RE: https://mastodon.social/@iwritelike/116393843658018750

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Which word would you use to refer to yourself? "I", presumably, in the singular. And how about you and a group of people? "We", of course, in the plural.

But how about you and one other person?

In modern English, there is no word for that. You would probably just use "we" or "the two of us".

But more than 1,000 years ago, you would have said: "wit".

This term, once also used affectionately to describe the closeness between two people, is one of many personal pronouns that have been lost or transformed amid huge social and political change over the centuries. The English language has become simplified – but at times this has left gaps, creating confusion.

"Wit" means "we two" in Old English, a Germanic language spoken in England until about the 12th Century, which evolved into the English we speak today. Now completely lost, "wit" was part of an extinct group of pronouns used for exactly two people: the dual form, which also includes "uncer" or "unker" ("our" for two people) and "git" ("you two"). That dual form vanished from the English language around the 13th Century.

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#poem #poetry #individuality #authenticity #sovereignty #tolerance #reconciliation #letterlab #source #zero #writing #letterportals #wordpuzzles #programming #perception #encryption #code #polarity #one #unity #binity #trinity #quadrinity #singularity #duality #ternity #quaternity #p01 #fediverse #exquisitesocial

Where are your horns?

In fourth grade, a new kid transferred to my school in New Jersey from Louisiana. His family was from Turkey; he hadn’t really met Jews before. We became friends quickly, sitting together at the back of the class and getting in trouble for laughing.

At some point, he found out I was Jewish. He looked at me, confused, and asked where my horns were.

He was trying to reconcile what he’d heard with what he saw. I was a normal kid. The idea didn’t fit.

We weren’t close after fifth grade, but we graduated high school together in 1998.

A month ago—nearly thirty years later—he reached out on LinkedIn.

He wrote: “Hi David. I hope you and your family are safe.”

I wrote back that we were okay, more or less—that Jerusalem is still relatively safe, even with sirens and runs to shelters, that life is continuing.

He responded that he was upset about what’s happening in Gaza, and that he was glad to know my family was okay.

Both were true at the same time.

I’ve noticed that this isn’t always easy. In my own small corner of the internet, sometimes when the subject turns to Israel, basic responses—checking in, expressing concern—are absent.

But that’s not the whole story. There are people—fellow poets I interact with regularly—who I know disagree with me about Israel, about Iran, about Hamas, Hezbollah, all of it.

And they still show up—they read, respond, ask how I’m doing when rockets are overhead. They don’t resolve the disagreement or pretend it isn’t there, but they don’t let it erase me.

That matters more than agreement.

Because without the ability to see the person in front of you, there’s nothing to build on—no conversation, no understanding, no improvement.

This isn’t one-sided—I feel for people in Gaza too. As a child, my friend couldn’t reconcile the idea he had been given with the person in front of him.

As adults, we often learn to carry that contradiction. We hold onto what we think we know, even when it doesn’t match the person in front of us. But some people choose something harder. They let the person in front of them matter more than what they think they know.

It sounds basic. It isn’t.

And it’s the only thing that gives me real hope anything can improve.

T w a w a r e l f

Z e
R
I
N
M p l
U s 0 n e
T w O
H r
E
E
Y f
0 u r

C o n s c i o u s e l f

Z e r u n (S h e r s e l f) i t m u l t i p l i n t w (h) y 0 n e d u a l (l) h y p o t h e (r) t i c a l m i n u s p o l a r i t y

H y p (o) (t) (h e) (t i c) (a l) (r) a n t i s y n t r i n i t ( w h) y t h r e e (t w o)

A l t (w) o (g e t) (h e) r A ((l t e r) n a t i n g

(E g o) C t (Y 0)

U a l (l)

T h

E

S

I

S

0 n e

F (Y 0) U r

Q u a d r i (y 0) (u) n i t (w h) y

#poem #poetry #individuality #authenticity #sovereignty #tolerance #reconciliation #letterlab #source #zero #writing #letterportals #wordpuzzles #programming #perception #encryption #code #polarity #one #unity #binity #trinity #quadrinity #singularity #duality #ternity #quaternity #p01 #fediverse #exquisitesocial

Artemis II: Stunning ‘Hello, World’ Image of Earth Explained

https://geogramblings.com/2026/04/11/artemis-ii-stunning-hello-world-image-of-earth-explained/

I've always been leery of the AI debate over creative content – audio or visual media, including written material. A recent interview between Rick Beato and Justin Hawkins provided me with a frame.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/04/10/art-or-content/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

It reminds me of the old argument between high and low art, another bollocksed argument in my opinion. Homey don't play dat.

#philosophy #music #art #ai #language #perception #popculture #popmusic #protectionism #psychology #society #taste #technology #video #virtue #writing

La percezione non è una scienza del mondo, non è nemmeno un atto, una presa di posizione deliberata, ma è lo sfondo sul quale si staccano tutti gli atti ed è da questi presupposta.

Il mondo non è un oggetto di cui io posseggo nel mio intimo la legge di costituzione, ma è l'ambiente naturale, il campo di tutti i miei pensieri e di tutte le mie percezioni esplicite.

La verità non "abita" soltanto "l'uomo interiore", o meglio, non vi è alcun uomo interiore: l'essere umano è nel mondo e nel mondo egli si conosce.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1945

#MerleauPonty #PiegheSciolte #CuraDiSè #percezione #EmbodiedCognition #perception #EpimeleiaHeautou #SouciDeSoi

#perception : apperhension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them

- French: aperçu

- Italian: percezione

- Portuguese: percepção

- Spanish: percepción

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Word of The Hour's Annual Survey @ https://wordofthehour.org/r/form