/nəˈθænjəl/
@nathanielbdemiller.bsky.social
Arabophone guinea pig in Colorado with a PhD who works on automatic speech recognition. Translating Arabic proverbs at https://bsky.app/profile/arabicproverbs.bsky.social
I got to look at a language I like for work for a change!
February 6, 2026 at 11:03 PM
I got to look at a language I like for work for a change!
Repost with a photo of yours that would make a good album cover.
The Guinea Pigs' first self-titled album
The Guinea Pigs' first self-titled album
February 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Repost with a photo of yours that would make a good album cover.
The Guinea Pigs' first self-titled album
The Guinea Pigs' first self-titled album
If you could visit any planet or moon in the solar system, which one would it be?
February 6, 2026 at 4:20 AM
If you could visit any planet or moon in the solar system, which one would it be?
Pretty much everything on the Internet just drains me. It's not even the rage bait I'm just disappointed and tired. The world is full of spoiled children who've grown up and run everything and there's no place for a complete line of thought anywhere.
February 6, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Pretty much everything on the Internet just drains me. It's not even the rage bait I'm just disappointed and tired. The world is full of spoiled children who've grown up and run everything and there's no place for a complete line of thought anywhere.
LinkedIn is an advertisement for communism
February 5, 2026 at 11:51 PM
LinkedIn is an advertisement for communism
Egyptian Arabic proverb of the day:
"It's tiring to look up."
اللي يبص لفوق يتعب
illī yibuṣṣ li-fōʾ yitʿab
If you constantly compare your life to those who have more than you, you will live in a state of perpetual exhaustion and dissatisfaction.
"It's tiring to look up."
اللي يبص لفوق يتعب
illī yibuṣṣ li-fōʾ yitʿab
If you constantly compare your life to those who have more than you, you will live in a state of perpetual exhaustion and dissatisfaction.
February 5, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Egyptian Arabic proverb of the day:
"It's tiring to look up."
اللي يبص لفوق يتعب
illī yibuṣṣ li-fōʾ yitʿab
If you constantly compare your life to those who have more than you, you will live in a state of perpetual exhaustion and dissatisfaction.
"It's tiring to look up."
اللي يبص لفوق يتعب
illī yibuṣṣ li-fōʾ yitʿab
If you constantly compare your life to those who have more than you, you will live in a state of perpetual exhaustion and dissatisfaction.
This proverb, "how close together are his mouth and his anus" = "how short is he" actually makes use of a number of interesting syntactical and morphological features.
Let's start with mā al-taʿajjubiyya, the "mā of astonishment", used here in mā aqraba, "how close together ..."
Let's start with mā al-taʿajjubiyya, the "mā of astonishment", used here in mā aqraba, "how close together ..."
and finally,
مفسی
/mafsan/
"anus," citing the proverb
ما اقرب محساه من مفساه
which he tr. "How near is his mouth to his anus!" explained as "expressive of wonder at a man's shortness" (for محسی cf. حسا /ḥasā/ "sip, slurp")
مفسی
/mafsan/
"anus," citing the proverb
ما اقرب محساه من مفساه
which he tr. "How near is his mouth to his anus!" explained as "expressive of wonder at a man's shortness" (for محسی cf. حسا /ḥasā/ "sip, slurp")
February 5, 2026 at 7:06 PM
This proverb, "how close together are his mouth and his anus" = "how short is he" actually makes use of a number of interesting syntactical and morphological features.
Let's start with mā al-taʿajjubiyya, the "mā of astonishment", used here in mā aqraba, "how close together ..."
Let's start with mā al-taʿajjubiyya, the "mā of astonishment", used here in mā aqraba, "how close together ..."
The classical/modern Arabic word for a "critic," as in a literary critic, derives originally from this word nāqid, an expert assayer of coinage.
A few lines above this proverb is one that illustrates the smallness of a greedy person, so I’d like to think that it describes someone who neither overvalues nor undervalues money:
February 5, 2026 at 5:06 AM
The classical/modern Arabic word for a "critic," as in a literary critic, derives originally from this word nāqid, an expert assayer of coinage.
We spent
so many nights,
so many times
that intimacy
made us forget
the pleasure of sleep.
Words sweeter
in our hearts
than attained dreams
and tenderer
than the passing breeze.
— Bahāʾ ad-Dīn Zuhayr (Iraq, Syria, Egypt, d. 1258)
so many nights,
so many times
that intimacy
made us forget
the pleasure of sleep.
Words sweeter
in our hearts
than attained dreams
and tenderer
than the passing breeze.
— Bahāʾ ad-Dīn Zuhayr (Iraq, Syria, Egypt, d. 1258)
February 5, 2026 at 2:25 AM
We spent
so many nights,
so many times
that intimacy
made us forget
the pleasure of sleep.
Words sweeter
in our hearts
than attained dreams
and tenderer
than the passing breeze.
— Bahāʾ ad-Dīn Zuhayr (Iraq, Syria, Egypt, d. 1258)
so many nights,
so many times
that intimacy
made us forget
the pleasure of sleep.
Words sweeter
in our hearts
than attained dreams
and tenderer
than the passing breeze.
— Bahāʾ ad-Dīn Zuhayr (Iraq, Syria, Egypt, d. 1258)
I need to reread "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."
February 5, 2026 at 1:45 AM
I need to reread "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."
🎶
I'm trying to make a living
I can't save a cent
It takes all of my money
Just to eat and pay my rent
I got the blues
Got those inflation blues
I'm trying to make a living
I can't save a cent
It takes all of my money
Just to eat and pay my rent
I got the blues
Got those inflation blues
B.B. King - Inflation Blues
YouTube video by Mr Compose
youtu.be
February 4, 2026 at 6:18 PM
🎶
I'm trying to make a living
I can't save a cent
It takes all of my money
Just to eat and pay my rent
I got the blues
Got those inflation blues
I'm trying to make a living
I can't save a cent
It takes all of my money
Just to eat and pay my rent
I got the blues
Got those inflation blues
Egyptian Arabic loan word of the day:
شيت
shayyit
"to chat" (e.g. على فيسبوك، على النت on Facebook, on the Internet)
شيت
shayyit
"to chat" (e.g. على فيسبوك، على النت on Facebook, on the Internet)
February 4, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Egyptian Arabic loan word of the day:
شيت
shayyit
"to chat" (e.g. على فيسبوك، على النت on Facebook, on the Internet)
شيت
shayyit
"to chat" (e.g. على فيسبوك، على النت on Facebook, on the Internet)
Python is British because it makes you put the comma outside the quotes
February 3, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Python is British because it makes you put the comma outside the quotes
Reposted by /nəˈθænjəl/
The people who entertained all of these insipid-to-evil exchanges have the positions that so many PhDs deserve and if you think about it too hard you can feel your head starting to collapse like a dying star…
Here is Jeffrey Epstein, a man who did not have a bachelors degree, letting the Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies know that researchers are doing music cognition wrong: “Heard is boring”
February 3, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The people who entertained all of these insipid-to-evil exchanges have the positions that so many PhDs deserve and if you think about it too hard you can feel your head starting to collapse like a dying star…
Alright, time to stop doomscrolling and weaponize my laptop to clean some data.
February 3, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Alright, time to stop doomscrolling and weaponize my laptop to clean some data.
I feel like "weaponize" basically just means "use" now
February 3, 2026 at 3:37 PM
I feel like "weaponize" basically just means "use" now
It's kind of hard to think of any respect in which the US is like Denmark tbh. I guess neither of us use the Euro.
The US isn't Denmark when it comes to vaccines, written by a scientist from Denmark @annalsofim.bsky.social
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
February 2, 2026 at 11:11 PM
It's kind of hard to think of any respect in which the US is like Denmark tbh. I guess neither of us use the Euro.
I call this one "Flight Delay"
February 2, 2026 at 10:25 PM
I call this one "Flight Delay"
My flight is delayed so this offer still stands for another 45 minutes 😭
I'm in an airport with two hours till my flight AMA
February 2, 2026 at 9:54 PM
My flight is delayed so this offer still stands for another 45 minutes 😭
I'm in an airport with two hours till my flight AMA
February 2, 2026 at 8:19 PM
I'm in an airport with two hours till my flight AMA
"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while"
"A broken clock is right twice a day "
Are there others/ others in other languages?
"A broken clock is right twice a day "
Are there others/ others in other languages?
No. 33
"Sometimes a liar tells the truth "
inna al-kadhūba qad yaṣduq
"Sometimes a liar tells the truth "
inna al-kadhūba qad yaṣduq
February 2, 2026 at 7:04 PM
"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while"
"A broken clock is right twice a day "
Are there others/ others in other languages?
"A broken clock is right twice a day "
Are there others/ others in other languages?
🌞
Hi! I'm back.
Posted in my absence:
Posted in my absence:
Who Smote Whom? The geography of Israelite Transjordan (IV)
Back by personal demand: the conclusion to last summer’s series on Gilead and Bashan (Part I, II, III). First of all, I’d like to draw your attention to an excellent pair of comments by…
bnuyaminim.wordpress.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:07 PM
🌞