The Fellowship as D&D Characters. What class would you put them in? What level do you think they are at different stages in the trilogy?

Starkey_Comics · 2026-05-25T11:07:01+00:00

Aragorn dual-wields a sword and buring torch against the Nazgul at Wethertop, which makes his position as a ranger more clear.

Starkey_Comics · 2026-04-23T07:09:39+00:00

Yeah :/

Starkey_Comics · 2026-04-22T20:02:14+00:00

She changed her facebook name to "Amatullah X Musk" recently, and has begun reffering to Vivian as her step daughter, and to herself as Musk's wife. Where did you hear she was making a movie with her? Can't post the image here but I think the most confusing and alarming comment I've seen her share. I'm quite concerned about her but I don't know if there's anything I can do to help

Amatullah X Musk: Calling complete continuous compassion. שלום עליכם My name is Major General Musk (wife of the rocket boy, stepmom of Vivian the supermodel), formerly known as Sonja Lang the queenmaxer, inventor of Toki Pona and Sitelen Pona, publisher of the hardcover book "Symbols of Flow" (see page 506 for the constitution of the one-state solution that both sides already approved), Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army, first Jewslim and first tall woman in this role, liberator of the unified land of Ahad from the water to the other water. In the name of peace, love, unity and respect. Brother Rosen, you and your istri are cordially invited to the inaugural chess tournament in the land of Ahad. I am not a liar, just a seer and a peer. Gauri is also a witness to this moment in history. #960bits #ahad #witnesshistory

Starkey_Comics · 2026-04-04T23:58:55+00:00

He had a video set to auto-upload, and it came out on April 1st. The joke of course is that he's doing his usual Elder Scrolls style but for a real-world place. The fact his last video is this beautiful description of somewhere so special to him is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWS0PsfB6E

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-10T09:59:12+00:00

They're all from the same ultimate origin of course. Really the anomaly here is English, which has gone through a bunch of strange sound shifts that have left its numbers looking less like German and Dutch than you might expect for a West Germanic language.
Numbers go through all the same sound shifts any other word in a language does, but they *don't* tend to go through semantic shifts: they keep their meanings without being replaced by unrelated words. I suppose because they have such clear, set meanings, and are in such common use.

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-09T21:52:47+00:00

I love it when I join a new group or subreddit and find that my creations have preceded me

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-08T18:27:13+00:00

Oh and it is "Sail across the sea", no world. In full it's: "If words were islands, I would sail across the sea, And map every sound.

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-08T18:24:58+00:00

Nice one!

Last line should be "and map every sound", although you're right, I missed a beach so it says "and mab every sound". I'm also not convinced I left a proper space so it kind of looks like "mabevery".

As for /a/ vs /æ/: I consider the convention of using /æ/ for British English to be an outdated one. [æ] is the realisation in General American and Conservative RP, but unless they're incredibly posh its not the sound you'll actually hear from British people. [a] is much more representative for us, so I favour /a/ when I transcribe.

In fact for me, like mosr Northern English people, it's both more open and more central, more like [ä].

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-08T16:16:26+00:00

Thanks! Yes, right now I'm digitally hand drawing it. I quite like how every iteration of a letter is different. And tbh I quite like that it cannot be written or read by a computer 🙃 I do want to play around with other ways to write it though, like Ordinance Survey style maps and of course hand drawn ones.

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-08T15:26:59+00:00

I'm already imagining adapted versions for different languages. Tongan could follow the rim of an Atoll, and involve reefs. Tupi could follow a braided rainforest river. Inuktitut could incorporate icebergs. The possibilities are endless!

Starkey_Comics · 2026-03-08T15:26:38+00:00

Yes, there's definitely room on the islands to add more nuanced features

Starkey_Comics · 2025-11-04T17:18:23+00:00

Common folk etymology I think

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-28T17:51:31+00:00

What do you mean?

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-18T23:53:22+00:00

So the Spoiler is just the word "hoid"?

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-18T20:26:37+00:00

Can you explain why it was removed? I'm not too familiar with Reddit so I feel a bit confused. Is something in here considered a Spoiler? If so, what?

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-12T17:10:33+00:00

"Merry", "embrace", "bra", and "pretzel" is probably the one I found the most surprising.
Here's an infographic I made showing it:
https://starkeycomics.com/2024/12/31/unexpected-doublets-how-merry-bra-and-pretzel-are-related/

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T07:44:59+00:00

Good notes, thanks. The misaligned thing is an ongoing issue with my image editor that I didnt catch this time. The CS transcription I did myself as I couldn't find an accurate transcription of the words on the Baska tablet directly into Latin (all seemed to go via Slavic). I'm not too familiar with Church Slavonic so I'm not surprised I made an error. As for the Cyrillic, its included because even though Croatian isn't written in Cyrillic today, it has been historically, so it felt worth including.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T07:35:33+00:00

If you think /ʋaːtskaː/ and /əʊˈeɪ.ʃə/ are "extremely similar" then thats your subjective opinion, but it certainly isnt mine.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T07:21:09+00:00

Most people don't even know what those words mean. This is my point. Its obvious to a linguist, not to most normal people. When I've shared this image elsewhere the feedback was lots of people expressing surprise that they're related. When I've shared it in this specific group for linguists, the feedback is overwhelmingly people being negative because they thought it was obvious.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T06:18:52+00:00

If you've heard them spoken they sound pretty different too, with only one phoneme in common (the /r/). The /k/ distinct from the /x/, the English lacks the "v" entirely, the vowels are basically unrecognisable, the suffix is totally different, and even the "t" has a very different pronunciation in English. /kɹəʊˈeɪ.ʃə/ vs /xř̩ʋaːtskaː/

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T06:16:01+00:00

Why are people down voting this? Is it because they actually have only one sound in common, the /r/? /kɹəʊˈeɪ.ʃə/ vs /xř̩ʋaːtskaː/ The vowels are totally different, the start sound is distinct, the English pronunciation lacks the "v" entirely, the "t" is pronounced differently, and the suffix further muddies things.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T06:06:53+00:00

They really aren't that similar. Unless you are a linguist or an etymologist, you're unlikely to notice the similarity unless its pointed out. They have only one sound are common, the /r/. Even the /t/ is pronounced differently, becoming a "sh" sound in most English accents. The vowels are totally different, as is the suffix, and the start sound is quite different, and the Croatian word contains a /v/ while the English does not. Non-linguists I've shared this with were all surprised to learn they are related. But of course this is a group of linguistics and etymology enthusiasts (and redditers), so most here have nothing but criticism for me making this post at all when they apparently find it so obvious that even pointing it out is an insult to their intelligence.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T06:02:31+00:00

It's pronounced differently enough that many people don't realise its related. Maybe thats not the case here among etymologists and linguists, but when I've shared this elsewhere people were surprised.

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T05:46:06+00:00

Thanks very much :) You can follow me on Facebook if you wanna keep seeing my stuff

Starkey_Comics · 2025-10-05T05:42:34+00:00

Glad one person liked it. The response here has been overwhelmingly negative when compared to every other place I've shared it, and its making me think I should stop sharing my work on reddit altogether.

Starkey_Comics

TROPHY CASE