always fun to see how the belief that gender is inborn and immutable can coexist in the same mind with the belief that having an opinion about paint colors makes you a girl

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · 6d ago

Accidentally read the comments on a Facebook post, please keep me in your thoughts

Accidentally read the comments on a Facebook post, please keep me in your thoughts

Had 3 different random strangers yell “Shanah tovah!” at me while walking to shul over the weekend, which is a nice change from what I usually expect strangers to yell at me.

Are you still changing? Well, it’s past time to start stopping.

Are you still changing? Well, it’s past time to start stopping.

Dima celebrating Rosh Hashanah by napping on top of not just one, but two machzorim. Not quite sure how this is comfortable for him, but he is snoring loudly and drooling.

I wish my cat could understand that if he trips me and I die, it will actually take him longer to get fed.

My instagram feed is determined to show me videos of people demonstrating an alarming lack of geographical knowledge and I don’t understand people who just go through life not knowing where anything is.

Rosh Hashanah in 2026 begins at sunset on 11th September. Here is the initial-word panel for 'Melekh Amon' (Steadfast King). Bodleian Library MS. Michael 619; Maḥzor for the High Holidays, Western Ashkenazi rite (Tripartite Maḥzor, vol 3); 1320–1330 CE; f.53r @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Just had a flashback to school and people calling them “tenny runners”

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · 2w ago

But I also grew up saying “tennis shoes” (or tenni-shoes, really) and now I say “sneakers” but I don’t think it’s because I lived in a “sneaker” region.

Like, now as an adult, I say soda, but I grew up saying pop, and I know when that changed because it was a conscious decision. You can’t be out there running around San Francisco for a decade saying “pop.” It just won’t do.

Just had a flashback to school and people calling them “tenny runners”

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · 2w ago

But I also grew up saying “tennis shoes” (or tenni-shoes, really) and now I say “sneakers” but I don’t think it’s because I lived in a “sneaker” region.

It’d be cool to have a diachronic version of this—I used to say x, but now I say y—and figure out which shifts are a result of moving to a different region and which are a result of language change

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · 2w ago

So I did the dialect quiz thingy and hmm… not sure I appreciate feeling this seen.

So I did the dialect quiz thingy and hmm… not sure I appreciate feeling this seen.

I put the word “further” in the search bar because I was going to look it up on wiktionary and Google’s AI confidently told me “You are thinking of the classic 1984 R&B/soul song "Don't Look Any Further" by Dennis Edwards featuring Siedah Garrett” and no, Google, I don’t think I am.

I had a dream that I was trying to organize a seminar on “Tantric Talmud” and I would very much like to not think any more about what that would be

Had a ticket to see PJ Harvey at La Luna in Portland, felt under the weather and didn’t go, still mad at myself decades later.

John Moe@johnmoe.bsky.social · 3w ago

How about this? Best concerts that you ALMOST got to see but DIDN’T. Include reasons if you like: Rolling Stones (play rehearsal) Johnny Cash (I dallied) R.E.M. (play performance) Nirvana (canceled, college declined to pay requested $500 appearance fee)

Had a ticket to see PJ Harvey at La Luna in Portland, felt under the weather and didn’t go, still mad at myself decades later.

John Moe@johnmoe.bsky.social · 3w ago

How about this? Best concerts that you ALMOST got to see but DIDN’T. Include reasons if you like: Rolling Stones (play rehearsal) Johnny Cash (I dallied) R.E.M. (play performance) Nirvana (canceled, college declined to pay requested $500 appearance fee)

From the same verse in Paradise Lost, I also learned the excellent word “gonfalon” which is the name for those banners that hang from a horizontal cross-bar attached to a vertical pole. Who knew?

From the same verse in Paradise Lost, I also learned the excellent word “gonfalon” which is the name for those banners that hang from a horizontal cross-bar attached to a vertical pole. Who knew?

This revelation inspired by reading Paradise Lost and seeing “van” used on its own (“twixt Van and Reare”) and wondering if van is just a clipping of vanguard or if it was a meaningful morpheme on its own. Clipping, it turns out.

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · 4w ago

The fun thing about language is that you can speak it your whole life and think you’re good at it and then suddenly realize something so obvious that you should have figured it out decades ago. Like me just now realizing that “vanguard” is just “avante-garde” filtered through Middle English.

Hey Portland, go outside and look at the moon. Right now. It’s doing weird stuff.

The fun thing about language is that you can speak it your whole life and think you’re good at it and then suddenly realize something so obvious that you should have figured it out decades ago. Like me just now realizing that “vanguard” is just “avante-garde” filtered through Middle English.

So now you’ve missed the shofar workshop (noisy!) and the Song of Songs class (spicy!) and the Cheshbon haNefesh session (featuring a surprising amount of Benjamin Franklin!). Don’t miss out on the Music of the High Holidays this Saturday, 2 pm. Singing! Snacks!

E.J. Pryor@ejpryor.bsky.social · last mo.

I don’t know that I have many local followers, but in case you’re in PDX and interested, I’ve been working on this series of classes for Elul. They’re free and open to all. Register at www.shirtikvahpdx.org/adultlearning

Maybe it’s lack of sleep, but I struggled with this headline. Several garden paths were taken.

Maybe it’s lack of sleep, but I struggled with this headline. Several garden paths were taken.

This shrine showed up in the lobby of my building within an hour of the news breaking

I’m going to start calling my white Yom Kippur outfit my cloud-colored festival attire

Dr. Nick Posegay@nposegay.northsky.social · 4w ago

OTHER STUFF SHE HAD: 2 peacock pins (18 dinars) Amber bowl w/gold rim (5) Equipment for bloodletting (2) Cloud-colored festival attire (50) Green robe w/gold thread (5) Blue brocade handbag (20) Bedspreads and sofas (198) Copperware (200) 4 enslaved servants named ‘Izz, Dalal, Nusa, and Wafa (100)

This is a 12th-century list of property that a fabulously wealthy Egyptian Jewish woman is bringing into her marriage (and what she's owed in case of divorce). Items include a gold tiara (80 dinars), a crystal rooster (4 dinars), a Chinese pen set (13 dinars), and 250(!) dinars' worth of books.

I’m going to start calling my white Yom Kippur outfit my cloud-colored festival attire

Dr. Nick Posegay@nposegay.northsky.social · 4w ago

OTHER STUFF SHE HAD: 2 peacock pins (18 dinars) Amber bowl w/gold rim (5) Equipment for bloodletting (2) Cloud-colored festival attire (50) Green robe w/gold thread (5) Blue brocade handbag (20) Bedspreads and sofas (198) Copperware (200) 4 enslaved servants named ‘Izz, Dalal, Nusa, and Wafa (100)