#93879
01/30/2003 9:47 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Just as I was getting impressed with the praiseworthy quality of an artice about Antartica,
a questionable word usage jumped out at me:
" Yet it is hard to guage what these dramatic developments portend, for despite scientists'
best efforts, Anarctica - highest, dryest, coldest continent on the planet - remains
a climatological cipher.
What in hell does that mean? I think it was supposed to mean "a puzzle" "a mystery"
"a conundrum" or something of the sort. In simpest terms "cipher" means "zero".
I cannot think of any way in which "cipher" makes sense. Can you?
cipher
n.
5ME cifre < OFr cyfre < ML cifra < Ar Rifr, Refr, a cipher, nothing < Rafara, to be empty6
1 the symbol 0, indicating a value of naught; zero
2 a person or thing of no importance or value; nonentity
3 a) a system of secret writing based on a key, or set of predetermined rules or symbols b) a message in such writing c) the key to such a system (see also CODE)
4 an intricate weaving together of letters, as a monogram
5 an Arabic numeral
vi.
1 [Now Rare] to solve arithmetic problems
2 to use secret writing
vt.
1 [Now Rare] to solve by arithmetic
2 to express in secret writing
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#93880
01/30/2003 9:51 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#93881
01/30/2003 10:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I think they were misusing the word, perhaps because "mystery" didn't sound mysterious enough. :)
Those definitions you posted puzzle me too. I expected to see the first definition to be something related to secret codes. Specifically I would have said an encoded text, with an emphasis on the use of a system to encode by rearranging letters. rearranging looks weird; is that spelled correctly? I had no idea cipher had any relation to zero.
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#93882
01/30/2003 10:14 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#93883
01/30/2003 10:17 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Despite scientists' best efforts, Anarctica - highest, dryest, coldest continent on the planet - remains a climatological [insert "cryptic"] cipher.
What the hell do they mean "cipher"?
Nothing? No. Just sloppy writing.
to cipher: to ascertain by mathematics
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#93884
01/30/2003 10:23 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#93885
01/30/2003 10:34 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The Antarctic climate may be a cryptogram to which we do not have the cipher.
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#93886
01/30/2003 10:44 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#93887
01/30/2003 11:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
We have a member who has experience in cryptography. I'd be interested to know his take on this.
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#93888
01/31/2003 12:50 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171
member
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member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171 |
I have enciphered plain-language messages and deciphered encrypted messages in my career, and always took it for granted that I was either making the underlying text unreadable in the former case or readable in the latter, using a cipher (or key).
So I would have to come down on the side of those who feel that cipher, as used in this case, was meant to evoke an image of mystery or insolubility, but was in fact used incorrectly.
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#93889
01/31/2003 2:17 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I have enciphered plain-language messages and deciphered encrypted messages
Wow! I am impressed! Coo-ool! And thanks for the word 'enciphered'--I can tell it just rolled right off your tongue, whereas it might never have occurred to me.
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