Posts reminding people not to use "zio" because it's a slur are causing me so much cognitive dissonance right now. (In Italian it means "uncle." Or, in possibly outdated teen slang, "bro.")

Putting together an analysis of all the anti trans laws over the last few years and there's never been anything like this in US history. The total number of state laws passed in 5 years (300+) approaches the total number of Jim Crow laws (400+) passed over a 100 years.

Four-week residency in Venice for IT>AR, DE, EN, ES, FR, JA, ZH translators! Mica male

Carciofi in mazzi di 3 invece di 4, mezzo chilo di broccoli preconfezionati con il prezzo al pezzo che sembra essere al chilo, burro in panetti da 200 g invece di 250: i tentativi patetici della GDO di nascondere l'inflazione. Ce ne accorgiamo lo stesso, sai

There are two big screens in my gym. One shows an “inspirational” thing with scenes from Rocky, etc. and text like “FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. NO REST NO BIRTHDAYS NO WEEKENDS NO VACATION.” The other shows a cute animation telling you how any exercise is better than no exercise. Help

Very hard and so much fun. What's My JND? 0.0016 Can you beat it? www.keithcirkel.co.uk/whats-my-jnd...

Da lavoratrice autonoma iscritta alla Sezione Traduttori Editoriali Slc – Cgil, anch’io aderisco allo sciopero domani. In Italia oltre l'80% di chi traduce a tempo pieno per l'editoria è donna: redditi medi annui sotto i €12k in diritto d’autore e nessuna tutela. Meno mimose, più diritti!

Blended carrot soup: so much better with a handful of rice and a handful of rinsed red lentils at the beginning and a tadka at the end. I'm not vegan but will take this over cream any day

Contender for the best first line in early modern poetry?? 'Silly buzzing wanton elf'

Current mood

Cicciolo ("Porky," more or less), the embodiment of Carnival. He's supposed to be burned down by the water but the 30 km winds have granted him clemency. The city council is probably psyched that they won't have to pay for another one next year

I have a foreign accent in Italian and it's part of my identity. What I do wish I could get rid of is the tendency to make slight grammatical errors - and not because I don't know they're errors, I hear them the second I say them. It's depressing to know I'll always do that in my everyday language

Today’s entry in Shit LLMs Can’t Do: track down dialect word in one-panel 1980s cartoon with no context, which scholar had glossed wrong because she is scholar not translator, turns out it means “orange,” turns out to be reference to Osho. Not literary translation, not job about dialect or Osho

The only kind of surveillance state I'm cool with

What

People tend to say that becoming a parent makes you see all babies as your babies. But really it's growing up, and being a fucking human being, that makes you see all babies as your babies. Most of the pieces of shit who are doing this are parents, and this I cannot fathom

I don't think I'm Australian and I don't think I've watched a football match since the 2006 World Cup, but then there's always a big gap between self-perception and reality

Organizers have collected 14 lotion bottles, two deodorant bottles, and one AA Battery that detainees have thrown over the fences with notes attached to them. The full story: lataco.com/captive-loti... By Aisha Wallace-Palomares

This inexorable tightening of persecution is so much like what Klemperer describes in the first part of his diary. Move to the outside of the tram. Wait, no more tram. Euthanize your cat. It's not the banality of evil, it's the horrific, bullying pettiness of evil.

The book I finally finished translating about the Houses of Catechumens was interesting, but I swear to God I never want to type that particular c-word again. Especially because I had to use it in both English and Italian and only the former has an h and after 200 pages I still couldn't get it right

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to translate anything as poorly written as the article I’m working on now. Jesus, it’s so much easier to translate good prose, even very complex or experimental good prose. And it’s so hard to translate a bundle of sow’s ears even when you’re not aiming for silk

Se qualcuno che mi legge conosce bene la Spagna: perché la sinistra lì sembra messa così meglio di quella italiana? I paesi sono simili per demografia, immigrazione, cultura... la dittatura era più recente, ok. E qui, Berlusconi. Ma sta tutto lì? O mi sembra che vada meglio solo perché non ci vivo?

While of course I’m unhappy about ICE coming to Italy, at least they won’t be on the streets. Unlike the armored cars and 104 agents sent by freaking Qatar, which isn’t even in the games. It’s not the US being intrusive, it’s that Meloni loves her some cops and wants all the latest cool cop stuff

Apropos of nothing: I recently read Körmendi's 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪 𝘬𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥⁣ in Italian (ffs, Wikipedia article that clearly draws on terrible foreword to 1978 Italian edition... no, he's not at all like Moravia, whom I loathe!) and it's a real shame that it's unavailable in English. Someone please do this

Hell yes, the US is all about greed and violence, none of this is new, I left decades ago and don't miss it. It's also all about multiculturalism and hope, and I miss the fuck out of it. This is true and that is also true. Nothing's "un-American," but the US can decide what it wants to be *more*.

As Minnesota kicks off its day of freedom from ICE, my piece on how the state's movements built power to be ready for this moment, and the closest thing to a real general strike in maybe a century newrepublic.com/article/2053...

Yes, but someone please stop me, because now that I live by the sea I'm up to 3-4 rocks a week and my apartment is only so big

Reporting from Minneapolis, Assigned's own @alyssaur.bsky.social with a powerful piece. She writes of the fear of living in a city under seige, of how Renee Good's queerness is being downplayed in legacy media, and of how the queer and trans people are rising up despite the terror.

I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.

imagine being the guy who accidentally said "weasel" at a weird time 2400 years ago

Hi everyone, If you are a literary translator, please fill our survey ! It only takes a few minutes and we need your feedback to get a clearer picture 😊 www.ceatl.eu/ceatls-ai-su...

If you are in Seattle, please go patronize this store because this is amazing content/promo 😂 (laughing to keep from crying, and I do kind of low-key want that orange spider plant I have never seen that before) Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DTQrTqZ...

I think they posted it not so much for the phone fumbling but to stress the couple's *visible* queerness and jocular pushback that's still pushback. To say 1) not average white mom but Other and 2) sass a cop you have it coming. Things many people who know deep down he wasn't afraid still believe

Had to replace the oven and my new one apparently has AI features. I look forward to it giving me extra fish fingers, advising me on oven-related suicide methods, and saying “Great observation, thanks! That pizza does look burnt, I set myself too high. Let's try another 20 min at 200° C."

Goddamn this is a good read: “Free movement is a fantastic thing, and we should say it.”

Theater Professors 1 - Nazis/Cowards 0 (that's 500k, by the way, not the 50k in the headline)

The Niarchos Foundation NYE party in Athens. Gorgeous Renzo Piano building. Fireworks. Cheesy but fun music. Free shuttles till 2. Free bubbly and cake in the vast library. Happy folks of all ages. Lovely, possible things that shouldn’t depend on the philanthropy of oil (or tech, or drug) barons

The window just across from my hotel room in Athens had about one meter of built space behind it (the plants belong to another building's terrace). Logic told me it was the result of some strange demolition, but I kept waiting, fearfully, for a light to appear behind the shade at night

Hey guys - as someone who developed pretty severe epilepsy in the last few years, this means a lot to me. When I had my seizure at CVS, they thought I was OD’ing and were about to give me narcan when I “woke up” It’s so important to know what to do 💜

Translators: have you ever found yourselves making bizarre phonetic spelling mistakes (won>one), as if you were taking dictation? I’ve done this pretty much forever, but *only* when I’m translating, and usually in my quick first drafts. Otherwise I tend to be an excellent speller.

Ieri sera ho ritirato delle stampe e della carta per mio marito docente alle medie. Costo: €53 di tasca sua. Ma una cazzo di fotocopiatrice a scuola, magari? Si può avere, nell'ottava economia mondiale? Ah no? Belle priorità davvero

Papyrus plants are supposedly safe for cats, but not if the cat eats something unwise and then tries to purge with papyrus and vomits and the sharp leaves get stuck behind her palate. The last few days have been awful for everyone involved. Luckily we've still got our micia. Not the papyrus, though.

For your collective delectation this holiday season: Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!) loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...

I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE CANVAS TOTE BAGS WITH ANYONE'S CUTE LOGO AAAGGH STOP WITH THE TOTE BAGS ALREADY

ProPublica spoke to about 150 people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. ➡️ This is what they wrote: https://propub.li/3MTlm33

"Machine translation would handle the heavy lifting, and we’d add the expert polish. Except the machine made a mess. And we’re doing expert-level cognitive labour to clean it up for cleaning wages. We’re not mops. We’re translators." #translation #xl8 www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-l...

Time again for my favorite christmas post ever, one that still makes me laugh every time i read it

Just finished a 434-line poem in ABBAAB and feeling very proud‒which is much needed because I've been glum about translation lately. This means I'm halfway through the book and will need sets of three rhyming words only in one much shorter poem. Two now feels like half the weights are off the bar

Presepe is up

Wasn’t planning on celebrating because I rarely do, been out of the country for 27 years, holiday makes me sad, also said country makes me sad. But just *happened* to buy a little piece of turkey and am making some cream of turkey soup with little herby dumplings. Stealth thankfulness, I guess