This is a limerick on "Break" on OEDILF. It looked like gibberish to me. What would you Wordplay experts think when you first saw it?

ng svefg, jung v fnl vf pbaprnyrq:
guvf pelcgbtenz npgf nf n fuvryq.
ohg fvapr lbh unir oebxra
gur pbqr, nf n gbxra,
guvf yvzrevpx unf abj orra erirnyrq.

~ Waterrocks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

A = N
B = O
C = P
D = Q
E = R
F = S
G = T
H = U
I = V
J = W
K = X
L = Y
M = Z
N = A
O = B
P = C
Q = D
R = E
S = F
T = G
U = H
V = I
W = J
X = K
Y = L
Z = M

click


ng svefg, jung v fnl vf pbaprnyrq:
AT FIRST, WHAT I SAW IS CONCEALED
guvf pelcgbtenz npgf nf n fuvryq.
THIS CRYPTOGRAM ACTS AS A SHIELD
ohg fvapr lbh unir oebxra
BUT SINCE YOU HAVE BROKEN
gur pbqr, nf n gbxra,
THE CODE, AS A TOKEN,
guvf yvzrevpx unf abj orra erirnyrq.
THIS LIMERICK HAS NOW BEEN REVEALED.

Kalleh, I apologize if I let the cat out of the bag or spilled the beans or jumped the gun.

You asked the experts what they thought at first. I'm not among them, but I first thought it might be Irish due to the bh. Then I saw clues ...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas,

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:

ng svefg, jung v fnl vf pbaprnyrq:
guvf pelcgbtenz npgf nf n fuvryq.
ohg fvapr lbh unir oebxra
gur pbqr, nf n gbxra,
guvf yvzrevpx unf abj orra erirnyrq.

Looks like free verse to me.

I tried decrypting it using jerry's code page and it still looked like free verse.

{Edited because I see Jerry's decryption. I obviously can't do mappings well.)

I'd assume it was a cryptogram. Whether I could be bothered to decode it though, that's another matter entirely.

quote:

Whether I could be bothered to decode it though, that's another matter entirely.

Ditto. Such things leave me cold.

I like codes like this. I think, though, that it might be just as effective if the writer used some real words and just a few coded.

Didn't see it on OEDILF but I would have assumed it was a cryptogram, and tried to solve it or not depending on how much time I had.

The limerick was posted under the word "break," Hab. CJ put out a call to all workshoppers to look at this one to see if they could understand it. Too many answered that they knew it was a crytogram, I think. My hunch is that about half of them were lying. I suppose some people will enjoy this limerick.

I see, though, that it is hardly creative. Thanks for that link, Jerry.

New question, AND NO FIBBING OR FAKING: A book advertised on The Vocabula Review (another great website, in case anyone doesn't know it) mentioned the following five words as "useful for college students to know:"

diaskeuast logogogue nyctophobia myriadigamous ubiety.

I would like to know, HONESTLY, how many word experts among us knew all five of those words on first sight. I didn't. As for college students, the author of the book must know different college students from the ones I teach!

Own up, how many of you know these words? This is just curiosity.

Very vaguely I knew the last 4, but not the first one.

I know three.

I actually once wrote a short story called "Even more afraid of the light." which featured an artist who had painted a picture called "nyctophobia". I remember spending ages trying to find the right word, which I didn't know at the the time.

What was the context of this advice? At least one of those words exists on the web only on one very dubious website The Phrontistery - A Dictionary of Obscure Words .

I could guess at a few of the words, Beth, but I certainly would not say I know them.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Very vaguely I knew the last 4, but not the first one.

Ditto. "Diaskeuast" is the word that only seems to appear in the Phrontistery, meaning "reviser; interpolator", apparently.

It appears that the author of the article is a logogogue herself, if she suggests the use of such wilfully obscure words to students.

I'm unable to find the first and last in a dictionary, and their usage seems suspect. I was able to roughly guess the meanings of the other three. The second and third might have some use, but myriadigamous seems like a bizarre word to want people to know. It really can't come up that often.

quote:

myriadigamous seems like a bizarre word to want people to know. It really can't come up that often.

Perhaps it's in common use in Salt Lake City?

I must be an ignorant ramus. I knew only one ('ubiety'). For three more I could puzzle out a reasonable guess from roots, etc., but the words themselves were totally unfamiliar to me.

Now, Shu, we all know that your not an ignorant ramus. Remember, I said very vaguely...which probably means "I could puzzle out a reasonable guess from roots, etc."

Don't beat yourself up. I knew nyctophobia for the specific reason I've already mentioned and even there I recall that when I was writing my story and wanted a word for "fear of the darkness" it took me ages to find one. I knew logogogue because it has , I think, cropped up on this board before. And I knew ubiety, the only one that you say you knew, although I couldn't say where I've heard it.

You ramuses, you're always worrying yourselves about something or other.

quote:

You ramuses

Shouldn't that be rami?