Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 06/10/2026"Your paper handles an interesting question, but there are some small points of methodology I would have handled differently. Recommendation: 0 (borderline paper)" reviewers, these people are giving it their best shot and we have been asked to *take a firm position* what is wrong with you 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Another stylistic component is *which* elisions are made. Literary scholars have a lot of intuition here but again, I don't think it has been operationalized. Here are the top 20 syllable combinations in Ovid vs Vergil - you can instantly see eg that Vergil is way more willing to elide through 'm' 130
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/10/2026These positional preferences are stylistic information! For example, here's Ovid's hexameter elisions compared to Vergil. Check out the 'normal' positions and also the use of prodelision... I haven't (yet) started fully mining this sort of style, idk if anyone has computationally... 120
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/10/2026...this is from lines like this where 'satumque iterum' would, if joined, eliminate the 3rd foot strong caesura. Instead (just trust me I have a lot of evidence) the /kw/ sound goes forward onto 'iterum' and the word is still considered to break after 'satum'. 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/10/2026...but this is all old news. Let's look at new stuff. Here are all Ovid's elisions for hexameter and pentameter lines, plotted by where they occur (dashed lines are when no syllable can start in that position because there is a mandatory longum starting the position before) 120
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/10/2026In almost my first ever paper, I showed that pure elision count is the best single metrical feature to distinguish authors. Ovid, for example, is well known to have one of the lowest rates of elision. Here are his stats broken down by work. He may not like elision, but he's a fiend for prodelision! 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 30/09/2026HOME for three weeks (north of Chiang Mai) before heading into European autumn. View from the balcony remains peaceful. Not pictured: *so much* frog and bird noise 070
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I have once again packed everything I own, ready to move countries. 😅 370
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Sometimes I just make "food" where idgaf about recipes or cuisines. This will be a chicken, stock from the chicken, a smoked pork hock, lima beans, leftover tomat, csabai, some olives, leftover pesto, etc, etc... 140
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Last cooking-for-guests before I leave for Belgium! Italian was requested, so: antipasti (got eaten too fast), fresh tomato with bocconcini and pesto olive oil, spaghetti alla nero di seppia with charred cherry tomatoes and truffle sauce, scallopini ai funghi. The kitchen this morning OMFG 💀 051
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I have been trying to win A20+🫀with Ironclad (my worst) for almost a year. Last night I played discussion style with a friend and FINALLY did it with a no gimmick build 😅 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 06/09/2026braised osso bucco (before stock and passata). Had too many lemons, needed some accompaniments... 010
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026this ia not funny or cute! Australians only BBQ like this (full flame) when they are VERY DISTRESSED 130
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Keep losing posts! In now are the beans, a shot of espresso, some 85% chocolate, and salt adjustment with fish sauce. I have some more toasted chilis simmering in the very last of the stock for late heat (heat cooks out the longer you simme) 130
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Lost a post 😭 spices toasted and ground: cumin, coriander and szechuan pepper. I use it instead of eg cloves or star anise because mala adds to heat, and it's also strongly aromatic. now adding the chili. Three different kinds of dried whole chili, soaked and puréed. Way better than powdered 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 22/08/2026slowly bring that to almost caramelized, then meat in with resting juices and the deglaze of the pan. Added garlic and fried shallot. 100
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 22/08/2026next up, a kind of base with celery, red and brown onion and a decent chunk of guanciale, because guanciale tastes incredible 100
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 22/08/2026today's cooking project is a luxe version of chili con carné. Starting out by browning 1kg of chuck. In the stockpot is left frame from a roast chicken and bones from pork ribs 🥰 170
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 21/08/2026"this is the weapon of the enemy! we do not need it! we do not use it!" 000
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 15/08/2026(feeling super organised this year, submitted 7+ hours early 💅) 160
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 13/08/2026to be fair, I can read the inscription and I knew who Theoderic was. I genuinely have no idea if they are water pipes, but they're not american pipe stems ;) 200
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 13/08/2026sadly, FLAVOUR is not visible like Goku aura 🤷 but I swear it is over 10,000 010
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 12/08/2026LRT: thought I would have a quick peek, and something about the giant, fully spelled out, 'autem' in a sea of miniscule abbreviations made me scream into a cushion 141
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 12/08/2026today I am angry at the poetry of *checks notes* Walter de la Mare come // gloom ?? It's basically trochaic dimeter with lots of catalexis / anacrusis, but "her hundreds of passengers" is a BRIDGE TOO FAR I am sorry 😡 110
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 12/08/2026I was today years old when I suddenly realised that this problem exists and I needed a typographical policy about it 450
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 08/08/2026Making laksa tonight, which is often garnished with cha siu. So, I've got as far as making the garnish 010
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 07/08/2026More outdoor cooking! This time it's beef nabe with a cast iron cauldron my mate found on the side of the road (we cleaned it) 140
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 04/08/2026SA taking a tern for the worse this is a terrible birdflu joke 000
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 01/08/2026This is the fourth time I have made roast pork following www.recipetineats.com/pork-shoulde... and she is right, it really never misses. TL;DR prop up on cut onions, wine in pan, 2.5 hours at 140 fan, 30 mins at 250, rotating the pan. The gravy is the stuff of song and story. 070
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 31/07/2026I never really thought about Mr Snuffleupagus etymologically until today, but OE has 'snofl' = 'phlegm, mucus' and pagus is obviously from A.Gk φάγος = 'eater' Anyway I still have a sniffle and it is annoying me is what I'm saying 130
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 26/07/2026"basic" daal with red lentils (masoor dal) is possibly a thing more white ppl should know about? You just throw in whatever veg you have, it's tasty, and it's 20mins if you have a pressure cooker. This plus rice will sustain life, they eat it every day in Nepal. 120
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 26/07/2026lamb forequarter chops reduced for quick sale. sometimes this is an excellent country! Curry night! 000
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 23/07/2026These different kind of elision are critical, but super nerdy. Basic scansion will teach people that the vowel is lost and the two words are kind of joined or slurred together. HOWEVER, elision of 'que' in particular does not work that way in Vergil's head! 130
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 23/07/2026I spent the day (with a cold, I hate winter, but also) experimenting with a new way to serially encode the metrical things I care about in Latin meter. I express syllable length and a couple of crucial metrical things (elision, prodelision) as a product of primes... 210
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 21/07/2026All of my rsvps this month are now: 😭 sorry 😅 attending 🤤 attending with wog soup 030
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 11/07/2026I would just like to say that this took ALL DAMN MORNING but once I started... There are 276 abbreviations used by hypotactic.com, many of which apply to only one line in the corpus 😭 These are just the ones with >100 lines #killme 020
Ben Nagy @rantyben.bsky.social · 07/07/2026You REDEFINE midrule? You redefine midrule like the serial killer? Oh Jail! JAIL for journal for one thousand years!! 181