I like Jabberwocky for being basically an exercise in writing a short story largely made out of total bullshit words with no meaning, and having it still work because you imagine meaning from context.
I want to change my vote to pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
I learned it at a young age because it was the longest word in the English dictionary, so I wanted to be cool and be able to say it.
2nd place goes to antidisestablishmentarianism
Like many other similar words (hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism was my own personal choice), this is one of those words that was essentially just created to be a long word. It's using traditional roots and construction methods, so there's technically wrong with it, but it's not a word that was created in the direction that we normally think of words being created, so it's kind of a weird situation.
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Verisimilitude
"Gimcrackery." I've never had the opportunity to use it, but it just feels like such a savage dismissal of something that someone else thinks is important.
Guardian setters seem to have access to a nefarious dictionary sent straight from Hades.
i've been teaching myself how to do cryptic crosswords from the ones in the saturday paper
i was getting pretty confident so i went and had a look at the guardian ones
they can't be done! nobody could do them! i don't understand at all
Araucaria (RIP) was the only one I didn't periodically want to kill, from the regular setters anyway - sometimes hard, but always fair. Arachne is usually ok. Brummie and Paul can go fuck themselves, frankly.
Though I have to give the latter a begrudging nod now and then. "Dog lead", a few days ago, was pretty good.
the English names of the days are etymologically wild, the structure is imported from the Romans who based their names on astrological significance of planets, but swapped the Roman deity names for the planets for the thought-to-be equivalent Germanic/Norse deities, except for Saturn because there wasn't an equivalent Germanic/Norse deity
Monday/Moon's Day
Tuesday/Tyr's=Mars' Day
Wednesday/(W)odin's=Mercury's Day
Thursday/Thor's=Jupiter's Day
Friday/Frigg's=Venus' Day
Saturday/Saturn's Day
Sunday/Sun's Day
the English names of the days are etymologically wild, the structure is imported from the Romans who based their names on astrological significance of planets, but swapped the Roman deity names for the planets for the thought-to-be equivalent Germanic/Norse deities, except for Saturn because there wasn't an equivalent Germanic/Norse deity
Monday/Moon's Day
Tuesday/Tyr's=Mars' Day
Wednesday/(W)odin's=Mercury's Day
Thursday/Thor's=Jupiter's Day
Friday/Frigg's=Venus' Day
Saturday/Saturn's Day
Sunday/Sun's Day
Oh yeah, that was a thing they did when they went to other cultures. "Oh, yeah, you've been worshipping Jupiter all this time, you just called him Thor."
#pipeCocky Stride, Musky odoursPope of Chili TownRegistered Userregular
A fun localization thing like that is the names of the month
September was the 7th month, to match its name. October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th month.
Then the Roman emporers decided they needed months names after them, so Julius got a month and Augustus got a month and they ruined the whole damn thing.
When I was younger and reading about Roman history I thought that October was named after Octavian and he was really greedy wanting two months for himself.
Cryptics always have two clues in the same phrase, one straightforward, one using wordplay
’I am shocked’ is the direct clue. ‘Young and old extremists’ gives you YGOD (ie the extremes of both words), while a resistance unit is an OHM
a lot of the time i don't get them even when i have the answer in front of me
this one took me a while, it's actually really good though
the saturday paper ones are much easier. i think australian ones are easier in general
i'm used to doing american crosswords - an ex from boston got me into the new york times ones - and i still think they're more satisfying in a lot of ways, but it's nice to be able to finally do the home-grown ones
I like the guardian best, I’ve always found the Times (uk variety) a bit opaque. US crosswords tend to be a bit cutesy, generally I prefer the more rigid structure you get in a proper cryptic. Something to rely on in this crazy world.
There is nothing more frustrating than having the answer and still not parsing the clue, though. Drives me utterly bats.
I like the guardian best, I’ve always found the Times (uk variety) a bit opaque. US crosswords tend to be a bit cutesy, generally I prefer the more rigid structure you get in a proper cryptic. Something to rely on in this crazy world.
There is nothing more frustrating than having the answer and still not parsing the clue, though. Drives me utterly bats.
the american ones feel much more rigid and predictable to me than the cryptics
A fun localization thing like that is the names of the month
September was the 7th month, to match its name. October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th month.
Then the Roman emporers decided they needed months names after them, so Julius got a month and Augustus got a month and they ruined the whole damn thing.
I mean when they standardized the calendar they needed to name the new months *something*
This calendrical revisionism.....
"and the morning stars I have seen
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
In the castle in Prague they have a window called the window of defenestration, because during a rebellion they chucked a pair of tax collectors out of it. Both survived.
+1
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
A fun localization thing like that is the names of the month
September was the 7th month, to match its name. October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th month.
Then the Roman emporers decided they needed months names after them, so Julius got a month and Augustus got a month and they ruined the whole damn thing.
I mean when they standardized the calendar they needed to name the new months *something*
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Yeah that's the one, although the fact that they landed in a pile of garbage may have just been propaganda - their supporters were claiming that they survived the fall because of a divine hand, and their detractors responded that no, it was just them landing where they belonged.
That was the third defenestration of Prague, for the record. It was the most famous one, and the one for which the word defenestration was coined. The first two were more fatal, although I believe that's because they killed the people in question first in at least one incident.
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I like Jabberwocky for being basically an exercise in writing a short story largely made out of total bullshit words with no meaning, and having it still work because you imagine meaning from context.
Sometimes my anxiety will make me come off as garrulous
Like many other similar words (hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianism was my own personal choice), this is one of those words that was essentially just created to be a long word. It's using traditional roots and construction methods, so there's technically wrong with it, but it's not a word that was created in the direction that we normally think of words being created, so it's kind of a weird situation.
Monday, right...?
i've been teaching myself how to do cryptic crosswords from the ones in the saturday paper
i was getting pretty confident so i went and had a look at the guardian ones
they can't be done! nobody could do them! i don't understand at all
Araucaria (RIP) was the only one I didn't periodically want to kill, from the regular setters anyway - sometimes hard, but always fair. Arachne is usually ok. Brummie and Paul can go fuck themselves, frankly.
Though I have to give the latter a begrudging nod now and then. "Dog lead", a few days ago, was pretty good.
Monday/Moon's Day
Tuesday/Tyr's=Mars' Day
Wednesday/(W)odin's=Mercury's Day
Thursday/Thor's=Jupiter's Day
Friday/Frigg's=Venus' Day
Saturday/Saturn's Day
Sunday/Sun's Day
Oh yeah, that was a thing they did when they went to other cultures. "Oh, yeah, you've been worshipping Jupiter all this time, you just called him Thor."
Aahahahahaaaaa
September was the 7th month, to match its name. October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th month.
Then the Roman emporers decided they needed months names after them, so Julius got a month and Augustus got a month and they ruined the whole damn thing.
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
’I am shocked’ is the direct clue. ‘Young and old extremists’ gives you YGOD (ie the extremes of both words), while a resistance unit is an OHM
a lot of the time i don't get them even when i have the answer in front of me
this one took me a while, it's actually really good though
the saturday paper ones are much easier. i think australian ones are easier in general
i'm used to doing american crosswords - an ex from boston got me into the new york times ones - and i still think they're more satisfying in a lot of ways, but it's nice to be able to finally do the home-grown ones
There is nothing more frustrating than having the answer and still not parsing the clue, though. Drives me utterly bats.
That is why they are called crosswords.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
the american ones feel much more rigid and predictable to me than the cryptics
it's just what you're used to tho
When my mind goes blank (as it usually does in times that can be described as boring), a voice always says, "You know what's awesome? Ninjas."
And I would nod in agreement.
I mean when they standardized the calendar they needed to name the new months *something*
This calendrical revisionism.....
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
In the castle in Prague they have a window called the window of defenestration, because during a rebellion they chucked a pair of tax collectors out of it. Both survived.
That was the third defenestration of Prague, for the record. It was the most famous one, and the one for which the word defenestration was coined. The first two were more fatal, although I believe that's because they killed the people in question first in at least one incident.