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Göktuğ Kayaalp

@igoktugk.bsky.social
175 followers 127 following 2.3K posts

Fresh new doctoral student in History @ Boğaziçi Uni. Master's in linguistics & bachelor's in Italianistics. gkayaalp.com

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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 4h
If the translation to Turkish and the appreciation of this "translator" is any indicator of the quality of the original translation to English, damn, it must be awful as well.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 4h
There are some sections of the text but they bear no resemblance to any form of the epic's many source texts, it's prose-ified with no comments. It's basically garbage. I am seriously thinking of chucking it in the bin with the only thing keeping me from it an instinctual aversion to hurting books.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 4h
I thought I had a translation of Gilgamesh for tomorrow at home, but no turns out I don't, well, I do but I don't: it's a "translation" to Turkish from a translation to English by some absolute knobhead who starts it out like some discount 19th century Orientalist, w/ an absurd foreword.
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Reposted by Göktuğ Kayaalp
Duygu Yıldırım @duyguyildirim.bsky.social · 8h
So my book now has a cover, featuring one of my favorite archival images. Forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2027!
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Sık sık yabancı dilde okurmuş gibi hissediyorum bu yüzden.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Terimler sadece kendi direkt anlamlarını değil geçmişlerini de getirirler metne. Ondan da mahrum kalınca hangi terimsel tavırların okumada lazım olduğunu da okur tahmin etmek zorunda kalıyor.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
E tamam “karakteristikmiş” diyip devam ediyorsun ama o da tam oturmuyor, o kafa karışıklığıyla metinle boğuşmak tek yol olup kalıyor.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
“Özgül” mesela. Ne demek? Ne bileyim ne demek. Bir kullanımı “özgül ağırlık”. Onun dışında tahminler mümkün buradaki bağlamda ama metinde anahtar ama soyut bir kelime olduğundan bu ne kolay ne de doğru. Metni anlaşılmaz kılıyor. Wikisözlük “karakteristik” diyor, Kubbealtı da. TDK'da yok.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Şimdi ismi lazım değil bir dergide güzel bir makale okuyorum ama aynı dertten yine muzdaribim. Çok anahtar kelimeler hunharca Yeni Türkçeleştirmeye tabi tutulmuş. Belki yazarın ihtisasında tanınan sözcükler ama herkesin bileceği yaygın bir kullanım değil.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Ve fakat öyle de okumak çok tuhaf olduğundan Türkiye'deki, Türkçe konuşucuları birincil muhatabı olan, Türkçe anadilli kimselerin tertip ettiği bir serginin açıklamasını web sitesinin İngilizcesinden okumak zorunda kaldım, ancak öyle anladım ne dendiğini.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Sonra fark ettim ki kelimeler Türkçe olduğu halde, metnin kuruluşu, cümlelerin gelişi İngilizce. Öyle bakmaya başlayınca metinde tökezleyerek de olsa ilerleyebilmeye başladım.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Öyle metinlerle karşılaşıyorum ki kafamda İngilizceye çevirince on kat daha anlaşılır oluyor. Özellikle son on senenin akademik ve sanatsal metinlerinde bu böyle oluyor. Geçen bir gün mesela güncel sergilere bakarken bunu fark ettim. Sergi açıklamalarını anlayamıyordum.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Her dilde bunları bozmaya çalışmayı marifet sayan müellifler var da Türkçede bu terimler iyice çocuk oyun alanına dönmüş vaziyette. Öbür tarafta da kompozisyonun, söz diziminin İngilizceleşme illeti var ki birkaç dilbilim kariyeri buna adansa yeridir.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Her yazarın tabi kelime seçimi onun sanatıdır da, bir alanı, bir literatürü, bir fikriyatı da inşada ve okur ile genel edebiyata bağlamada en sağlam payandalardan biri de terimlerdir, kavşak görevi gören ortak ve takibi kolay birer tarihe de sahip olan anahtar kelimelerdir.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Bu tabi sırf Türkçeye mahsus da değil ama güncel Türkçe yazıda çok yoğun. Her kavramın beş on tane çevirisi var, bunlardan bazısı opak, uydurma icad-ı elfaz, bazısı yabancı dillerden—anlamı da çaktırmadan biraz değişerek—alıntılar, bazısı da ömrüne saygı duyulmadan diriltilen zoraki hortlaklar.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Bir de pek çok metni sanki İngilizce yazılmış da sonradan Türkçeye çevrilmiş gibi hissettiren, bir çeşit “İngilizce kokusu”, yani sanki gramer ve cümlede düşünce yapısı, sırası, esasta İngilizceymiş de kelimeler Türkçeymiş gibi hissettiren bir katman var ki yukardakilerle de beraber tezahür ediyor.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Bazı metni rastgele icad edilen "öz Türkçe" terimlerden bazısınıysa hem orijinal anlama hem güncel kullanıma muhalif bir "neo-Osmanlıca" hevesinden dolayı, başkalarını bu ikisinin acımasızca karıştırılıp tabiricaizse şifreli bir dille yazılmasından dolayı okumak mümkün değil.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Türkçe akademik metinleri okumak bazen, hatta sıklıkla yabancı dillerde okumaktan daha zor geliyor. Herkesin bi tarafa çekmeye çalışmasından hiçbir birikimi olmayan bir hilkat garibesine döndürülmüş bir yazı dili oluşmuş.
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Reposted by Göktuğ Kayaalp
Chris Staecker @chrisstaecker.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
new worst calculator design dropped
a calculator with number buttons arranged in a circle, operations in the middle
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
iMod
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Reposted by Göktuğ Kayaalp
Richard Bellavance @richardbellavance.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Did you know some early IBM Thinkpad laptops had a removable cover so their display could be used on such a projector?
A laptop computer on top of an overhead projector. The back of the laptop's cover has been removed, allowing the display to be used on the projector.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Damn and blast this is giving me very conflicting feelings lol
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Damn that's shoddy. I was just using the free version which merely has an annoying popup. But maybe I should look for something else too, I was planning to purchase the licence eventually.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Vi/vim is a quite useful tool. I mostly use Sublime Text these days but sometimes I find I just long for my hjkl and "object" based movements and macros. Especially macros.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
OneNote not being portable is the big problem, interesting tho it is. My fav was Org mode but a couple years ago I found that I don't wanna suffer Emacs people/"community" anymore, and avoid coding as well, with the onset of this AI nonsense. It had all become so tasteless..
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
They didn't, Google did. It wouldn't have been viable to try maintain it regardless, especially because Chrome/Chromium extensions are mainly used in those latter browsers and have no reason to support an obsolete extension API.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is currently basically impossible. I tried literally everything under the sun this spring & summer.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
- Easy image (& other media) pasting - Basic formatting - Outlining and section folding - No weird computery restrictions, e.g. w/ Obsidian or Joplin note titles are file names so can't have slashes in title... - App not fugly - Standard keybindings - No creepy shit - No "AI"
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Reading notes I've gone back to my trusty ol' A5 clipboard. Tried notebooks but didn't work. For class notes too now. It's versatile. On computer it's more general notes. Research or just mundane stuff, events, exhibitions, etc. There are a few things I want and note apps don't really do them:
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Currently I've resorted to using Apple Notes as a sort of "capture" thing and then moving notes into markdown files with Sublime Text but it's very clumsy and makes me yearn for notebooks. Which I do use a lot more than five years ago but I need digital notes too
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Note taking. NOTE TAKING! Computers be damned, I've spent months this year trying to find a way to take notes on computers that (a) works, (b) is not a massive hassle, and (c) isn't big tech or startup shitty creepware, and I just couldn't find anything. So much apps out there but all garbage.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I appreciate the appreciation of my overhead projector appreciation, there's something left to appreciate of humanity
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I am getting the hang of dealing with proper rika now. Ottoman archives, watch your arse!
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If I ever write and defend this PhD thesis I should present it with an OHP, it's my version of Finnish PhD sword.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
They should make LED based versions of these that you couldn't cook bacon on and wha-bamm presentations are a solved thing. Sod computers. Troublemaker shitmachines.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It's just better than computers. You don't need to waste 20 minutes setting it up, no spotty "screen mirroring", no moribund dongles and cables cutting out unless you hold it in an extremely particular way, no multiple concurrent power management fuckeries turning things off like whack-a-mole
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The only bit of my-noughties-childhood tech I'm nostalgic for remains the OHP.
An overhead projector (big box in the bottom with a glass top then a square arm coming out of its corner with a mirror thing on it)

hearts and sparkles and heart eyes emoji around it and hearts drawn and text says overhead projector appreciation post
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
LGR and CRD have videos of that thing in action, it's awful I love it, probably i'd be stabbing it if I had to use it tho lol. Much better than the thinkpad nipple tho, I won't get for the life of me how anybody might like that hideous bastard.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
"Superpower" thing annoys the hell out of me. Yea I get hyperfocus. Never when it helps. Usually I'll hyperfocus on a game or show and turn a couple hours of unwinding rest into 8-10 hours of being transfixed and then only being able to snap out when my bladder is about to burst. Superpower my arse.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Etc etc etc. I speak here not as an expert writer but a long time reader. Have positions, tell me them honestly. I do appreciate fineries in writing. But there _is_ such a thing as too much of a good thing. Don't make your text read like bad dubstep.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
You should be honest and boldly wrong if you're wrong. If on top of notional and linguistic complexity, you also layer on argumentative ambivalence, the text becomes incomprehensible between confusions of text comprehension and intellectual appreciation. If you're hedging every damn thing, shut up.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Your titles should be transparent for example, and/or your paragraphs should be comprehensible as units, and focus on one thing. Your parentheticals should be used sparingly so as to not recurse the text for no real reward.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
E.g. you should "dilute" the language where notions get complex, make sure they're understood. Then there's room for fancy. Where necessary you should give the reader breaks, lighten the load. You should organise information well such that structure helps comprehension.
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I think it's fine to write "complex" prose, "old school", big words and/or literary elaboration. But you must know how to. And putting one obscure word you got from the thesaurus after another is not it. There's a knack to it. You need to balance conceptual complexity with literary elaboration.
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Reposted by Göktuğ Kayaalp
Nurcin Ileri @nurcinileri.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
İlk baskısını 2019 yılında yayımladığımız “Tarihçilerden Başka Bir Hikâye”, bu kez FOL Kitap etiketiyle yeniden sizlerle buluşuyor! Aradan geçen yıllara rağmen heyecanımız ilk günkü gibi... www.folkitap.com/tarihcilerde...
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is absolutely insufferable. But just a dozen pages left thank god
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tante @tante.cc · 08/10/2026
His is exactly the kind of shit I was talking about www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
whitehouse.gov
Fact Sheet: Trump Administration Announces the Most Ambitious Set of Science Initiatives This Century
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, at the Science: A New Golden Age Summit, the Trump Administration launched the most ambitious set of
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
One wishes it's Alvin Sngle sooner rather than later.
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merv @eatsomefood.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
So he’ll read to AI but not to his kids?
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Göktuğ Kayaalp @igoktugk.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
He's just rewording the basic historical method in some weird discourse, then making excuses about why this book supposedly about centring Cyprus is based mainly on Ottoman archives in Istanbul, and solidly demonstrating how Cyprus is but some research material for him. No recentering here.
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