Food for thought.

[songbird_slayer]

Sender: Madhuri Qalli
To: Everyone
Subject: Language is strange!


I was writing up menu ideas for next month and a thought occurred:

Should I list hot dogs under 'sandwiches', and a bowl of cereal under 'soup'?

Comments

[nomoresharks]

It's not nearly as exciting as this, I must warn, but whenever it is brought up it always seems to lead to a lengthy argument: one in favor of square-shaped grapes for easy storage, another in favor of rounded ones for aesthetics. I'm always surprised at how heated people can become over the smallest things.

As to porridge, I can see that, but I wonder if such a category would be fitting for a particularly thick sort. I've no idea why anyone would choose to do so, but if it is thick enough that one could conceivably spread it across bread, could the porridge be considered a jam?

[songbird_slayer]

Porridge would absolutely be considered a jam! That's brilliant. See, I knew you're a good bean.

I might be in the square grape camp, if only because I've never seen them and while tasty, a bunch of round shapes can get a little dull. Nobody in the wheelhouse for grapes in the shape of our old, daring friend the triangle?

[nomoresharks]

A few, mayhap, but not in a groups large enough to pose a threat to those who have pledged their allegiance to the squared or rounded versions.

That or they're significantly less inclined to argue about it in the lobby of my workplace, in which case I'll happily join them in whatever cause they please.

[songbird_slayer]

The underdog grape-angle enthusiasts. I love it.

I must say, I've only heard bits and bobs about your people's line of work. What did you do for a living, if I might ask?

[nomoresharks]

Chief of the Bureau of the Architect: the office in charge of registering submitted concepts for approval, revision, or denial. I would say that I have the last word as Chief, but that isn't quite the case across the board.

That said, I do have some say as to whether or not any living beings or arcane entities meant to be released into the wider world are passed along to their final testing grounds in Elpis.

[songbird_slayer]

Oooh, Emet mentioned the Bureau! He said he didn't need a thousand revisions to get his concepts through. Truly a perfectionist, isn't he?

But what's a really, truly bizarre concept? What passed into your hands and you thought, "But why though?"

[nomoresharks]

Absolutely. Though I will say that the creations he does submit have been nothing short of stellar as a result.

[And though he'd never, ever tell Emet-Selch this, Hythlodaeus has waved a few on through even with a couple flaws just because he found them charming. Something Emet-Selch himself may find irresponsible, perhaps, but he would never have approved them to begin with if he considered them subpar.]

What concept indeed? Truth be told, there are far too many to count, but if I were to pick something recent, I would have to choose the shark with tentacles. Some combination of shark and octopus, with little regard as to why it should have all those limb, how it would interact with its environment, and so and so forth. It was clear it was made solely to capitalize on the current fashion.

'Tis a shame both paperwork and concept crystal ended up lost, but accidents do happen.

[songbird_slayer]

Please tell me they called it the Sharktopus.

[nomoresharks]

'Twas the only thing I found passable.

[songbird_slayer]

Naturally. I would have failed it if they didn't name it something along those lines.

But trends, though... like clothing trends? People just found tentacles to be "the style" at some point? What else were there?

[nomoresharks]

Exactly, though in this case, the subject is sharks, rather than tentacles. Prior to that, there were horses, creatures with multiple limbs... And, of course, ambulatory and/or carnivorous plants are always in fashion, ever since the first Halmarut wanted something that could protect his garden.

Some fashions, you can imagine, were and are much better than others. I quite enjoyed the trend of making creatures that look like inanimate objects, for example, even if it was a rather short-lived one.

[songbird_slayer]

Oh no. Who do I have to thank for mimics...?