An introduction to phantom limbs

[frameacloud]

Page number 6 of Theri There, originally posted on October 3, 2005.

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Image description: One page of a comic.
Narration: "A 'phantom limb' is the sensation that a limb is physically present when it's not.
"Neurological explanation: the relevant portion of the brain is still there, so it feels as if the limb is still there, too.
"Spiritual explanation: the spirit also stays intact, even if the body doesn't. This has to do with chakras and the astral plane."
The illustration shows a person with no left arm, but a phantom left arm.
"Phantom limbs are also experienced by therianthropes and otherkin. The difference is that these don't follow a human-shaped template. We may feel wings, tail, or any such thing."
The illustration shows a therianthrope with a human physical body, and a gryphon-shaped phantom outline. "We know there's no physical counterpart to these limbs. They're not visible to plain sight, and they pass right through everything, like a ghost."
The same therianthrope goes on a walk, their wing passing through the wall of a nearby building. "However, there are odd exceptions where a phantom limb responds to a physical object as if both were equally tangible." The therianthrope's wing hits a lamppost, making them stumble, saying, "Ow!?"
"There are also instances where people respond to the limbs as if they could see them."
The therianthrope stretches out a wing, and other passerby walk around it.
"Rarest of all, sometimes physical objects respond to the limb's presence."
A dragon therianthrope steps into an elevator, their phantom tail trailing behind them. The door closes on their tail. Someone else says, "Hey, what's jamming the elevator door open?"
End description.

Note from 2005: This is a short introduction to phantom limbs of therianthropes. There is much more to say about them, whether the best known kind (felt by people who have had amputations) as shown in panel 1, or the kind experienced by therianthropes. Panel 4 was suggested by a phoenix who wishes to remain anonymous. Panel 6 was suggested by a friend who had it happen as shown, and I’ve heard very few anecdotes about a paranormal phenomenon of that kind.

Note from 2015: Several folks have asked me about the phrase “phantom limbs,” which I used in my old Theri There comics. In 2005, that was the only name therians gave to that experience of theirs. Now, readers were concerned that it might be wrong to use that name for that experience. It’s a sensitive issue, but it’s also important to address, so I wrote a long blog entry about it: https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/731842421775859712/regarding-phantom-limbs

Note from 2023: I updated the link to that blog entry with some new commentary that I wrote today. For another thing, back when I drew this page, I thought of phantom limbs as a paranormal phenomenon. That fit with how my worldview used to embrace the paranormal. My personal worldview has changed and become generally more skeptical as I've continued to ask questions and learn. I still acknowledge that part of the range of these experiences are ones that are strange and difficult to explain.

[Edit October 21, 2023: Added local images, links, and transcript.]

Comments

[slupine.livejournal.com]

Oh, and one question: this "xe" thing, how is it properly pronounced, and is this like a gender-neutral pronoun? I've actually never heard it before. I'm used to shi and hir, which I rather dislike but they were the only alternatives I had heard (oh why couldn't the english language have a better option for a substitute?). Just kinda wondering about that.

[frameacloud]

Yes, "xe" is another set of alternative gender-neutral pronouns, just like shi and hir.

Personally, I pronounce "xe" like "zee." I wouldn't be surprised if other people pronounced it "ksee" or (uselessly) "she." It works better in text than aloud. In text, it's readily understood that the X represents a crossing-out of the initial consonant S or H. That's what I like about it, above other gender-neutral pronouns.

I used sie and hir in a roleplaying campaign once, but they sound exactly like female pronouns when you say them aloud, and I kept accidentally spelling them as such.

"They," "it," and "he" are all supposedly standard English gender-neutral pronouns. I dislike them, for various reasons, but where would one find a truly satisfactory gender-neutral pronoun, anyway?

There's a list of pretty much all attempted gender neutral pronouns... or several lists, maybe, and their history, success and unsuccess, and some opinions on them, and stuff. Here's one:
http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html

[ekevoo.livejournal.com]

The first "X" I know of is the greek letter chi (χ) (pronounced "kee"). Notice how its name sounds a little like X's name, suggesting these are related. The X in TeX (http://www.tug.org/) is that letter, as "Tex" is the greek word for "Art". (And yes, technology is, according to etymology, study of art.)

There have been two situations where I stumbled upon an X which I didn't know how to pronounce, and both have been solved by greek χ, pronounced as /k/.

The first is xianjaguar, who explained in her site that "Xian" stands for "Christian", which, incidentally, was more or less how Christ was spelled original ("christ" is a greek word and never was part of Jesus' name)... And surprise-surprise for her, in its original greek spelling, that "X" was a χ. So it makes /keean/, which I used to say her alias (the couple of times I actually did so anyway, because I had her in my friend list for a month or so and have visited her site three or four times at most).

The second is when waywind xirself (sp? ;) last announced xir decision to use the pronoun "xe", giving as the primary explanation the graphic representation of an X as being something unspecified, undisclosed... Being unspecified, I decided to go with the first known occurrence, chi (χ), which sounds like k, even though I don't know what's the difference between chi (χ) and kappa (κ). ;)

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Actually, chi is pronounced more like a German 'ch'. It's a fricative (that is, a rasping sound).

[ekevoo.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* I kind of do so just because I think it sounds cool. Unfortunately, that 'ch' phoneme isn't really different from the standard 'k' phoneme in my language (Portuguese), so I didn't really consider these could be different sounds in Greek. It seems I am wrong. There is probably a similar thing in 'ph', which I regard as a fancy way to write 'f' but I actually read differently as well.