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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Roshambo #127224 04/11/04 12:38 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage OP Carpal Tunnel OP Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 AKA Rock, Paper, Scissors. When I was a yoot we counted out the preliminaries in this game with the syllables, 'Lam, Zam, Po.' I never understood why and never really bought the explanation that it was Italian for 'one, two, three.' I had heard that the game was sometimes called Roshambo, but have just recently discovered (from none other than Uncle Cecil: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrockpaper.html) that it is so called after Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau. It just occurred to me that perhaps that was the origin of our counting phrase Lam Zam Po. The biggest jump there is from the Ro to the Lam. So my first question is, "can anyone give me good linguistic reasons for believing this?" My next question is, "What is the word for the relationship of three items where A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A?" Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Roshambo #127225 04/11/04 01:26 PM Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California J jheem veteran jheem veteran J Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California Well, I've heard them called counting out games. The prototypical one being eenie, meenie. Wikipedia has a nice section on the anti-transitivity of roshambo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock,_Paper,_Scissors Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Roshambo #127226 04/11/04 03:38 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage OP Carpal Tunnel OP Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Non-transitive. That answers that question. And that's the aspect I was looking for, not the counting out aspect. Now I can google for those non-transitive dice. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Roshambo #127227 04/13/04 09:37 AM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 7,210 Vermont somebody at Wikipedia must be watching us, the Rock, Paper, Scissors article is the Featured Article today... formerly known as etaoin... Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,913 Posts229,334 Members9,182 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV 9,182 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 752 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 33 A C Bowden 17 ddrinnan 1 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,543 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,916 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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