Jesse Frankovich- I think you missed a great opportunity for a second verse of your "Ainhum" poem where you provide a Hemingway-related explanation for where all those toes end up after they fall off.
Gene, your poem was way more fun to read than the short story. But alas, I am not T.S. like Mr. Eliot. I am T.B. Smith. Unless you worked with me—I used Terri Berg there, but had no “S.”
Interesting this business of writing and reading direction. Pretty much all to do with technology, not linguistics. When the tool (stylus, brush, chisel) or the surface (bamboo, papyrus, clay, scrolls) changes, the direction often changes with it. Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic) scripts kept their original tools and materials longer and direction stayed RTL. Greek and Latin changed tools and direction flipped to LTR. English inherited Latin and stayed LTR. Chinese (top to bottom) also profoundly influenced other East Asian languages, even Mongolian which is not only top to bottom but LTR. What is even more interesting (at least to three of us here...) is how digital systems support all writing directions at once. The physical constraints that once shaped writing direction (brushes, bamboo, chisels) are now replaced by software rules that simulate the same behaviors essentially on demand.
Sure, the "T" words/definitions could have immediately suggested their jeux d'espirit, but I'm going with letter‑frequency biases in English, which shape both the words that exist and the words people are likely to choose when asked to "pick a word." In fact, "T" leads the alphabet with about a 16% frequency as a first letter (based on large dictionary analyses), with "A" second. Using "Bee" words tends to more or less confirm this since they don't follow the normal English pattern where T, A, S, O, I dominate as first letters. Instead, Bee wordlists skew heavily toward rarer, etymologically diverse letters --- especially C, P, S, A, and M --- because those letters begin many of the Greek, Latin, French, and German loanwords that make up the Bee’s difficulty curve. So, why so many words starting with "T?" English started T-primed and successive "T's" were added from every other major source language and then for good measure, added T-prefix systems that keep the "T's" going. Still find it interesting? Or did you stop after the second sentence?
I voted that the third runner-up was the funniest, although I did think the winner was the cleverest.
From now on, we'll ask which you think is "the best."
The Empress has taught me that clever and funny are often orthogonal.
Jesse Frankovich- I think you missed a great opportunity for a second verse of your "Ainhum" poem where you provide a Hemingway-related explanation for where all those toes end up after they fall off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyl_cat#:~:text=They%20became%20known%20as%20%22Hemingway,own%20collection%20of%20polydactyl%20cats.
Huzzah for Jesse's ode to "The Raven."
But Leif's Carreta made me laugh out loud.
Gene, your poem was way more fun to read than the short story. But alas, I am not T.S. like Mr. Eliot. I am T.B. Smith. Unless you worked with me—I used Terri Berg there, but had no “S.”
"The first is chet, the second, hey." Unless, by habit, you read them from right to left (raises hand).
Excellent point. I shall clarify, and in so doing, complexify.
Which hand?
Interesting this business of writing and reading direction. Pretty much all to do with technology, not linguistics. When the tool (stylus, brush, chisel) or the surface (bamboo, papyrus, clay, scrolls) changes, the direction often changes with it. Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic) scripts kept their original tools and materials longer and direction stayed RTL. Greek and Latin changed tools and direction flipped to LTR. English inherited Latin and stayed LTR. Chinese (top to bottom) also profoundly influenced other East Asian languages, even Mongolian which is not only top to bottom but LTR. What is even more interesting (at least to three of us here...) is how digital systems support all writing directions at once. The physical constraints that once shaped writing direction (brushes, bamboo, chisels) are now replaced by software rules that simulate the same behaviors essentially on demand.
Interesting that each of the top 4 is based on a word that begins with T.
Sure, the "T" words/definitions could have immediately suggested their jeux d'espirit, but I'm going with letter‑frequency biases in English, which shape both the words that exist and the words people are likely to choose when asked to "pick a word." In fact, "T" leads the alphabet with about a 16% frequency as a first letter (based on large dictionary analyses), with "A" second. Using "Bee" words tends to more or less confirm this since they don't follow the normal English pattern where T, A, S, O, I dominate as first letters. Instead, Bee wordlists skew heavily toward rarer, etymologically diverse letters --- especially C, P, S, A, and M --- because those letters begin many of the Greek, Latin, French, and German loanwords that make up the Bee’s difficulty curve. So, why so many words starting with "T?" English started T-primed and successive "T's" were added from every other major source language and then for good measure, added T-prefix systems that keep the "T's" going. Still find it interesting? Or did you stop after the second sentence?
My favorite poem was the "Cara Sposa" one by Michael Stein.
Wait, the chet is first -- reading from left to right? or right to left?
But did you win the gastroenterology poetry contest?
I prefer the old format—presenting the new contest, followed by the winners of the previous contest.
And I love the change. 🤷♂️
Solution might be different days, but that would take a day away from Gene talking about clocks or his glory days in Albany.