my youngest tested positive for CV19. Monday/Tuesday, I started getting really sick. Monday, I’d been quite cheerful – after all, Artenapan, my daughter, had had three days of a cough and little else. That’s not how it played out for me (spoiler, it’s REALLY not how it played out for me).The net result of last week was a week spent either in bed, sleeping, in a cool bath, or generally feeling like I was being slowly boiling alive. I mean it’s been great for story ideas (that make zero sense now that…

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Love, Muse #poetry #Nanowrimo #andmilestogobeforeIsleep
When all you wanna do is pillow fort but you have to ‘adult’unrecognizable person sleeping under blanket

When all you wanna do is pillow fort but you have to ‘adult’

Published by Kai on June 14, 2021

I know this is an odd concept to raise for someone that’s a business owner and often works as hard as I do to advocate for others, who has raised two children to adulthood and when I think about it, survive what could be seen as serious negligence by my older psych team, but sometimes, do you wish you didn’t have to ‘adult?’ Adulting is overrated I don’t mean by this that I don’t think I should have zero responsiblities. I’m just really tired of not getting ‘a win’ in the things that I do, not really. All of my…

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F is for f*&k and other profanities #atozchallengecollage photo of woman

F is for f*&k and other profanities #atozchallenge

Published by Kai on April 7, 2021

Actually, it’s not….really. Made you look 😉I wanted to get your attention – what I actually want to talk about is language, but profanities, and our use of them, apparently dictates how linguistically intelligent we are. Not quite yet… I don’t quite buy into the studies that suggest that if we swear, we’re more intelligent. What I do agree with is if you can express yourself in varied and interesting ways, you are probably more intelligent, so it’s possibly a false indicator, as it was suggested in a 2016 study there was no correlation between profanity and the use of…

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The adorable, endless grind

Published by Kai on January 16, 2014

I guess I’m going to get some funny looks for this post, but writing is an adorable, yet endless grind.  I’ve been arguing with people today about it today, but we grow, and we learn.  And writing is both pleasure and pain, or at least for me.  And I’m still stretching my muscles and wearing them in again. I set myself a goal of 100,000 words this year, and I’m already a fifth of the way there, just blogging, doing 750words.com and a tiny bit of fiction.  I want the fiction to be much more of an element in it,…

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Insidious lies in the Indie community

Published by Kai on November 2, 2011

We interrupt your regularly scheduled fluff for a bit of a rant.  And I wouldn’t be doing this during Nanowrimo season, but it *really* needs to be said. I’ve been thinking a lot about the word ‘Dystopolitics’.  And my idea of Dystopolitics is actually linked to my own books, but it goes beyond that.  The politics of dystopia, right now, is pretty much looking at stuff like ‘A Handmaid’s tale’ and going, oooh, we’ll make sure our political views never get that radical. And you know, the politics of dystopia.  The radicalness….it’s seeping into everything going on around us.  I’m days from…

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Hack cleaning, and Psycho Killers

Published by Kai on September 25, 2011

Something that I don’t think is very evident from my writing is that I’m very music oriented.  If I can get away with it, no matter where I am, in the house, or out and about there’s either music, an audiobook, or crime programs on in the background somewhere.  Music starts my morning, and audiobooks, or more rarely now, TV shows finish out my day.  I’m constantly somewhere where there is noise.  To the point that if I ever end up catastrophically brain damaged or otherwise unable to instruct it myself, or am in a coma, I’ve got it written…

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Nano day 2 – procrastinate

Published by Kai on November 2, 2009

I procrastinated to death today. I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom – to let my stories flex and write them in my head today.  I can’t work out why, but despite feeling I was ready and desperate to write, the last day or two has been like pulling teeth.  The voices still haven’t quite settled into what they want – and forcing them into translation is impossible. I understand the theory of it – there’s no way to impose a linguistic structure on anything with any expectation of authenticity, if it isn’t the right structure – you can’t use words…

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