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.
~ WaterrocksThis message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
June 25, 2006, 20:25
jerry thomas
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
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,
June 25, 2006, 20:56
Frank Hubeny
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.)
June 26, 2006, 01:13
BobHale
I'd assume it was a cryptogram. Whether I could be bothered to decode it though, that's another matter entirely.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
June 26, 2006, 02:38
arnie
quote:
Whether I could be bothered to decode it though, that's another matter entirely.
Ditto. Such things leave me cold.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
June 26, 2006, 04:38
Caterwauller
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.
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
June 26, 2006, 06:20
haberdasher
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.
June 28, 2006, 20:19
Kalleh
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.
July 16, 2006, 18:34
Beth
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:"
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.
July 16, 2006, 20:22
Kalleh
Very vaguely I knew the last 4, but not the first one.
July 17, 2006, 02:02
BobHale
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.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
July 17, 2006, 02:06
BobHale
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 .
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
July 17, 2006, 03:20
Caterwauller
I could guess at a few of the words, Beth, but I certainly would not say I know them.
******* "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama
July 17, 2006, 03:43
arnie
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.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
July 17, 2006, 06:14
Seanahan
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.
July 17, 2006, 07:06
arnie
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?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
July 17, 2006, 19:25
shufitz
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.
July 17, 2006, 20:23
Kalleh
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."
July 18, 2006, 01:51
BobHale
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.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
July 18, 2006, 01:54
arnie
quote:
You ramuses
Shouldn't that be rami?
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.