Spacetrawler, audio version For the blind or visually impaired, July 9, 2021.
I’m so excited! Saturday morning I leave for my artist residency in Montana! Whoot! 🙂
Spacetrawler, audio version For the blind or visually impaired, July 9, 2021.
I’m so excited! Saturday morning I leave for my artist residency in Montana! Whoot! 🙂
Congrats! Happy artisting!
Just a quick correction: gelatinous is misspelled. Not sure about fortificous… is it even a real word? Lol
Thanks for the laughs.
A web search for “fortificous” only returned, of all things, a fanfiction in Italian. So I’m gonna just assume that it’s not an adjective, but the actual name of the thing she absorbed.
The translator chip needed to find a relatively short word to convey a lot of nuance, “fortificous” was the best it could do on short notice. “Fortified” (nutritionally) + “mucous” / “viscous”.
The Darnitawl evolved without any competition from other species. At times unicellular, forming larger and larger reproductive aggregates as time went on, eventually these aggregates became sentient and began to feed on sub-sentient-sized aggregates, as that was the only concentrated food source able to support the increased metabolic demands of cognition. So the translator chip was hoping to imply “glaucous” ( https://www.etymonline.com/word/glaucous ) as a nod to this, as this is the word that most closely matches how the Darnitawl “see” themselves (both their intelligent form and smaller aggregates) in contrast to other species they’ve encountered in their post-interstellar period. Alas, when rendered into text, this subtle shade of meaning was all but lost. When the translate chip forms meanings inside minds, it’s able to convey much more nuance.
Flower = reproductive aggregate.
Tell Alkyine about Jell-O salads.
Whoot
Happy and safe travels to you, Christopher. And a productive and rewarding residency.
I’m now going to spend a good deal of the weekend just repeating ‘fortificous’ to myself to hear the music in it. For-TIF-i-cous, for-TIF-i-cous, for-TIF-i-cous. All I need now is the hairbow and the polka-dotted muu-muu. And the styrofoam shoes, mustn’t forget.
Now try to work it into the conversation at your next party.
And while you do this, make sure to enjoy a ding-dong with taco sauce.
I prefer clam juice with Valvoline, actually.
For-ti-FISH-us… For-TIF-i-cous… I am going to alternate pronunciations, just to be especially confusing and annoying.
I grew up in Montana. Look up Rockin Rudy’s if you get a chance.