chekhovandowl:

maffypop:

katniss-everbeans:

lordbape:

Stop saying Caucasian to mean white lol besides the fact that it’s literally not correct to use them synonymously, it’s 2016. just say white. It’s not offensive, Caucasian is not the “more appropriate ‘pc’ way of saying white” and it’s not what you actually mean to say. Say white in 2016

I’m in a master’s program at an HBCU and SO many people were using Caucasian in place of white in their papers that my policy professor sent out a mass email including a map of the Caucasus region and a full explanation of how to correctly use the term Caucasian.

can someone explain the difference? as a white person I do not ever think about my own race

The term Caucasian comes from the Caucasus mountains!

As you can see, it’s sitting nice and tight between the Black and Caspian sea, and it’s chalk-full of all kinds of countries which contain people that are not the same as European white people, although in some countries they might benefit from passing white. 

Anyway, the people that live here are actually people that have a cultural and ethnic identity - Hellenic, Armenian, Iranian. For example, Ossetian people

Or people from the region of Crimea, which some people might recognize from recent political coverage. 

So, you might be asking “well, why do we say Caucasian when we really mean West-european descendants?”

There’s an answer! This was an old carryover from the taxonomy if the Olden Days when the races were divided into “Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid” races. We have since stepped away from this classification in anthropological studies, but the Caucasian term remains in use for some frustrating reason.

The issue, however, is that it’s simply not logical to use it for yourself unless you are literally a descendant of one of the caucasus peoples. If you’re European, and want to emphasize that point, say European! Heck, you can even say “Nordic” if you are particularly proud of that part of your heritage and you happen to come from a Nordic country, or “Slavic” if you happen to come from a Slavic country. 

open-plan-infinity:

Underground is harrowing and compelling new 10 episode TV show centered on a group of slaves planning a daring all-or-nothing 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation. It premieres on March 9th on WGN America.

The journey and escape of thousands of slaves to free states and Canada in the 19th century is one of the most fascinating and defiant parts of American history but one that has received little attention on television or in movies.

The relationships and the agendas of the series’ slave characters, the people who claim ownership and domain over them, the hunters who seek to snare them and the abolitionists who fight to help them find freedom form a complex and intriguing mosaic in this new TV epic.

Why this might actually work:

1. It was created, written and co-produced by a black woman

Misha Green is a writer and producer who has worked on shows including Sons of Anarchy and Heroes. 

“One day my sister said to me, ‘You should do a show about the Underground Railroad.’ I liked the idea. I immediately knew the title would be the ‘Underground.’ I knew I wanted it to be epic and big. So I went to Joe Polaski, the co–creator of Underground. We had a great history. 

We decided to see it from all perspectives: from the slaves running to those left behind on the plantation, to the slave catchers going after them to those helping along the way. The more we researched, we found truth is stranger than fiction. We knew it was the right time for a television series”

2. It’s not another tragic slave era story exploiting black pain for dramatic effect

 Misha Green: “It’s not about the occupation; it’s about the revolution. This is a story that has not been told before. We have a little paragraph in some history books about this time period. But this is an inspiring story that shows what can be accomplished when we stick together. It shows how people traveled 600 miles with people hunting them every step to get to freedom. It shows the ingenuity they used.“

Aldis Hodge, the shows lead protagonist said “to be called a slave is to be called a thing. It’s like being cattle or a machine. We depicted it from the viewpoint that these people are enslaved Americans, and we celebrate their strengths.” 

3. It gives a deeper look into the slave resistance than ever before

Unlike many slave dramas that have gone before, this is not a sepia-tinted period drama or a revisionist fantasy. Underground explores the social, moral, and political complexities of this period. It gives viewers a historically accurate glimpse of how the clandestine system of the Underground Railroad operated.

“The Underground Railroad is one sentence – one paragraph – in history books, and they sum it up to one person, the amazing legend of Harriet Tubman,” says Smollett-Bell who plays Rosalee, a shy but internally strong house slave. “But there were thousands of people who risked their lives and who were actively changing our nation.”

Actor Alano Miller who plays Cato said “At first, when it was pitched to me, it was ‘slave drama,’ and that made me cringe. But then I read the script and the humanity; it was about the revolution. The writing was just so excellent; it had so much depth to it and it wasn’t one-dimensional.”

4. It has a stellar cast

As well as being executive produced by John Legend, Underground stars True Blood’s Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Straight Outta Compton’s Aldis Hodge, Jane The Virgin’s Alano Miller, Arrow’s Jessica de Gouw, Law & Order: SVU alum Christopher Meloni, Amirah Vann and Justified’s Mykelti Williamson, among others. Empire’s Jussie Smollett and Treme’s Renwick Scott also guest star.

5. The soundtrack’s gunna be great

John Legend is the show’s music producer, so you know it’s going to be good. The moody R&B and blues rock soundtrack to Underground “emphasizes the struggles of the South in this tumultuous time.“

Underground premieres on March 9th on WGN America.

Watch the trailer below:

wolfs-toeter:

ullragg:

shonenprince:

T thing/ explain to me why Norwegian has two written languages.

psssh why you need t thing WHEN YOU HAVE ME??

Long ago the three Scandinavian countries lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the black plague attacked!

Norway was hit especially hard, the plague killed one third of the entire population. And who did the plague completely wipe out? Educated people. Because educated people, pastors, doctors, etc. are usually in a job where they help the sick or bury the dead. And what happens when you’re constantly around a bunch of sick people? You get sick too!

So because Norway was suddenly so much weaker, both economically and martially, and even academically, they decided to join up with Denmark.

An this is where Norway ceased to be a country. The great strong and fearsome viking kings were all but forgotten. Centuries of unions under either Sweden or Denmark had robbed Norway of land they had once conquered, like Greenland, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, Skaania. All we had left was a thin strip of coast, Svalbard and Jan Mayen.

But then, 400 years later, the age of National Romance happened. Suddenly being nationalistic was a good thing. And the Norwegian people remembered who they once were. Norway was the poorest country in Europe. All the universities were in Denmark. All education was in Danish. If you were someone, you spoke Danish, not that barbaric noise called “Norwegian”. There is no Norwegian nobility, only Danish.

Suddenly France is on fire.

The Americans are declaring independence

Such beauty. Such impress. Such national pride to the people and for the people!

Then Napoleon came along and pulled all of Europe into war.

Denmark joined on Napoleon’s side

Sweden, who has never gotten along with Denmark, backed England up

When England won, Sweden, as one of the winners, wanted Norway

And in the one brief week, between Denmark relinquishing its hold and Sweden taking over, the Norwegians saw their chance and took it.

A couple politicians stuck their heads together and wrote a constitution in only a handful of days. This constitution was heavily influenced by the French one written during the revolution, as well as the American Declaration of Independence. The constitution declared Norway as an independent country, and ever since that day, May 17th, 1814, 17th of May has been known as the Norwegian Constitution day, our national holiday.

Unfortunately, however, the Swedes were not persuaded by a silly little piece of paper and took over anyway, but hey. We tried.

Luckily they were much more lax than the Danes and let Norway basically rule themselves, as long as they followed the law of the Swedish king.

The Norwegians never forgot their brief moment of supposed victory though, and only a generation or two later they staged one of the most peaceful freedom wars in known history and Sweden went “well fuck you, you can have that damn country of yours! Just leave us alone”

sixty years later we found oil and became the richest country in the world but that has nothing to do with the language

ANYWAY, so Sweden left Norway basically to its own devices, and the Norwegians decided they no longer wanted Danish to be the main language. They wanted Norwegian. Problem is, at that time, after 400 years of rule, there was no such thing as anything specifically Norwegian. So they had a dilemma.

One guy, Knud Knudsen, took the structure of the Danish language and mixed it with what he heard the people speak around him. He called it Bokmål

This other guy, this slightly more nationalistic guy, Ivar Aasen (we like him), travelled around the country and found the most isolated farms and villages. The places that had not been touched and influenced by the Danish rule over the past 400 years. These were the thickest and most unique dialects and accents. He mixed them all together and created Nynorsk.

Bokmål means Book-language and Nynorsk means New-Norwegian

Fun fact: They actually held a vote deciding what to name these two languages and Nynorsk & Bokmål won over Dansk-Norsk (Danish-Norwegian) & Norsk (Norwegian) by ONE SINGLE VOTE.

So here they had a problem

‘Cause you see Nynorsk was something that was REALLY Norwegian. Something the nationalists had been pining after for decades, centuries. And it was easy to learn for those whose lives hadn’t been ruled by Danish language for as long as they could remember.

But Bokmål was a mix of two languages, and you know what happens when you mix two languages: It is greatly simplified. This made it easy to learn and it was something “norwegian enough to pass”. It was much easier to go from Danish to Bokmål for those who lived in the cities and had written Danish all their lives.

And while Nynorsk was the one that embodied the goal of this whole language hunt, and the one most loved by the peasants, Bokmål as the “easy way out” for the people in the cities, for the educated politicians and journalists and doctors and pastors who spoke Danish, even though they identified as Norwegian

And this is where they came to a standstill

People who liked Nynorsk used it and refused to give it up for Bokmål

People who liked Bokmål used it and refused to give it up for Nynorsk

and.. well that brings us to today

Though over the years the two languages have slowly been drifting towards each other, becoming more and more alike, Bokmål has also been taking over because it is what is most commonly used in the media. Because the media originates in the cities after all.

Both T thing and I are partial to Nynorsk though we use Bokmål more often in daily life, simply because it is more practical.

And that is why Norwegian is actually two languages.

@sabsiola

look

terrasigillata:

trixter:

twotone:

catwinchester:

thesnadger:

davidfosterflawless:

grimmnir:

Public Service Announcement:  If you are not a virgin do not presume to wear a white wedding dress.  It is an honor that is earned from chastity and virtue.  Not a tradition for you to soil if you lacked the same.

what about anal? does it count

The idea that the white wedding dress is “an honor that is earned from chastity and virtue” is historically bullshit. 

In the west the white wedding dress has it’s origins in the Victorian era, specifically in the white dress Queen Victoria wore in her marriage to Prince Albert. At the time, red was the most popular color for upper-class women to wear at their wedding, and her wedding dress was sort of the contemporary version of Lady Gaga wearing some outlandish outfit to a red carpet event. (She also eschewed the ermine and crown traditional for a queen to wear, which was quite startling to many people.)

After that, a pure white dress became a fashionable way for wealthy, upper-class women to show off their money. Because a pure white dress would quickly yellow and could be ruined by a single spill or a little dirt in an era before 20th century laundering techniques, a white wedding dress was a way of saying “that’s right bitches, I’m so rich I can afford to have this beautiful, elaborate gown made for me and I’m only going to wear it once. Plus odds are good I’ll never work a day in my life or come into contact with anything that might soil it so yeah, great to be me, right?”

Connotations of spiritual purity and eventually virginity only came years later, when the idea of a “white wedding” began to appear in etiquette and housekeeping guidebooks. Even then, it was more because these qualities were associated with upper-class women rather than because the white dress was an honor earned through keeping hands off one’s genitals. Even then, most women just wore their best church dress to their wedding for quite a while. It was the image of thew white wedding dress in post WWII Hollywood movies that finally cemented it as a standard and iconic part of the culture.

Nowadays of course, the American wedding is an orgy of conspicuous consumption, and every woman regardless of her financial situation is expected to get married in a dress she’ll never wear again.

tl;dr, that tradition you’re so keen on protecting has less to do with virginity than is does with showing off big wads of cash.

Poor people would traditionally wear their Sunday best to get married in. They were usually black, brown or other dark colours, because Sunday Best outfits had to last for years and be appropriate for all occasions, including funerals. 

Reblogged for historical debunking

I’m always in favor of historical debunking that also gives the middle finger to Magical Virginity.

Hey op I love fucking and I’m gonna wear white to my wedding are you mad?

theofficialmarieantoinette:

I die a little inside every time someone says history is boring. History is one long, epic adventure with battles to be fought, royal scandals to be gossiped about, human rights to be protected. It can be comic and tragic, and it exhibits both the very best and the very worst of human nature. History is all about seemingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and that is why we all want to be remembered by it.

jespru:

The other day, my Middle Eastern History teacher told us a story I wanted to share with you guys.

When he was travelling around Turkey by train sometime in the early ‘90s, he once had to make a stop at a town named Afyon. He didn’t expect to find anything interesting there; according to the travel guides, Afyon had nothing much to offer.

However, when he left the train, there was a man at the station who came up to him and offered him a tour of the city. This man said he was a history teacher at the local school. “Well, I am also a history teacher, so nice to meet you, colleague,” said my prof, wary about being scammed. 

He wasn’t scammed, though. Instead, he was taken to the old Armenian neighbourhood of Afyon. Beautiful houses, but all in disrepair. My teacher was stunned.
“But… this isn’t even on the map, it just says there’s a field here”
“Of course it does, the government is trying to blot out every trace of Armenian history in this town. That’s why I wait at the station every day. To show any tourist who travels through here the real history of this town.”

Later, speaking to other residents of Afyon, my teacher found out that the man ran a high risk of getting arrested for what he was doing. One day, they said, a police officer would disguise himself as a tourist and put an end to his meddling.

I just wanted to share this story with you all because it made a really big impression me. Historians can change the world.

thenerdofsparta:

khaleesijade:

simaraknows:

gilbertbielschmidt:

seduce me with ur history knowledge 

vikings made their woman handle the finances because they thought math is witchcraft

The idea that unicorns are only able tamed and captured by virgins originated as a medieval joke. The idea was that it took a mythical creature to catch a mythical creature.

There was once an English minstrel called Roland the Farter. He was awarded lands by the king on the condition that he turn up to the court every Christmas to perform his characteristic “whistle, leap and a fart”. His children could keep the lands after his death if they learnt and performed the same trick.

There is graffiti from the Norse invaders that reads (roughly) “ I slept with Ingiborg, the most beautiful woman in the world ”

A close friend of Alexander the Great named Dioxippus, once told one of his generals, named Coragus, to stop being so up himself, Coragus took offence and challenged him to a duel in front of all of his troops unaware that Dioxippus was a champion of Pankration, Ancient Greek Wrestling. Coragus turned up with all of his weapons and armour, Dioxippus turned up naked with a club, lathered in Olive Oil. The match was over in about 5 mins and Coragus got his arse well and truly kicked.

When an army of Swedes went off to war with the Norwegians, they left all the women to manage everything, however, in the village of Smaland, right on the Southern Border, they were attacked by an opposing force of Danes. The women, led by a woman named Blenda, responded to this by inviting the invaders in, feeding them, making them comfy and basically having a massive party to get them REALLY drunk. When all the invaders all passed out, the women slaughtered them all with anything they could find, and when the men came back, the King was so impressed that he basically granted them a bunch of new rights that were previously unavailable to them. From that point on, all daughters had the right to inherit property, money and land equally with their brothers, and were allowed to wear military-style garments around town and at their weddings.  They were also given the prestigious right to wear the Royal Coat of Arms on their clothing – a tradition that has lasted to this day.

The term in Chess “Checkmate” is thought to have come from the Persian term “Shah Mat” which means “The King is dead”.

Captain Benjamin Hornigold, the mentor to Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, once captured a ship just so he could steal all of the crew’s hats, because his crew had gotten drunk the night before and thrown all of theirs overboard.

Napoléon Bonaparte, the Corsican soldier who eventually became the Emperor of France following the French Revolution and Maximilien de Robespierre’s “Reign of Terror”, was terrified of cats.