Those tags where people write essays. I’m obsessed with those. They’re downright amazing linguistically!
I even proposed to do a research experiment on phrases, the juncture of syntax and semantics, and tumblr tags for my Computational Corpus Linguistics course. The teacher approved the project, but I ended up discarding it for a later time because of how difficult and involved the task would have been. There were too many problems to work out in the experiment and I realized I didn’t have enough time to do what I want.
The tags are intriguing for multiple reasons. They frankly make me run around like a chicken with his head cut off – except happier.
Syntax and Cognitive Science The tags show some very interesting things about phrasal structure. People divide up long sentences in tags during pauses. It’s unique “punctuation” and it says a lot for how people chunk thoughts, process them, and organize longer statements. It’s interesting where you see punctuation added or deleted; it helps you see cognitively how people are processing phrases.
Semantics The tags are full of very interesting expression techniques. One of the problems of written language has been that it lacks body language, which constitutes over half of our expression in conversation. It means that written language can be very easily misinterpreted for intent (think of how many texts get misinterpreted). But tumblrites and other social media savvy people have compensated and made written language HUGELY expressive. You see it in the tags. You see people use unique punctuation effects like deleting spaces, intentionally misspelling words, adding capitalization, and much more. There are emoticons, keyboard smashes, explosions of exclamation marks, and so many beautiful ways of expressing emotion. And people use lots of words in fascinating ways to get their thoughts across. It’s endless.
Diachronic Linguistics Historical linguistics is really cool. It’s about language change. Internet speech in tumblr has the latest, newest words and word units out there. You see so much beautiful language change happening. It’s how “Rickrolled” became a verb and “smol” grew its own set of recognized connotations. Word meanings change, take on new meanings, are filled with so much amazing sociolinguistic context. Abbreviations are made for fandom content. Abbreviations eventually become treated like real words, and then they take on new suffixes and become verbs and adjectives and nouns (”I lol’ed”). There are certain phonotactic paradigms English speakers subconsciously follow for creating new shipping names; I’ve even seen a linguistics paper on that topic. People are able to understand new terms they’ve never seen before; I’ve never heard of “Ruffheat,” but if someone said that to me, I’d know right away they’re talking about a Ruffnut x Heather ship. If someone told me “Hiccaang,” somehow I’d be able to figure out they’re talking about some Aang x Hiccup crack ship. We can just do that automatically because we’ve built our own compounding systems! And not only do we do that, but language changes SO FREAKISHLY RAPIDLY on tumblr it’s constant excitement.
Sociolinguistics Language varies based upon different groups we are a part of, and tumblr is full of many communities. Fandom communities, the science side of tumblr, the social justice community, and more are all out there. Each group has its own diction, vocabulary, and more. It’s also amazing how this collides with the fact that tumblr is global; the conversations arising aren’t just from native English speakers, but individuals whose first language might be Malay, Khmer, German, Korean, Japanese, or Finnish.
So yeah. And where you see all this amazingness the most is in the tags.
Believe me, I tag browse a lot because the content there is GOLD. Pure GOLD.
Someday I do hope to take my tumblr experiences and conduct a legitimate linguistics research study. It can teach us a lot about contemporary English, internet English, and how it’s used around the globe linguistically.
A while ago, someone came up with the theory that Dumbledore had a horcrux – Fawkes. The SuperCarlinBrothers talked about this theory before being bluntly shot down by J.K. Rowling.
But the joke’s on you, Jo. I was already torn apart by you when you said that all disabilities in your world would be “fixed” or “overridden.” You can’t hurt me anymore! Haha! I’m as immortal as Harry!
“Wait, as immortal as Harry?”
What do I mean?
Well, I’ll tell you!
I think that the original theory was onto something. I think that Fawkes was a horcrux. But I don’t think he was Dumbledore’s horcrux. No, no…
I think that Fawkes was Harry’s horcrux.
Now, before I begin, note that this is just a theory and that it’s midnight, I’m tired, and there’s a good chance that I might not get everything right. But I’m going to try. I await your many many many messages in my inbox to explain why certain things I bring up can or cannot work.
First of all, let’s get the shakiest part of this theory out of the way. The prophecy. The prophecy has always confused me but I’m pretty sure it can still fit into this theory. I’m just not exactly sure how. Again, I’m tired. So let’s just assume that the prophecy fits perfectly.
And here we go…
To repeat: I think that Fawkes was Harry’s horcrux.
A horcrux, of course, being an object in which a person stores a minuscule piece of their soul which keeps them alive.
And I believe that Harry has unknowingly stored a piece of his soul in Fawkes.
And I know what you’re thinking.
“Ah, marauders4evr, you truly are tired. Don’t you know that you have to kill someone in order to create a horcrux?”
I do know that.
“Little tiny innocent Harry Potter is a pure cinnamon roll too good for this world. Surely he has never-”
Ahahahahahahaha.
Remember that time little tiny innocent Harry Potter stabbed a gigantic snake?
I do!
And I think that after he does this, a little piece of his soul jumped ship, merging with Fawkes’ soul. After all, Fawkes had landed on his arm in order to cry Harry back to life.
“No, wait, no. J.K. Rowling said it herself – in order to create a horcrux, you have to perform a ritual so disgusting that her editor nearly vomited when hearing about it.”
Clearly her editor has never read fanfiction but I digress.
It is true that usually some big dark ritual is performed in order to create a horcrux.
Except for one occasion.
It’s widely accepted that the reason why Harry became a horcrux is because Voldemort’s soul was so splintered (from the amount of horcruxes that he created) that a piece of it just broke off and went into this child.
“So, wait, Harry’s soul was splintered?”
Well it certainly wasn’t stable. You’ve got two souls that have been suddenly fused together faster than Ruby and Sapphire. And we know that Harry’s soul has always been unstable. That’s why the Dementors affected him more. That’s why he kept having weird dreams wherein he saw into Voldemort’s mind. That’s why his scar hurt whenever Voldemort was nearby or angry or existing or…you know that part was never clear. But the point is that we know that Harry’s soul is corrupted. So much so that I think it’s safe to say that it’s splintered, splintered enough that after murdering a snake in cold-blood, a part of it flies off and attaches to Fawkes.
“Okay, marauders4evr, take it easy. If Harry’s soul was so splintered that a piece of it could break off after he murdered someone without the need for the dark ritual, then why wasn’t a horcrux created when he burned Quirrell to death hmmm?”
Okay first of all…why doesn’t anyone ever talk about the fact that Harry straight up killed his professor? I mean it was in self-defense but still…you think anyone would talk about that but they don’t, not in canon or in the fandom. But I digress.
Who’s to say that Harry didn’t accidentally create a horcrux after killing Quirrell?
“Okay, now you’re full of it.”
Probably but hear me out.
What if a little tiny piece of Harry’s splintered soul did break off and go into an object in the room? Maybe an object he was holding like…
…oh snap.
Yep. If you want, you could also argue that the Philosopher’s Stone was briefly a horcrux. I say briefly because Albus Dumbledore states outright that Nicolas and Perenelle destroyed it. (Note: Not the Nicolas and Perenelle from my books, although wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?)
So the Philosopher’s Stone is gone. Kaput. Which means so is that little tiny piece of Harry’s soul. Which stinks. But it’s not really relevant to this theory, it just provides a safety net for lingering questions.
But I digress…
I think that Fawkes is Harry’s horcrux. Which explains why Harry seems to be drawn to him so many times in future books. The others seem comforted by his songs but Harry has always had a genuine connection with him which isn’t really explained. What if this is that connection? Two souls reaching out to one another, causing a subconscious connection?
“Okay so Fawkes is Harry’s horcrux. What does that mean?”
That means that if Harry were to say, walk into the Forbidden Forest to stare Voldemort straight in the eye and accept his fate…
He would come back.
Because really, it’s never explained how Harry comes back. There have been a few feeble guesses. This is mine.
The reason why Harry came back is because he couldn’t die because a piece of his soul was in Fawkes.
As long as Fawkes is alive, Harry cannot ever truly die.
“Wait a minute…Fawkes is always alive.”
And now you see the best part of the theory!
No matter how much Fawkes dies, he always comes back. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes.
Fawkes can never die. Which means, if you believe in this theory, that neither can Harry.
Which means that Harry can never die.
Which means that Harry Potter will always be The Boy Who Lived.
And really, what better way to symbolize his eternal life than a phoenix? It’s literally the representation of Harry – someone who ‘dies’ multiple times but always comes back. Harry and Fawkes. The Ones Who Lived.
You want to know how we got Conservative Protestantism in a Gay Hat?
We got it through “shut up, check your privilege, listen, and amplify.”
Through “you don’t get an opinion on this” and “educate yourself on why I’m right before you dare claim the right to participate in this conversation.”
Through “any expression of marginalized anger is ipso-facto justified, hdu tone-police it.”
We got it by refusing to allow anyone to question the conclusions that people–fallible humans raised in conservative societies–drew from the events of their individual lives, as long as they threw the words “lived experience” around and claimed the relevant group memberships.
We got it through every single social norm put in place to silence criticism of minority voices. To automatically boost the credibility of anyone claiming to speak on behalf of the oppressed. To dismantle every vector through which that credibility could be thrown into doubt. To pressure people into taking credible speakers on faith and becoming enforcers for views they hadn’t even been fully persuaded of.
We got it because we stopped tolerating doubt of anything dressed in a legit-looking gay hat.
rip tumblr 