Huh? What the heck is up with this???

Post #18,233 by CRConrad 11/14/01 10:23:24 AM Reply	Huh? What the heck is up with this??? From the [link\|http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/science/physical/13QED.html\|article] (which I got to just fine using cypherpunks6/cypherpunks6): The book describes their attempts, near the end of Feynman's life, to arrange a visit to Tannu Tuva, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Among its attractions, Feynman discovered in a geography book, was the spelling of its capital city, Kyzyl. "I started to have an image of this guy who was one of the smartest people on the planet, who knew he was dying, but nevertheless devoted a great deal of his time to this apparently trivial pursuit of getting to this country because he thought it would be interesting to go to a place whose capital city had no vowels in it." WTF?!? Since when is 'y' not a vowel? Now, sure, I realize in English it's often also used as a consonant... But are you really going to tell me the word "hymn" has no vowel in it? And, perhaps even more to the point, what makes them think Tuvanian has the same silly (sometime-?) convention as English, when almost (or absolutely) no other language on Earth does? Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #18,245 by a6l6e6x 11/14/01 11:16:52 AM Reply	Re: Huh? What the heck is up with this??? "... a place whose capital city had no vowels in it." That's what's called doing it for the hell of it without being blunt about it. "Vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y" is the way I've always heard it. Don't be so ready to lynch us for English idiosyncrasies. :) Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Post #18,270 by CRConrad 11/14/01 1:18:50 PM Reply	The only language I know of, that really has vowel-less... ...words, is Serbo-Croatian. With place-names like [link\|http://www.grad-krk.hr/english/\|Krk], and whatnot... :-) Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #18,272 by inthane-chan 11/14/01 1:28:45 PM Reply	Then there's Qhlgm... "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Post #18,315 by jb4 11/14/01 5:26:08 PM Reply	Isn't that what comes out of your nose when you sneeze? jb4 (Resistance is not futile...)
Post #18,320 by Ashton 11/14/01 6:09:24 PM Reply	Don't think That was RP's source of interest in Tuva Just maybe a further quasi-oddity. I too recall the triangular stamps from there; he just recalled it more quizzically than lesser mortals like moi. He had the funds and the mere desire for a Lark? (I. Guess.) Irony.. that the official OK arrived within days of his death. Life - you don't get out of it alive. A.

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