Arseny
@elstersen.bsky.social
Symbols, myths, anthropology, art, linguistics, history. This is a notebook of TILs: things I wish I could learn more about!
he/him. For my daytime alter-ego, see @khakhalin.bsky.social
Support Ukraine! 🇺🇦
he/him. For my daytime alter-ego, see @khakhalin.bsky.social
Support Ukraine! 🇺🇦
Reposted by Arseny
Sometimes, when I feel like linguistically confusing my fellow German citizens, I explain to them that not only does my wife's or my daughter's name have a different ending (Bartkowski vs Bartkowska); as a family, we are Bartkowscy, but the women on their own are Bartkowskie🤡
November 28, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Sometimes, when I feel like linguistically confusing my fellow German citizens, I explain to them that not only does my wife's or my daughter's name have a different ending (Bartkowski vs Bartkowska); as a family, we are Bartkowscy, but the women on their own are Bartkowskie🤡
Reposted by Arseny
‘We’re a bit jealous of Kneecap’: how Europe’s minority tongues are facing the digital future | Stephen Burgen
‘We’re a bit jealous of Kneecap’: how Europe’s minority tongues are facing the digital future | Stephen Burgen
What does it mean to lose a language, and what does it take to save it? Those were the big questions being asked in Barcelona recently, says freelance writer Stephen Burgen
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:52 AM
‘We’re a bit jealous of Kneecap’: how Europe’s minority tongues are facing the digital future | Stephen Burgen
secret home masses in 2025 america were not on my bingo card, that's for sure
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
secret home masses in 2025 america were not on my bingo card, that's for sure
My kid puzzled me with some theology:
I don't think Santa is real, coz he is supposedly good, but Zarema (a classmate) never gets presents for Xmas, despite being very nice. Surely if Santa were real, he'd found a way to sneak her presents. An unjust Santa doesn't make sense. Ergo he's not real.
I don't think Santa is real, coz he is supposedly good, but Zarema (a classmate) never gets presents for Xmas, despite being very nice. Surely if Santa were real, he'd found a way to sneak her presents. An unjust Santa doesn't make sense. Ergo he's not real.
November 24, 2025 at 8:29 AM
My kid puzzled me with some theology:
I don't think Santa is real, coz he is supposedly good, but Zarema (a classmate) never gets presents for Xmas, despite being very nice. Surely if Santa were real, he'd found a way to sneak her presents. An unjust Santa doesn't make sense. Ergo he's not real.
I don't think Santa is real, coz he is supposedly good, but Zarema (a classmate) never gets presents for Xmas, despite being very nice. Surely if Santa were real, he'd found a way to sneak her presents. An unjust Santa doesn't make sense. Ergo he's not real.
The parallel internets.
For every monument in Artsakh (a former part of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan) there are entries on both pro-Armenian and pro-Azeibaijani sites, with opposite claims, in every little aspect.
Say, Tsitsernavank Monastery:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsitser...
1/3
For every monument in Artsakh (a former part of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan) there are entries on both pro-Armenian and pro-Azeibaijani sites, with opposite claims, in every little aspect.
Say, Tsitsernavank Monastery:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsitser...
1/3
Tsitsernavank Monastery - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:54 PM
The parallel internets.
For every monument in Artsakh (a former part of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan) there are entries on both pro-Armenian and pro-Azeibaijani sites, with opposite claims, in every little aspect.
Say, Tsitsernavank Monastery:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsitser...
1/3
For every monument in Artsakh (a former part of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan) there are entries on both pro-Armenian and pro-Azeibaijani sites, with opposite claims, in every little aspect.
Say, Tsitsernavank Monastery:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsitser...
1/3
Reposted by Arseny
🏺🗃️ Thinking back to my Italy trip a year ago, here are some of the most beautiful works I saw in the Naples museum: rare paintings on marble from Herculaneum & Pompeii, their colours faded, yet with a delicacy that recalls Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
November 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
🏺🗃️ Thinking back to my Italy trip a year ago, here are some of the most beautiful works I saw in the Naples museum: rare paintings on marble from Herculaneum & Pompeii, their colours faded, yet with a delicacy that recalls Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Maps like that really give me an itch for learning some smaller language... If only I had the time, gosh. So many fun alternative realities here!!.
Urgent question to the linguists: as a Bavarian today, would I be able to understand a Bavarian time traveler from 1815?! How many of these dialects would still be comprehensible by the current population?
November 21, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Maps like that really give me an itch for learning some smaller language... If only I had the time, gosh. So many fun alternative realities here!!.
til A quarter of teachers in Kyiv still teach in russian!
I don't think languages can be "evil", but right now russian medium is poisoned. By the government, by censorship, by "deafening silence". It's a useful language to know, but it's a dangerous choice to make it your child's main language.
I don't think languages can be "evil", but right now russian medium is poisoned. By the government, by censorship, by "deafening silence". It's a useful language to know, but it's a dangerous choice to make it your child's main language.
"I can no longer see the Russian language as neutral during the full-scale war in this climate of constant threat. It is a weapon of soft power, an advance guard of influence that moves in long before their tanks," writes Kate Tsurkan, a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, in this op-ed.
Why I won’t encourage my Ukrainian child to speak Russian
As a foreigner in Ukraine, I often hesitate to speak on certain social issues. Despite living here for nearly a decade, I know that my American upbringing still limits how deeply I can feel what my Uk...
kyivindependent.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM
til A quarter of teachers in Kyiv still teach in russian!
I don't think languages can be "evil", but right now russian medium is poisoned. By the government, by censorship, by "deafening silence". It's a useful language to know, but it's a dangerous choice to make it your child's main language.
I don't think languages can be "evil", but right now russian medium is poisoned. By the government, by censorship, by "deafening silence". It's a useful language to know, but it's a dangerous choice to make it your child's main language.
Never thought of it! In games like Skyrim or Fallout, with dialogues and gender flexible main character design, you can't use past tense in Slavic languages! You have to translate dialogues avoiding first person past tense as it is configured by gender!
it's very hard to do in Polish but not impossible, I had to do it when I used to translate video games like Fallout 2, where you can choose the gender of player character but we had to match English lines 1:1.
November 16, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Never thought of it! In games like Skyrim or Fallout, with dialogues and gender flexible main character design, you can't use past tense in Slavic languages! You have to translate dialogues avoiding first person past tense as it is configured by gender!
Reposted by Arseny
I had the honor of making this painting for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
November 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I had the honor of making this painting for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
Reposted by Arseny
The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.
November 16, 2025 at 7:04 AM
The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.
Reposted by Arseny
Keep thinking of something I read somewhere recently. During part of the relaxing of the anti-Jewish laws in late modern Germany there was a time when Jews were allowed to carry swords, but only on the right hand side (presumably to make it much harder for most people to draw them.)
November 16, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Keep thinking of something I read somewhere recently. During part of the relaxing of the anti-Jewish laws in late modern Germany there was a time when Jews were allowed to carry swords, but only on the right hand side (presumably to make it much harder for most people to draw them.)
Today for the first time instead of Patak curry I bought Ashoka curry, and it's entirely different! Not better or worse, just very different. Opens a world of possibilities!
November 15, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Today for the first time instead of Patak curry I bought Ashoka curry, and it's entirely different! Not better or worse, just very different. Opens a world of possibilities!
Reposted by Arseny
Why would only people called WRMZ get one-word grave stones?
Some of the WRMZ stelae are found in an unambiguously funerary context, so it must mean something that makes sense in such a context (thus probably not sth like “Border” or “No trespassing” or “Stone for Sale!”)
So what is going on??? 🤷
Some of the WRMZ stelae are found in an unambiguously funerary context, so it must mean something that makes sense in such a context (thus probably not sth like “Border” or “No trespassing” or “Stone for Sale!”)
So what is going on??? 🤷
November 15, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Why would only people called WRMZ get one-word grave stones?
Some of the WRMZ stelae are found in an unambiguously funerary context, so it must mean something that makes sense in such a context (thus probably not sth like “Border” or “No trespassing” or “Stone for Sale!”)
So what is going on??? 🤷
Some of the WRMZ stelae are found in an unambiguously funerary context, so it must mean something that makes sense in such a context (thus probably not sth like “Border” or “No trespassing” or “Stone for Sale!”)
So what is going on??? 🤷
Reposted by Arseny
Fragmentary wall painting depicting Nubians and an angel sailing a boat
10th/11th century
Naga el-Scheima, Sayala, Noubadia
-Kunsthistorisches Museum
#randomxt
10th/11th century
Naga el-Scheima, Sayala, Noubadia
-Kunsthistorisches Museum
#randomxt
November 7, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Fragmentary wall painting depicting Nubians and an angel sailing a boat
10th/11th century
Naga el-Scheima, Sayala, Noubadia
-Kunsthistorisches Museum
#randomxt
10th/11th century
Naga el-Scheima, Sayala, Noubadia
-Kunsthistorisches Museum
#randomxt
My most woke opinion is that if Fabian, Cassian and Damian are legit male names, Lesbian should be a male name too
November 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM
My most woke opinion is that if Fabian, Cassian and Damian are legit male names, Lesbian should be a male name too
Reposted by Arseny
An eye-opener til for me was to realize WHAT mixtures people use in private as "languages". In Berlin you an hear languages with tons of russian nouns and zero RU grammar/verbs (some dialects of Ingush or Chechen?), but also those with RU grammar & expletives but zero RU nouns (Roma dialects)
1/2
1/2
I just overheard someone speaking French but all exclamations and interjections were English and all question words Levantine Arabic
November 14, 2025 at 9:10 AM
An eye-opener til for me was to realize WHAT mixtures people use in private as "languages". In Berlin you an hear languages with tons of russian nouns and zero RU grammar/verbs (some dialects of Ingush or Chechen?), but also those with RU grammar & expletives but zero RU nouns (Roma dialects)
1/2
1/2
The "Flashed face illusion" in the beginning is a bit distracting (Never Ever switch faces quickly in a video, here's why: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashed... )
but the message is excellent! I'm so happy for this pushback.
but the message is excellent! I'm so happy for this pushback.
Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops
November 14, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The "Flashed face illusion" in the beginning is a bit distracting (Never Ever switch faces quickly in a video, here's why: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashed... )
but the message is excellent! I'm so happy for this pushback.
but the message is excellent! I'm so happy for this pushback.
the Bible (US version haha) in emojis. Test your memory / pattern recognition abilities!
🌍✨👫🍎🐍💔🚪🌧️🌈🌞🌙⭐👴👦🐏⛰️🔥📜🕊️🏺👑🎵💔🏛️⚔️👑😔🏕️🦁🔥🏠🕍⛓️😭🕊️🌸👶⭐🐂🐑👣💧🍞🍷💔🌳⚰️🌅🔥🌬️🌍👑💫
November 14, 2025 at 8:16 AM
the Bible (US version haha) in emojis. Test your memory / pattern recognition abilities!
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), who should be famous for her landscapes of Buck County, Pennsylvania.
November 13, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Fern Isabel Coppedge (1883-1951), who should be famous for her landscapes of Buck County, Pennsylvania.
The problem with religion as a type of escapism is that many of them are deeply human-centric, and invite you to somehow care about the very people you are trying to escape from
November 13, 2025 at 8:05 AM
The problem with religion as a type of escapism is that many of them are deeply human-centric, and invite you to somehow care about the very people you are trying to escape from
Absolutely bizarre facets to every event in this life. One would have thought that after right-wing, progressives, Dem establishment, nationalists, and Jewish people, you basically exhaust the range of possible opinions about Mamdani. Oh well. Not nearly.
Hindu nationalists wield less power in NYC today versus six months ago.
If you are a Hindu American and frustrated -- even irate -- about Hindu nationalists taking your identity in vain and pushing far-right hate, here are your people and playbook --
scroll.in/article/1088...
If you are a Hindu American and frustrated -- even irate -- about Hindu nationalists taking your identity in vain and pushing far-right hate, here are your people and playbook --
scroll.in/article/1088...
How ‘Hindus for Zohran’ pushed back against Hindutva claims in New York mayoral race
The Muslim candidate of South Asian origin faced hostility because he called out the political motivations behind the Gujarat riots.
scroll.in
November 12, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Absolutely bizarre facets to every event in this life. One would have thought that after right-wing, progressives, Dem establishment, nationalists, and Jewish people, you basically exhaust the range of possible opinions about Mamdani. Oh well. Not nearly.
Reposted by Arseny
Dutch avant-garde painter
Jacoba Heemskerck van Beest, Komposition, 1912 #womensart
Jacoba Heemskerck van Beest, Komposition, 1912 #womensart
November 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Dutch avant-garde painter
Jacoba Heemskerck van Beest, Komposition, 1912 #womensart
Jacoba Heemskerck van Beest, Komposition, 1912 #womensart
I used to jam a lot with Old Believers, where beards are prescribed: kinda the opposite of mormonism. No beard = godlessness. But also, because of this obsession with beards, I remember reading a lot about beards in old armies, where they were oft a sign of rank, only allowed to higher ranks...
Hegseth: "We don't need to be a military of beardos anymore. Do you know how many troops claim to be Nordic Pagan? No, suddenly it's become this real fake religious affiliation inside the Pentagon where troops came to be Nordic Pagan so they can grow a beard and nobody challenges them on it."
November 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM
I used to jam a lot with Old Believers, where beards are prescribed: kinda the opposite of mormonism. No beard = godlessness. But also, because of this obsession with beards, I remember reading a lot about beards in old armies, where they were oft a sign of rank, only allowed to higher ranks...