it's true and you're the only one brave enough to waive shifgrethor and say it
January 11, 2026 at 7:12 PM
it's true and you're the only one brave enough to waive shifgrethor and say it
Though Argaven might be neither sane nor shrewd, he had had long practice in the evasions and challenges and rhetorical subtleties used in conversation by those whose main aim in life was the achievement and maintenance of the shifgrethor relationship on a high level.
January 9, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Though Argaven might be neither sane nor shrewd, he had had long practice in the evasions and challenges and rhetorical subtleties used in conversation by those whose main aim in life was the achievement and maintenance of the shifgrethor relationship on a high level.
i'm halfway through the left hand of darkness and i've decided that concern for one's shifgrethor shall be my torment nexus to inflict upon the world
December 10, 2025 at 5:34 PM
i'm halfway through the left hand of darkness and i've decided that concern for one's shifgrethor shall be my torment nexus to inflict upon the world
You have posted cringe. You are going to lose shifgrethor.
December 10, 2025 at 6:09 AM
You have posted cringe. You are going to lose shifgrethor.
Hey Google, do I have any shifgrethor?
siri do i have any honor
December 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Hey Google, do I have any shifgrethor?
he has no sense of shifgrethor and it kind of gave me the ick
September 10, 2025 at 4:08 AM
he has no sense of shifgrethor and it kind of gave me the ick
Though Argaven might be neither sane nor shrewd, he had had long practice in the evasions and challenges and rhetorical subtleties used in conversation by those whose main aim in life was the achievement and maintenance of the shifgrethor relationship on a high level.
September 5, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Though Argaven might be neither sane nor shrewd, he had had long practice in the evasions and challenges and rhetorical subtleties used in conversation by those whose main aim in life was the achievement and maintenance of the shifgrethor relationship on a high level.
Shifgrethor. Any fans of Ursula Le Guin? In, “The Left Hand of Darkness“, this is the practice of one upsmanship. No matter the consequence, no matter the correctness, if you have gotten “one up” on your opponent, you won. The trump admin has deteriorated to the most ugly side of shifgrethor.
August 26, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Shifgrethor. Any fans of Ursula Le Guin? In, “The Left Hand of Darkness“, this is the practice of one upsmanship. No matter the consequence, no matter the correctness, if you have gotten “one up” on your opponent, you won. The trump admin has deteriorated to the most ugly side of shifgrethor.
Shifgrethor felt like a shroud that they would wear to not show their true feelings, reactions, etc - to represent themselves in a specific light, if you will. And the shadow they cast was how they were known in the world.
June 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Shifgrethor felt like a shroud that they would wear to not show their true feelings, reactions, etc - to represent themselves in a specific light, if you will. And the shadow they cast was how they were known in the world.
2/2 Shadows also fold into shifgrethor, which originated from the Gethenian word for shadow. Estraven states early in the book that “I am not anyone’s servant. A man must cast his own shadow…” which seems to mean a man must not live in another’s light or shadow, which is shifgrethor.
June 26, 2025 at 8:48 PM
2/2 Shadows also fold into shifgrethor, which originated from the Gethenian word for shadow. Estraven states early in the book that “I am not anyone’s servant. A man must cast his own shadow…” which seems to mean a man must not live in another’s light or shadow, which is shifgrethor.
she waive on my shifgrethor til I’m in kemmer
June 19, 2025 at 6:09 AM
she waive on my shifgrethor til I’m in kemmer
I also think "shifgrethor" has a lot to do with the concept of face/honor. Genly and Estraven start to understand each other a lot better when they both realize that they have different cultural matrices for what is personal honor.
June 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I also think "shifgrethor" has a lot to do with the concept of face/honor. Genly and Estraven start to understand each other a lot better when they both realize that they have different cultural matrices for what is personal honor.
Shifgrethor did seem to have a component of saving face. It had the dignity & prestige components without the overtones of modesty and self-effacement.
June 10, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Shifgrethor did seem to have a component of saving face. It had the dignity & prestige components without the overtones of modesty and self-effacement.
I equate shifgrethor most closely to an honor culture, like the antebellum South in the U.S. Honor and reputation were everything, and the wrong social or political move could ruin one’s reputation, damage honor, and lower social position.
June 10, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I equate shifgrethor most closely to an honor culture, like the antebellum South in the U.S. Honor and reputation were everything, and the wrong social or political move could ruin one’s reputation, damage honor, and lower social position.
#BannedBookSkyClub discussion of #TheLeftHandOfDarkness by Ursula Le Guin #BookSky
Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness had difficulty understanding "shifgrethor." How would you explain it?
Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness had difficulty understanding "shifgrethor." How would you explain it?
June 10, 2025 at 10:05 PM
#BannedBookSkyClub discussion of #TheLeftHandOfDarkness by Ursula Le Guin #BookSky
Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness had difficulty understanding "shifgrethor." How would you explain it?
Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness had difficulty understanding "shifgrethor." How would you explain it?
1/ I thought she was successful. I didn't let myself get hung up on things I didn't fully grasp, like shifgrethor. Just knew it was important and came to understand it as the book went on. Same with all the other social constructs. Not saying I understand it all, LOL, but enough to get the gist.
June 9, 2025 at 5:11 PM
1/ I thought she was successful. I didn't let myself get hung up on things I didn't fully grasp, like shifgrethor. Just knew it was important and came to understand it as the book went on. Same with all the other social constructs. Not saying I understand it all, LOL, but enough to get the gist.
shifgrethor? I hardly know rethor
April 28, 2025 at 6:59 PM
shifgrethor? I hardly know rethor
le guin cooked with ‘shifgrethor’ ngl
April 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
le guin cooked with ‘shifgrethor’ ngl
by meshe, bro came to the club with zero shifgrethor 🤦♀️
April 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
by meshe, bro came to the club with zero shifgrethor 🤦♀️
No; for he often talked about the Sinoth Valley. I decided that he was deliberately avoiding talk of shifgrethor because he wished to rouse emotions of a more elemental, uncontrollable kind. He wanted to stir up something which the whole shifgrethor-pattern was a refinement upon, a sublimation of.
April 1, 2025 at 10:10 AM
No; for he often talked about the Sinoth Valley. I decided that he was deliberately avoiding talk of shifgrethor because he wished to rouse emotions of a more elemental, uncontrollable kind. He wanted to stir up something which the whole shifgrethor-pattern was a refinement upon, a sublimation of.
emotional tone that went shrill with vituperation or adulation. He talked much about pride of country and love of the parentland, but little about shifgrethor, personal pride or prestige. Had Karhide lost so much prestige in the Sinoth Valley business that the subject could not be brought up?
April 1, 2025 at 10:10 AM
emotional tone that went shrill with vituperation or adulation. He talked much about pride of country and love of the parentland, but little about shifgrethor, personal pride or prestige. Had Karhide lost so much prestige in the Sinoth Valley business that the subject could not be brought up?