“Tomtar (Swedish for gnomes) require very little from the humans they work for, demanding only their respect and trust, and a bowl of porridge on Christmas eve, which they consider their due. The porridge MUST have butter… or else.”
“Legends of the Tomtar,” Skandium Journal. Illus. by John Bauer, “Woman Leaving Porridge for the Tomtar,” 1908.
Make a Vampire character who’s lived through several waves of the common language’s development and can’t let go if certain gramatical habbits from different time eras.
So like, thou ist a horrid creature, an absolute cur, but go off i guess
… can i use that phrase irl?
Absolutely you can and I encourage more uses of similar phrases that just completely fuck up the chronology of the english langauge. I wanna hear 15th century english mixed with surfer speak mixed with current age internet lingo like all the time.
Like this? Well my dude, seems like a weasel hath not such a deal of splean as you’re toss’d with. Chill already, you’re not valid.
You are an unrighteous, bastardly gullion. Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell. When you die, I will face God and walk backwards into hell just so that I can beat your ass in the afterlife too.
I love the idea of a vampire who’s language travels back in time as they get pissed.
I grieve for thee in these trying times. Alexa play Despacito
Reading these is like literary whiplash
This whole post is gold, but the comment about the vampire’s dialect “devolving” into older and older periods when he’s angry stood out to me.
It’s a cinematic cliché for a person of any foreign nationality to revert to their native language when angry (I usually see it with Spanish-speaking characters), and my southern accent deepens as I get angrier.
It makes sense that an immortal character who saw the eras of his language change and evolve over time would speak more and more archaically as he got angrier.
Historical linguists decide to get especially ancient vampires pissed off in order to study ancient languages
are you telling me that if I get a 5000yo vampire angry enough I can directly test the glottalic theory?
#Spooktober
This impressive work is the final Halloween miniature for this season, and its worth the wait!
This kit comes with everything a very small vampire hunter would ever desire for the slaying of equally tiny vampires!
It includes four books (all handstitched, with readable text) on the Uncannny, including Compte d'Erlette’s Culte des Goules and a journal, that ends in a crimson splash, and the warning to the next owner “DO NOT LET HIM LIVE”.
It also provides some practical tools, such as a bottle of holy water, a silver cross, a compass, and a pistol in a hostler. There is a removable tool rack with hooks holding a mallet, a crowbar, and a mirror, and a bunch of sharpened stakes, a head of garlic, among other things!
This treasure trove was created by Pat Sweet, Printer & Binder, Riverside, California. Read more about it here.
Check out UI Special Collection’s seasonal Youtube Series Freaky Fridays and watch the adventure undertaken by the Hawkeye Ghost and some famous folks here in Special Collections to find this mini item in time for the Halloween pop-up exhibit, where you can see it for yourself Thursday at the Main Library from 11AM to 1PM.
Have a great Halloween everyone!
–Diane R.
