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#176654 - 05/06/08 11:58 AM pantagruelian
dalehileman dalehileman veteran Registered: 07/10/05 Posts: 1417 Loc: Apple Valley, CA, USA	(pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn) adjective 1. Enormous. 2. Displaying extravagant and coarse humor. A type-3 where the -1 is big and the -2 might be gargantuan or prodigious But I would have thought it means "apt to spill one's oatmeal onto his lap" _________________________ dalehileman
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#176655 - 05/06/08 12:07 PM Re: pantagruelian [Re: dalehileman]
twosleepy twosleepy enthusiast Registered: 02/28/08 Posts: 339 Loc: western NY	:0) I thought it might be "one who eats porridge all over the world"
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#176657 - 05/06/08 01:24 PM Re: pantagruelian [Re: twosleepy]
dalehileman dalehileman veteran Registered: 07/10/05 Posts: 1417 Loc: Apple Valley, CA, USA	two: Touche, I like yours better _________________________ dalehileman
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#176658 - 05/06/08 01:27 PM Re: pantagruelian [Re: twosleepy]
BranShea BranShea Pooh-Bah Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 2098 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	> "one who eats porridge all over the world" You mean this one? $;\)$ the one Pantagruelian, that's a mouthful of word. Edited by BranShea (05/07/08 08:32 AM) _________________________ above all shadows rides the sun (JRRT)
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#176675 - 05/06/08 07:58 PM Re: warning kids, don't try this et cetera [Re: dalehileman]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1680 Loc: R'lyeh	-2 might be gargantuan You realize that Gargantua was Pantagruel's father. I, myself, have a different numbering system. Each word in the dictionary (pick anyone) gets a number. Then rather than referring to the word itself, one can use its number as a pointer and an abbreviation.
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#176676 - 05/06/08 08:09 PM Re: warning kids, don't try this et cetera [Re: zmjezhd]
latishya latishya member Registered: 11/24/07 Posts: 143	Originally Posted By: zmjezhd -2 might be gargantuan You realize that Gargantua was Pantagruel's father. I, myself, have a different numbering system. Each word in the dictionary (pick anyone) gets a number. Then rather than referring to the word itself, one can use its number as a pointer and an abbreviation. If you start from "a", then the the number for "zero" would not be much of an abbreviation, possibly? $\:\)$
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#176705 - 05/07/08 08:51 AM Re: warning kids, don't try this et cetera [Re: latishya]
of troy of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5396 Loc: rego park	re: If you start from "a", then the the number for "zero" would not be much of an abbreviation, possibly? well it would depend on your numbering system wouldn't it? in base 10, yes, you could end with a string of 6 or 7 or more symbols, (7,896,544)(to represent the word zero) but there are other numbering systems. start with base 60--(since we are sort of familiar with that.. (clock, longitude, etc) and you could likely represent almost every word in the largest dictionary with 4 symbols.. thought it might be better to stay with a system that is more computer friendly, base 64 say.. Start teaching kids ASCII along with their ABC's, and the whole alphabet, (and dypthongs) could all be represented in the "singles" column --(in base 10, there are 10 symbols for the singles (aka Ones) column-- (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9--but in base 64, there are 64 symbols in the 'singles' column. this would make numbering words child's play. _________________________ my other obsession
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#176707 - 05/07/08 10:11 AM Re: warning kids, don't try this et cetera [Re: of troy]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1680 Loc: R'lyeh	You could make the numbers pronounceable by assigning the powers of the base to certain vowels and the consonants to the factors. I don't have time to work out the scheme, and leave it as an exercise to the reader (now that Fermat's Last Theorem has been solved). Leibniz and Dalgarno both played around with such a priori conlangs.
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#176709 - 05/07/08 11:34 AM Re: pantagruelian [Re: dalehileman]
Jackie Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 9643 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	I would have thought it means "apt to spill one's oatmeal onto his lap" Interesting, how our experiences (and lack thereof) affect our understanding, isn't it? Having taken quite a few French classes, I recognized the name Pantagruel, and so never thought of the porridge angle. Let me hasten to say, however, that there are many more things here that I have no frame of reference for. I will post again (it having been a long time since) that it fascinates me, how we immediately try to fit new experiences in with what we already know. I guess it started when we took our son to the zoo when he was just beginning to talk: the first animals we happened to come to were the goats; every new animal he saw thereafter, he'd yell "goat".
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#176710 - 05/07/08 12:11 PM Re: pantagruelian [Re: Jackie]
zmjezhd zmjezhd Pooh-Bah Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1680 Loc: R'lyeh	An etymology of Pantagruel is 'the all-thirsting one': from Greek παντ- (pant-) 'all' + αγρευω (agreuo) 'to hunt, chase after; thirst for'. Not cognate with gruel, but no doubt Rabelais had it punningly in mind and to hand.
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