puddeneen reblogged
this is genuinely how french people talk about racism.
puddeneen reblogged
Cat & kitten gargoyle, Château de pierrefonds, france, built between 1857-1885
puddeneen reblogged
never not thinking about giant cisterns. THATS immanentizing the eschaton. when we get to heaven and its a bunch of giant wet concrete tunnels with vast columns holding up the ceiling, then you will see…
you know about the tokyo storm drains, yeah?
yeah that’s what inspired this post :)
im very exited to go here when i die :)
basilica cistern in istanbul
the famous “lake” that Gaston Leroux wrote about beneath the Palais Garnier is not a lake at all, but actually a cistern.
and what’s more, you can explore the “lake” in Google Street View here.
puddeneen reblogged
Rocamadour, France
Glass facade detail (1984)
puddeneen reblogged
legendary-scholar-deactivated20
In Brittany of western France (French: lit-clos), a ‘box-bed’ was a bed enclosed in furniture that looked like a cupboard, half-opened or not, placed on short legs to prevent moisture due to dirt floor. In homes with usually only one room, the box-bed allowed some privacy and helped keep people warm during winter. Box-beds were also used to protect people from the animals (pigs, hens) also living in the house, or even to protect them from wolves that might enter houses and snatch babies. They were used until the 20th century and were adopted in other European countries too.
PLEASE STOP USING NSFR IN YOUR TAGS/POSTS/BIOS !!!!!!
a muslim person did not start this!! by tagging your drink, food, cursing, and music posts you are heavily patronizing us and taking away the entire point of our ramadan!! please stop!
it is on us to resist any urges, most of us have been fasting since we were children we do not need this warning and we have told non muslims this repeatedly! “not safe for ramadan” itself just sounds so weird and very rude, even if you do not mean it in that way. this entire thing reeks of performative activism.
if you are going to be tagging your nsfw then tag it with “nsfw” or a personalized tag like you do all the other months of the year, non muslims do this every year and it’s just useless to us! again! non muslims please stop speaking for us and educating others about our religious holiday, we get your intentions are good but you are heavily miss informing others about our holiday! thank you but please listen to us on this!
it will not break our fast if we see food, drink, accidentally hear music, accidentally see a curse word, or accidentally see something explicit! it will not! please just listen to us. most of us are not even online for the majority of the month, the entire point is to be closer to God and our religion! why would we be wasting time on the internet?
puddeneen reblogged
pilvenhattara-deactivated202403
“’Petit-nègre’ French, a construction of the French colonial army.”
Two years ago in a history class, I learned that the French military made up a version of French that they taught exclusively to their Black soldiers, especially in the time leading up to, and during, World War I. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
During the war, France was totally dependent on these soldiers that were (forcibly) recruited from the colonies, because the French population had been declining for some time and there weren’t enough young men who could fight in the war. The colonial soldiers were referred to as “tirailleurs sénégalais” (Senegalese tirailleurs) because soldiers were initially drafted from Senegal, although they were drafted from all the colonies eventually.
The version of French that was spoken by these soldiers (and their white French commanders) was referred to as ‘petit-nègre’ (it literally translates to ‘little negro’) or ‘français tirailleur’ (tirailleur French). The thing is, it wasn’t some pidgin language that developed naturally as a result of several language populations intermingling. Instead, it was basically constructed by the French military specifically to be taught to soldiers from the African colonies as they were going through their military training. Why? Essentially, the language was a heavily simplified version of French with really basic grammar, and it created a power imbalance, by humiliating the colonial soldiers and making them seem stupid. The plan was probably also propelled by ideas of the superiority of the French language, and the wish to keep it separate and “untainted” by the “lesser” Black people.
Upon finding out the truth of what they’d been taught, many of the soldiers strove to learn proper French, but the idea of “the stupid Black subject” had already become widespread in French society and was near-impossible to shake off. Many of the racist stereotypes born during the French colonial era lingered in the shared French cultural consciousness for a long time, and some still do. One of the most well-known examples is probably the advertisement for the chocolate drink Banania, which had the slogan “Y a bon…” (It’s good) and looked like this:
The current design has ditched the racist slogan, but the image of a “happy, but stupid” colonial soldier (complete with the red soldier’s cap) is still present:
I just… reading about this infuriates me. It sadly does not surprise me, though. I tried to find sources in English, but everything I found was either in French or part of the history course where I learnt it in the first place. If you can understand French, though, I recommend reading the article that I linked at the top, which explains the history of it quite well and refers to some further sources as well.
Feel free to correct any factual errors or other mistakes that I might have made. I’d also be interested in learning more, if anyone knows more about this and wants to have a chat (or can direct me to any good sources).
arabskaya-devushka
the red soldier cap that the french made a part of African tirailleurs’ outfit is a part of North African traditional clothes, which makes things worse
1st pic:an image of Algerian Tirailleurs
2d pic: a high ranking tunisian official
Maurice Delafosse (1870-1926), a colonial administrater and linguist, was largely responsible for creating petit-nègre. He’s quoted in the linked article as saying that the colonial soldiers needed a “simple and rational version of our so complicated a language”. What’s worse is he spoke several African languages and had written books about them, so he would know full well that African languages were rich and as he puts it ‘complicated’… The audacity of this man…
Here are the rules for petit-nègre as he layed them out-
- Je was replaced by Moi. (For English speakers that’s like if you said me instead of I).
- The verb être (to be) was deleted.
- Verbs were left in the infinitive in the present and future tenses (so je parle becomes moi parler).
- 2nd group verbs lost their final R in the infinitive (partir became parti), third group verbs were often simplified to sound like first group verbs (vouloir became vouler).
- Only pas was used for negation. (Standard French uses ne pas, but modern spoken informal French also drops the ne)
- No grammatical gender or number
- No articles
- ‘y a’ and ‘gagner’ were used as helping verbs to form the past tense. J’ai perdu became Moi y a gagné perdu.
- Most prepositions were replaced with pour, so je vais au village became moi parti pour village.
The people responsible for this knew that the colonial soldiers were capable of learning standard French. They did this to humiliate them. The rules as laid out by delafosse are designed to make them sound primitive and childish, and it was 100% intentional. Delafosse may claim that he was trying to ‘help’ the colonial soldiers, but he knew better, as proven by his work studying African languages. It’s insidious…
puddeneen reblogged
red-lipstick
Nicolas Demeersman aka Pretty Punk (b. 1978, Seclin) Worldwide ongoing Fucking Tourist series 2009-2014 Captures The Resentment Of Locals With A Simple Gesture. (Info with each pic)
puddeneen reblogged
Door of the Royal Opera of Versailles, via chateauversailles
Source: nature-and-culture
puddeneen reblogged
Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris 🕸🦉🦇
Friday on July 12 several hundreds of “black vests”, a collective of undocumented people occupied the Pantheon. They demand documents for all and the end of incarcerations and deportations and of the entirety of the repressive anti-immigrant system. The police intervention was particularly brutal. 37 people were arrested, 40 were wounded and 2 are in a coma.
marxistbarbie-deactivated202109
a handful of french billionaires have pledged 600+ million euros for Notre Dame in less than 12 hours. let that put into perspective how easily billionaires could end world hunger, poverty, lack of access to healthcare/clean water/education but choose not to. 600+ million in twelve hours from just 3 people
puddeneen reblogged
notre dame is burning.
this is ok.
it has happened before. it will happen again. it has been lost before. it will be lost again. and again. and again. and again. art and architecture are transient, and temporary, and 850 years may seem like a lot to the individual, who will live maybe 100 if they are very lucky and very healthy, but even the pyramids at saqqara have only existed for about 6000 years and that’s still not all that much, if you consider the grand scheme of things.
yes, this is terrible. as someone who is deeply religious and literally a professional historian with a focus on art and architecture, this is terrible. im mourning. im gutted. im horrified and upset and miserable. but.
it’s not over.
victor hugo wrote hunchback because notre dame du paris was in the process of collapsing and falling apart, and revitalized the entire world’s focus and love for this church, and that was not even 200 years ago. it led to it being renovated.
the roof has fallen in. the scars of fires are on its buttresses. the rose window has fallen out. the beams and piers have collapsed. the spire has toppled. the stones have suffered, and will suffer again, but it is not gone.
renovation work is essential. sometimes things collapse and burn and break and have to come back. it’s not a terrorist attack, it’s renovation, an accident, but we have so much evidence, history, carefully documented everything on one of the most studied places in the world.
it’s not the end.
Hey so, French person here. And also an ex History student. I’m here to say: Please listen to o.p. above.
Obviously everyone is shocked but here’s a few important key facts:
- The roof is completely gone. Part of it dated back from the 13th century but the rest was from the 19th. The stone arch roof under the top roof is fine.
- One of the three main stained glass rose windows has fallen out. Most of the other stained glass windows are okay.
- The spire has fallen down and that’s the saddest part. BUT! It was in the process of being restored and the 16 statues that were there were removed just four days ago! So they’re fine.
- The main structure is still here and nothing has “burned down” unlike what some people have been saying.
- The “treasure” (sacred objects) is safe.
Notre Dame is still there. It’s just damaged. Almost nothing was lost today, and nobody was wounded either. It’s scary, but it’s gonna be okay.
It feels like a miracle that not a single person died or was injured in the massive fire. Amazing relief. All of the above is so right: Notre Dame will endure. It is loved, and will be rebuilt again.