Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not fucking blue.
I have been waiting for this post all my life.
They are indeed purple, But one thing you’ve missed: The concept of “purple” Didn’t always exist.
Some cultures lack names For a color, you see. Hence good old Homer And his “wine-dark sea.”
A usage so quaint, A phrasing so old, For verses of romance Is sheer fucking gold.
So roses are red. Violets once were called blue. I’m hugely pedantic But what else is new?
My friend you’re not wrong
About Homer’s wine-ey sea!
Colours are a matter
Of cultural contingency;
Words are in flux
And meanings they drift
But the word purple
You’ve given short shrift.
The concept of purple,
My friends, is old
And refers to a pigment
once precious as gold.
By crushing up molluscs
From the wine-dark sea
You make a dye:
Imperial decree
Meant that in Rome,
to wear purpura
was a privilege reserved
For only the emperor!
The word ‘purple’,
for clothes so fancy,
Entered English
By the ninth century
.
Why then are voilets
Not purple in song?
The dye from this mollusc,
known for so long
Is almost magenta;
More red than blue.
The concept of purple
is old, and yet new.
The dye is red,
So this might be true:
Roses are purple
And violets are blue
.
While this song makes me merry, Tyrian purple dyes many a hue From magenta to berry And a true purple too.
But fun as it is to watch this poetic race The answer is staring you right in the face: Roses are red and violets are blue Because nothing fucking rhymes with purple.
Hirple – To limp or walk awkwardly
Cirple – An old Scots word for the hindquarters of a horse
honestly, guys, thor and loki have been told all their lives that they are equals, but there’s no point in saying “you kids are equal” when all of your behaviour exhbits the contrary.
of course thor thinks loki’s “place” is beneath him. of course he assumes the worst of him – that’s what he’s learned to do, all his life, from odin. of course he doesn’t know how to communicate with his brother, or ask questions about his feelings – where would he learn that behaviour? who would teach him? of course he’s arrogant: he grew up knowing he would be king, and being told it was his right.
of course loki feels trapped on asgard. of course he wants to show up the hypocrisy that surrounds him. of course he wants to be seen, at the most basic level, as a person of equal value to his brother, who he’s been told all his life he is equal to, and who has been shown all his life he is not. of course he’s terrified to be revealed as a jotunn, when he is already plagued by a sense of inexplicable rejection. of course he’s scared, and of course he lies. how can you do anything but lie, when everybody around you does nothing but lie to you?
healthy, stable relationships with strong communication do not, in fact, just spring from the ether, ready-formed. if you have been taught your whole life to act a certain way, and have no conception of an alternative, it’s going to be impossible for you to break out of it until somebody else, outside that cycle, points it out to you – whether sb close to you, or whether you read like, an article or hear a radio snippet about building good relationships.
thor and loki exist with a big chasm between them, and they both want a bridge, but neither of them have the tools to build it. these things are not instinctive! they are hard!
Loki is the Philosopher King 