|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
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?"
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
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
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
somebody at Wikipedia must be watching us, the Rock, Paper, Scissors article is the Featured Article today... 
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,915
Posts230,127
Members9,198
| |
Most Online4,270
Aug 30th, 2025
|
|
|
0 members (),
1,954
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
