* AUA league table - 15/09/2001 to 21/09/2001
alex skilton
Here are some statistics on the most frequent posters between 15th September
2001 and 21st September 2001 inclusive.
In this week's league table, we have several new 'features':
* 'intelligent post' league table
* raw post league table
* counts of the usage of different words in posts
There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts compared
to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in 786
total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
----------
The first league table is the result of the waveflex 'intelligent post'
filter, and does not count posts with one-word answers such as "LOL!" and
other such posts.
The format is as follows: Position. Name - Email - Number of posts
1. Jess - jess_clare 'at' hotmail.comical - 66
2. Gaurav Sharma - gauravsharma 'at' btinternet.com - 63
3. Omar Khan - omarkhan_uk 'at' hotmail.com - 62
4. sachi - sachi 'at' beer.com - 53
5. James Gregory - jrg107 'at' york.ac.uk - 45
6. Rikki Prince - rprince 'at'
DOYOUREALLYTHINKTHISSHOULDBEHEREblueyonder.co.uk - 43
7. Ian/Cath Ford - idot.ford 'at' virgindot.net - 35
8. the mad space monkey - none 'at' nospam.com - 32
9. Chris Share - chris 'at' caesium.freeserve.co.uk - 29
10=. Matthew M. Huntbach - mmh 'at' dcs.qmw.ac.uk - 28
10=. Becca Taylor - beccatt 'at' no.yahoo.spam.com - 28
12. Cynical Chris - chris.removethispart 'at' durge.org - 26
13. Niall Saville - niall.saville 'at' cantab.net - 25
14. Barry Whyte - bwhyte 'at' hotmail.com - 24
15. Alex Warren - alex 'at' peculiar.co.uk - 17
16. Niall Saville - spam 'at' chicken.org.uk - 15
17. Imran - ImranG 'at' btinternet.com - 14
18=. Craig Fothergill - craig 'at' cfhome.freeserve.co.uk - 13
18=. alex skilton - alexskilton 'at' hotmail.com - 13
18=. Andy Tucker - a.j.w.tucker 'at' durham.ac.uk - 13
21=. JHP - john.powell1 'at' (nospam)virgin.net - 12
21=. Rachel Berry - rhb21 'at' hermes.cam.ac.uk - 12
23. equ1n0x - posted 'at' uk-learning.net - 11
24. SheepMan2000 - palmerian 'at' hotmail.com - 10
Those who posted fewer than 10 articles have been excluded.
Congratulations to Jess for topping the league table of 'intelligent posts'
this week! A tremendous achievement. Congratulations also go to Becca for
coming in the 'top ten', and to James Gregory for making it into the top
five. Commiserations go to Gaurav, for losing his top position.
----------
The second league table is the result of the waveflex 'intelligent post'
filter, and removes one word answer
The format is as follows: Position. Name - Email - Number of posts
1. Omar Khan - omarkhan_uk 'at' hotmail.com - 83
2. Gaurav Sharma - gauravsharma 'at' btinternet.com - 70
3. Jess - jess_clare 'at' hotmail.comical - 68
4. sachi - sachi 'at' beer.com - 59
5. Rikki Prince - rprince 'at'
DOYOUREALLYTHINKTHISSHOULDBEHEREblueyonder.co.uk - 52
6. James Gregory - jrg107 'at' york.ac.uk - 48
7. Ian/Cath Ford - idot.ford 'at' virgindot.net - 35
8. the mad space monkey - none 'at' nospam.com - 32
9. Chris Share - chris 'at' caesium.freeserve.co.uk - 29
10=. Matthew M. Huntbach - mmh 'at' dcs.qmw.ac.uk - 28
10=. Becca Taylor - beccatt 'at' no.yahoo.spam.com - 28
12. Cynical Chris - chris.removethispart 'at' durge.org - 26
13. Niall Saville - niall.saville 'at' cantab.net - 25
14. Barry Whyte - bwhyte 'at' hotmail.com - 24
15. Alex Warren - alex 'at' peculiar.co.uk - 17
16. Craig Fothergill - craig 'at' cfhome.freeserve.co.uk - 16
17. Niall Saville - spam 'at' chicken.org.uk - 15
18=. Andy Tucker - a.j.w.tucker 'at' durham.ac.uk - 14
18=. Imran - ImranG 'at' btinternet.com - 14
20=. Rachel Berry - rhb21 'at' hermes.cam.ac.uk - 13
20=. alex skilton - alexskilton 'at' hotmail.com - 13
22. JHP - john.powell1 'at' (nospam)virgin.net - 12
23. equ1n0x - posted 'at' uk-learning.net - 11
24. SheepMan2000 - palmerian 'at' hotmail.com - 10
Again, those who posted fewer than 10 articles have been excluded.
Congratulations to Omar for posting the largest number of 'raw posts'. It's
a pity that a large proportion of those are useless.
----------
This section is a new feature which may be interesting to some. Counts of
the usage of different words in the body of posts (raw posts) have been
made, some of which are detailed below:
'the' - 2668 occurrences
'a' - 1598 occurrences
'oxford' - 8 occurrences
'cambridge' - 16 occurrences
'imperial' - 18 occurrences
'f*ck' - 80 occurrences
'sh*t' - 22 occurrences
----------
Please note that the 'intelligent post' filter is not yet complete, and so
may have counted some posts as 'intelligent' when they clearly are not. This
filter will be improved in coming weeks.
Soon, graphs of AUA usage and other interesting features will be available
on a website!
Have a nice day.
--
alex
AUA league table sponsored by...
w a v e f l e x t e c h n o l o g i e s
http://www.waveflex.com
Jess
alex skilton
> How did you do the "intelligent post filter"?
<quote>
...does not count posts with one-word answers such as "LOL!"...
</quote>
I also removed posts like Rikki's replies to Omar's repeated messages.
HTH, HAND,
--
alex
Ian/Cath Ford
<alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts compared
>to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in 786
>total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
!! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
week for most of the year.
>'the' - 2668 occurrences
>'a' - 1598 occurrences
>'oxford' - 8 occurrences
>'cambridge' - 16 occurrences
>'imperial' - 18 occurrences
>
>'f*ck' - 80 occurrences
>'sh*t' - 22 occurrences
I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
intellgiently of course....
Ian
--
Ian, Cath & Eoin Ford
The view from Beccles
"I love you/I am the milkman of human kindness;
I will leave an extra pint"
You know what to do: delete the dots but leave the .s to reply to us.
alex skilton
> >There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts
compared
> >to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in
786
> >total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
>
> !! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
> week for most of the year.
:) AUA is certainly very active. I'll keep all these figures and plot graphs
over the year to see peak posting times etc.
> I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
> intellgiently of course....
I will add a count for 'aubergine' next week at see how many occurrences we
get. Though you might have to wait a bit until I can get internet access
sorted at Cambridge <enter Chris Share, stage left, laughing his head off>.
--
alex
LowerWolf
news:3badfc14...@news.virgin.net...
> On Sun, 23 Sep 2001 14:35:15 +0100, "alex skilton"
> <alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts
compared
> >to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in
786
> >total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
>
> !! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
> week for most of the year.
Is that when the group started? I think I was just starting my A Levels then
tho never really posted. uk.education.16plus was the popular group then and
nobody saw the need of this one. When did they swap over?
> I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
> intellgiently of course....
So how much of a students weekly spendage is for Aubergines then?
~Ryan
sachi
"alex skilton" <alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9okua6$dop4o$1...@ID-69195.news.dfncis.de...
alex dont u have better stuff 2 do?
[we all probably have better things than post here but ------ its
addictive--or something]
sachi
> <alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts
compared
> >to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in
786
> >total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
>
> !! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
> week for most of the year.
>
> >'the' - 2668 occurrences
> >'a' - 1598 occurrences
> >'oxford' - 8 occurrences
> >'cambridge' - 16 occurrences
> >'imperial' - 18 occurrences
> >
> >'f*ck' - 80 occurrences
> >'sh*t' - 22 occurrences
imperial comes right after sh*t, i dont think gaurav will be pleased.
the word 'f*ck' comes right after 'a' implying 'a f*ck' [whats wrong with
this generation-geez- is that all they can think about?].
oxford comes after cambridge - mimicking the rankings, im not sure its only
half as good though.
..sa
sachi
> > intellgiently of course....
>
> So how much of a students weekly spendage is for Aubergines then?
>
> ~Ryan
reminds me of goodness gracious me...
you know you can make anything from just two Aubergines...thats all u need
Jess
"Omar Khan" <omark...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9oku8u$dkd5n$1...@ID-93876.news.dfncis.de...
>
> Jess <jess_...@hotmail.comical> wrote in message
> news:JSmr7.5932$%a4.15...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com...
> > How did you do the "intelligent post filter"?
> >
> >
>
> series of calculations. :-)
And somehow manage to filter out useless posts like that :o)
Jess
"alex skilton" <alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9okua6$dop4o$1...@ID-69195.news.dfncis.de...
>
> > How did you do the "intelligent post filter"?
>
> <quote>
> ...does not count posts with one-word answers such as "LOL!"...
> </quote>
I read that, I was just interested to know *how* you do this.
alex skilton
> I read that, I was just interested to know *how* you do this.
Ah sorry!
All posts for the week are downloaded by the program and put into a
database. All previously quoted material is removed to get the actual text
posted, and then the program analyses this. I won't go into fuller details
in case Omar/anyone else tries to abuse the system.
HTH,
--
alex
James Gregory
sachi wrote:
> [we all probably have better things than post here but ------ its
> addictive--or something]
I don't most days, not for another week at least.
James
alex skilton
> alex dont u have better stuff 2 do?
>
> [we all probably have better things than post here but ------ its
> addictive--or something]
It was an interesting programming challenge, and has now become light relief
in between the paid programming work!
--
alex
Jess
Cheers. BTW, have you built anything in to ignore signatures? Otherwise
people with sigs could post 1 word answers, and get away with it (are we all
taking this too seriously or what?).
alex skilton
> > database. All previously quoted material is removed to get the actual
text
> > posted, and then the program analyses this. I won't go into fuller
details
> > in case Omar/anyone else tries to abuse the system.
> >
> > HTH,
>
> Cheers. BTW, have you built anything in to ignore signatures? Otherwise
> people with sigs could post 1 word answers, and get away with it (are we
all
> taking this too seriously or what?).
No problems. I haven't built anything in to ignore signatures yet (other
work called (-; ) but due to the use of non-standard signature separators,
it might be hard to separate them out.
Too seriously? Perhaps some sponsor could offer a prize for topping the
league tables?
--
alex
Jess
> > > All posts for the week are downloaded by the program and put into a
> > > database. All previously quoted material is removed to get the actual
> text
> > > posted, and then the program analyses this. I won't go into fuller
> details
> > > in case Omar/anyone else tries to abuse the system.
> > >
> > > HTH,
> >
> > Cheers. BTW, have you built anything in to ignore signatures? Otherwise
> > people with sigs could post 1 word answers, and get away with it (are we
> all
> > taking this too seriously or what?).
>
> No problems. I haven't built anything in to ignore signatures yet (other
> work called (-; ) but due to the use of non-standard signature separators,
> it might be hard to separate them out.
Why not just have a list of everyon'es sigs, and exclude them?
> Too seriously? Perhaps some sponsor could offer a prize for topping the
> league tables?
LOL. Maybe you could give me a prize :o)
alex skilton
> Why not just have a list of everyon'es sigs, and exclude them?
Too much manual work (-:
> > Too seriously? Perhaps some sponsor could offer a prize for topping the
> > league tables?
>
> LOL. Maybe you could give me a prize :o)
Here, have a virtual cookie! That's all I can afford after
oxbridge-info.co.uk data transfer (-;
--
alex
Jess
> Jess,
>
> > Why not just have a list of everyon'es sigs, and exclude them?
>
> Too much manual work (-:
Not much, seeing as not many people have sigs. It'd just be a bit of copying
and pasting. And hasn't the whole league table been a lot of work?
> > > Too seriously? Perhaps some sponsor could offer a prize for topping
the
> > > league tables?
> >
> > LOL. Maybe you could give me a prize :o)
>
> Here, have a virtual cookie!
Thanks.
>That's all I can afford after
> oxbridge-info.co.uk data transfer (-;
WTF?
alex skilton
> > Too much manual work (-:
>
> Not much, seeing as not many people have sigs. It'd just be a bit of
copying
> and pasting. And hasn't the whole league table been a lot of work?
It has, and I've already spent too long on it, so trying to avoid spending
even more time! It's a bit of copying and pasting, but then to do the code
to check the end of the message to compare etc...
> > Here, have a virtual cookie!
>
> Thanks.
A pleasure. Have another if you like.
> >That's all I can afford after
> > oxbridge-info.co.uk data transfer (-;
>
> WTF?
It's sponsored (i.e. hosted for free) by waveflex, and thus I can't really
afford to buy prizes for the winners each week.
--
alex
tooth...@delinquency.co.uk
ne...@lowerwolf.worldonline.co.uk says...
>
> So how much of a students weekly spendage is for Aubergines then?
I bought a smaaaaaalll aubergine, just the one, for some veggie meal
thing last year.
So, hmm, about 0.0002%, or something.
J
--
Shall I? What if? Which?
http://www.oxbridge-admissions.org.uk/
Version 5.0: www.ainfigree.co.uk
tooth...@delinquency.co.uk
alexs...@hotmail.com says...
> > >That's all I can afford after
> > > oxbridge-info.co.uk data transfer (-;
> > WTF?
> It's sponsored (i.e. hosted for free) by waveflex, and thus I can't really
> afford to buy prizes for the winners each week.
Hmm. Does the onus fall on me then? :P
Ian/Cath Ford
>In article <9okvpe$dpobn$1...@ID-10270.news.dfncis.de>,
>ne...@lowerwolf.worldonline.co.uk says...
>>
>> So how much of a students weekly spendage is for Aubergines then?
>
>I bought a smaaaaaalll aubergine, just the one, for some veggie meal
>thing last year.
Very nice though - we have aubergine sauce with Lamb balls. With
chilli and stuff - v easy. Would make a good student mean. Not sure
what you could replace the meat with if you were a veggie though - I
imagine Quorn balls is cheating. Good use of the the old aubergine
though - that and anti-pasta.
Ian/Cath Ford
<alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Too seriously? Perhaps some sponsor could offer a prize for topping the
>league tables?
As long as the prize goes to the top 100% relevent poster....
(i.e most posts all of which are relevant)
Note that I can't spell releva/ent, so I've spelt it wrong once and
right once just to be sure.
Ian/Cath Ford
<ne...@lowerwolf.worldonline.co.uk> wrote:
>"Ian/Cath Ford" <idot...@virgindot.net> wrote in message
>news:3badfc14...@news.virgin.net...
>> !! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
>> week for most of the year.
>Is that when the group started? I think I was just starting my A Levels then
>tho never really posted. uk.education.16plus was the popular group then and
>nobody saw the need of this one. When did they swap over?
I'm not sure. The first post I have saved for any relevent/ant need
was 20/9/99, but I was posting for at least a year before that - hard
drive failure - ouch. I seem to recall that when the people about to
head into their second year at uni came into the group things really
hotted up - so that would have been about a year before that. Which
would tie in. I honestly can't remember when this all started out - I
wasn't here then I know that much!! Someone will remember...
Flexiblegoat
wrote:
Do you have a connection in your house of do you trek to campus for
this?
paul
_
i might be wrong.
tooth...@delinquency.co.uk
says...
> >I bought a smaaaaaalll aubergine, just the one, for some veggie meal
> >thing last year.
>
> Very nice though - we have aubergine sauce with Lamb balls. With
> chilli and stuff - v easy. Would make a good student mean. Not sure
> what you could replace the meat with if you were a veggie though - I
> imagine Quorn balls is cheating. Good use of the the old aubergine
> though - that and anti-pasta.
Ah, anti-pasta - is that the stuff which explodes if kept on the same
shelf as normal pasta? ;) Or something even more bizarre from Pratchett,
IIRC. TBH I'm not a big aubergine fan - hence the one purchase, ever -
it's just nice diced with fried or steamed courgettes/carrots/other
random veg covered in one of those packet sauces. I must nick my mum's
steamer for next year, ackshirley.
I do eat Quorn, incidentally, because I have this tendency to hate
vegetables except when I go on a healthy spree - and it's kind of
unavoidable in Hall. Don't care if it's cheating :)
J
--
Shall I? What if? Which?
NEW URL: http://www.oxbridge-info.co.uk/
contentfree wannabe at 2am: http://girl-geek.com/
We'll do websites for money. http://www.justanotherstudio.co.uk/
alex skilton
really
> > afford to buy prizes for the winners each week.
>
> Hmm. Does the onus fall on me then? :P
What a good idea (-: you get to be an... oxbridge-info.co.uk ambassador! How
about it?
--
alex
sachi
ah ic..
i have been doing maths for relief instead, between the paid proggi makin..
.sa
Chris Share
said....
Well from what alex has said something like would count...
He just goes through the posts of the top 10 ppl filtering omar's
typical blank replies, or "edited" ones, or "lol" and suchlikes from
everyone.
chris
alex skilton
> >> series of calculations. :-)
> >
> >And somehow manage to filter out useless posts like that :o)
>
> Well from what alex has said something like would count...
> He just goes through the posts of the top 10 ppl filtering omar's
> typical blank replies, or "edited" ones, or "lol" and suchlikes from
> everyone.
The computer does most of that for me, but for some, it presents me with
each post which I then deem useless or intelligent :)
--
alex
Chris Share
(idot...@virgindot.net) said....
>On Sun, 23 Sep 2001 14:35:15 +0100, "alex skilton"
><alexs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts compared
>>to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in 786
>>total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
>
>!! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
>week for most of the year.
Eeek. It was about 80 a day when I started.
>>'the' - 2668 occurrences
>>'a' - 1598 occurrences
>>'oxford' - 8 occurrences
>>'cambridge' - 16 occurrences
>>'imperial' - 18 occurrences
>>
>>'f*ck' - 80 occurrences
>>'sh*t' - 22 occurrences
>
>I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
>intellgiently of course....
>
>Ian
Aah, that old a-level tradition. Word of the week to be used in a
proper conversation... "Stoichiometric(ally)" was the worst. Anyway,
Aubergine would be quite an easy word to use - you can do stuff like
"i like to eat aubergines", or more likely "i think aubergines taste
horrible". Or "that object is aubergine in colour". Or you could try
the etymology of the word "aubergine", or perhaps why the americans
call it something else. Or do they call it aubergine too, and I'm
thinking of something else apart from aubergines? Hey, idea... maybe
the winner of the intelligent posting award gets an aubergine? :) And
the one who has the highest proportion of pointless crappy posts get
an aubergine rammed up their arse... erm, maybe not. Poor aubergine..
Anyway, that's enough about aubergines. Can we have pomegranates next
week? ;)
chris
PS: Replace each instance of "aubergine" with "shit" and you have
roughly the plot of the second episode of south park season 5 :)
Chris Share
(alexs...@hotmail.com) said....
>Ian,
>
>> >There has been a marked increase in the total number of AUA posts
>compared
>> >to last week. The week of 08/09/2001 to 14/09/2001 inclusive resulted in
>786
>> >total posts, but this week, AUA subscribers have posted a huge 880 posts!
>>
>> !! Y'know, I seem to recall a time where we'd get about 10 posts a
>> week for most of the year.
>
>over the year to see peak posting times etc.
>
>> I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
>> intellgiently of course....
>
>get. Though you might have to wait a bit until I can get internet access
>sorted at Cambridge <enter Chris Share, stage left, laughing his head off>.
>
>--
>alex
Nah, you won't have to wait too long... 2-3 days probably. We're the
ones with the evil CS people...
chris
Chris Share
>> > I vote the word of the week is Aubergine. Has to be used
>> > intellgiently of course....
>>
>>
>
>reminds me of goodness gracious me...
>you know you can make anything from just two Aubergines...thats all u need
Hmm.... anyone else remember the Beatles song, All you need is
Aubergines?
chris
Matthew M. Huntbach
> Aah, that old a-level tradition. Word of the week to be used in a
> proper conversation... "Stoichiometric(ally)" was the worst. Anyway,
> Aubergine would be quite an easy word to use - you can do stuff like
> "i like to eat aubergines", or more likely "i think aubergines taste
> horrible". Or "that object is aubergine in colour". Or you could try
> the etymology of the word "aubergine", or perhaps why the americans
> call it something else. Or do they call it aubergine too, and I'm
> thinking of something else apart from aubergines?
Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
"garden egg").
Matthew Huntbach
tooth...@delinquency.co.uk
alexs...@hotmail.com says...
Oh yes! You beat me to it. Tell you what -- booby prize is a carefully
picked item from my hardware box which I'm clearing out. Broken SS7
motherboard? No problem. Modem faceplate that won't fit anyone's
computer? Coming right up...
J
--
Shall I? What if? Which?
alex skilton
How
> > about it?
>
> Oh yes! You beat me to it. Tell you what -- booby prize is a carefully
> picked item from my hardware box which I'm clearing out. Broken SS7
> motherboard? No problem. Modem faceplate that won't fit anyone's
> computer? Coming right up...
If they come and collect it then that sounds a good idea... though I fear
that Omar would be getting a lot of that old hardware!
--
alex
visit http://oxbridge-info.co.uk
[ sponsored by waveflex.com ]
JHP
>
> Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
> seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
> of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
> "garden egg").
>
> Matthew Huntbach
Aubergine is one of the few Welsh words to have become part of the English
language (others are eisteddfod [a small stool used for natural childbirth]
hwyl [a kind of soup] and cardiff [a woollen cloak used to keep off seagull
droppings])
Aubergines are not native to Wales but were brought back by the early
settlers of the North Americas, who didn't know what they were called and
couldn't make a decent victoria sandwich either. The Welsh called them
auberginau (from the original indo-European root *auberg, a small hotel),
which translates (I paraphrase) as "shiny eggy -looking thing that goes all
mushy when you keep it in the fridge".
Strangely modern Welsh uses the word also to mean "leader of the
opposition" - an inexplicable transmutation of meaning.
John
Chris Share
(alexs...@hotmail.com) said....
>> > What a good idea (-: you get to be an... oxbridge-info.co.uk ambassador!
>How
>> > about it?
>>
>> Oh yes! You beat me to it. Tell you what -- booby prize is a carefully
>> picked item from my hardware box which I'm clearing out. Broken SS7
>> motherboard? No problem. Modem faceplate that won't fit anyone's
>> computer? Coming right up...
>
>If they come and collect it then that sounds a good idea... though I fear
>that Omar would be getting a lot of that old hardware!
>
>--
>alex
Hehe... If that's what we're doing I can donate lots. AS new, working
486 mobos? with I/O boards...
chris
James Gregory
Flexiblegoat wrote:
> >> [we all probably have better things than post here but ------ its
> >> addictive--or something]
> >
> >I don't most days, not for another week at least.
> >
> > James
>
> Do you have a connection in your house of do you trek to campus for
> this?
>
I trek or cycle to campus.
James
Gaurav Sharma
"Matthew M. Huntbach" <m...@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:9omree$np2$7...@beta.qmw.ac.uk...
I'm sure we indians call it "Bangan",
Unless I'm getting confused with eggs or something.
--
====================
Gaurav Sharma
Matthew M. Huntbach
> "Matthew M. Huntbach" <m...@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> wrote in message
> > Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
> > seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
> > of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
> > "garden egg").
> I'm sure we indians call it "Bangan",
> Unless I'm getting confused with eggs or something.
No, it's definitely "brinjal". You can buy brinjal pickle in the
supermarkets made out of it, and brinjal bhajee in Indian takeaways.
It's one of a number of food related words which Indians (or at least
my in-laws who are Goans, so don't always think of themselves as
Indians (my mother-in-law can frequently be heard moaning about
"those Indians")) use in their own tongue, even when speaking
English, even when in the case of my wife, English is all they speak.
Matthew Huntbach
Ginnie Redston
"JHP" <john.powell1@(nospam)virgin.net> wrote in message
news:tkFr7.975$2K4.3...@news6-win.server.ntlworld.com...
purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked in
the oven.
Ginnie
JHP
Ginnie Redston <Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:9onn4e$e6b43$1...@ID-72565.news.dfncis.de...
That's not true. Some aubergines start glossy smooth and *pink* and shrivel
when exposed to the electorate. It's a colour issue - one has to be correct
in these things.
Btw, why have you been so strangely silent lately? The sound of off-stage
giggling has been almost absent. Spooky.
John
JHP
> Yes, the Pakistanis call it "Bengan". They cook it by slicing it all up
an
> adding aload of spices, onions and potatoes and you have a nice curry.
But
> I don't like vegetables :)
> > --
> > ====================
> > Gaurav Sharma
> >
> >
>
>
Wooooooaaah! Full recipe details please.
John
Ian/Cath Ford
>Ah, anti-pasta - is that the stuff which explodes if kept on the same
>shelf as normal pasta? ;) Or something even more bizarre from Pratchett,
>IIRC.
Hmmmm. I take me food far too seriously. I am not amused :-)
> TBH I'm not a big aubergine fan - hence the one purchase, ever -
>it's just nice diced with fried or steamed courgettes/carrots/other
>random veg covered in one of those packet sauces. I must nick my mum's
>steamer for next year, ackshirley.
Steamer's are higely vital and important. You all need one - a cheapo
one will do - can't remember where we got ours from but it is in
constant use. Not sure I fancy steamed Aubergine though - wouldn't
that get a bit gloopy. The sauce should be fairly powerful - packet?
Wassat?! :-)
>I do eat Quorn, incidentally, because I have this tendency to hate
>vegetables except when I go on a healthy spree - and it's kind of
>unavoidable in Hall. Don't care if it's cheating :)
Quorn per se I have no problem with. Quorn balls would concern me
however. Just doesn't work.
Ian/Cath Ford
<Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>The depressing thing about aubergines is that they begin all smooth,
>purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked in
>the oven.
Nah, roasting's not the thing to do to the old Aubergine. What you
want is either one of those ridged grill pans or, even better imho,
just a grill and a little pastry brush and some oil. Oil the
Aubergine slices using the brush (Good Food did a thing about
alternative uses for pastry brushes a couple of years ago - I can
think of plenty they didn't include) and then grill it. Nice. Goes
down cold as well.
Or stew it in tomato. That's nice. Aubergine works like that. But
roasted Aubergine. Nah - although those little ones you can sometimes
get might be nice like that I guess. A big old Aubergine would be a
bit overdone on the outside and raw on the middle I'd say. Which is
probably what you meant.
I think.
JHP
Ian/Cath Ford <idot...@virgindot.net> wrote in message
news:3baf7b4...@news.virgin.net...
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:31:28 +0100, "Ginnie Redston"
> <Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
> >The depressing thing about aubergines is that they begin all smooth,
> >purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked
in
> >the oven.
>
> Nah, roasting's not the thing to do to the old Aubergine. What you
> want is either one of those ridged grill pans or, even better imho,
> just a grill and a little pastry brush and some oil. Oil the
> Aubergine slices using the brush (Good Food did a thing about
> alternative uses for pastry brushes a couple of years ago - I can
> think of plenty they didn't include) and then grill it. Nice. Goes
> down cold as well.
>
> Or stew it in tomato. That's nice. Aubergine works like that. But
> roasted Aubergine. Nah - although those little ones you can sometimes
> get might be nice like that I guess. A big old Aubergine would be a
> bit overdone on the outside and raw on the middle I'd say. Which is
> probably what you meant.
>
> I think.
>
> Ian
> --
Slice an aubergine into 1/4 " slices- fry them gently in olive oil. Don't
bother with the salting rioutine- waste of time with modern varieties of
aubergine. Put into an oven proof dish with successive layers of aubergine,
tomato sauce (NOT KETCHUP) and mozzarella + sprinkle of salt. Top with
parmesan. Cook for 15 minutes at 200C. Eat secretly and quickly before
anyone else smells the result.
John
Imran
<john.powell1@(nospam)virgin.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
>> seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
>> of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
>> "garden egg").
>>
>> Matthew Huntbach
>
>Aubergine is one of the few Welsh words to have become part of the English
>language (others are eisteddfod [a small stool used for natural childbirth]
>hwyl [a kind of soup] and cardiff [a woollen cloak used to keep off seagull
>droppings])
>Aubergines are not native to Wales but were brought back by the early
>settlers of the North Americas, who didn't know what they were called and
>couldn't make a decent victoria sandwich either. The Welsh called them
>auberginau (from the original indo-European root *auberg, a small hotel),
Actually the word comes from the French "aubergine" which is derived
from the Catalan "albergina", which in turn is derived from the
Arabic "al badinjan".
As Arabic is a semetic language (not an indo-european language) we
can probably assume that it was a loan-word into the *Italic branch
of the indo-european tree. Because of the sound shift occuring
between "al badinjan" and "albergina" there was probably a fair time
period between the two words (possibly the word was first introduced
into Latin, as the Spanish have another word "alberchigo" meaning
apricot which appears to have the same root).
However the story doesn't quite end there, as the Arabic "al
badinjan" was a loan-word itself coming from the Persian "badenjan",
and Persian is an Indo-European language.
I've always considered the Urdu/Hindi word to be "Bagan" but Omar &
Gaurav may be right with "Bangan".
Given the similarity between "badenjan" and "bangan" they probably
have a common root, especially as persian and urdu/hindi are both in
the indo-iranian brach of the indo-european tree. I assume the root
is *baenjan or something similar (If the Indus Valley Script ever
gets translated we'll probably find out the exact word).
I suspect the word "brinjal" comes from a different language tree
(unless it is from Begali or Pashto, neither of which I am even
vaugely familiar with), possibly from the Dravidian language group.
If so the word for aubergine was probably a very early loan word from
the Dravidian into the indo-iranian language.
(Dravidian because aubergine is thought to have origninated (as a
food) from before c2000BC in India/China, the same place as Dravidian
is supposed to have come from)
Given the above assumption *baenjan and "brinjal" probably have a
shared root, possibly *bhanja.
>Strangely modern Welsh uses the word also to mean "leader of the
>opposition" - an inexplicable transmutation of meaning.
That probably comes from the french "auberg", remember the early
indo-europeans didn't have hotels, looking at the derivation of
"auberg" it appears to have come from the earlier word "auberg"
meaning "gathering of like-minded people", which is probably the root
for the welsh word.
Imran
--
Conexant/Rockwell Modem HOWTO
http://linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Conexant+Rockwell-modem-HOWTO/
TickleTux Hangman (for Windows and Linux)
http://tickletux.sourceforge.net
Ian/Cath Ford
<john.powell1@(nospam)virgin.net> wrote:
>Slice an aubergine into 1/4 " slices- fry them gently in olive oil. Don't
>bother with the salting rioutine- waste of time with modern varieties of
>aubergine. Put into an oven proof dish with successive layers of aubergine,
>tomato sauce (NOT KETCHUP) and mozzarella + sprinkle of salt. Top with
>parmesan. Cook for 15 minutes at 200C. Eat secretly and quickly before
>anyone else smells the result.
I've tried this sort of aubergine recipe. I can see why people would
like it but, I must admit, it's not me. I just don't like the humble
aubergine cooked in this way. It's, I guess, too *sloppy* and the
taste does nasty things to me.
I do, however, agree entirely with the need to avoid salting
aubergines nowadays. No point - waste of good salt and all that.
Ginnie Redston
"Imran" <Imr...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:9oo5f0$e8pol$1...@ID-77162.news.dfncis.de...
<waves white flag>
OK people, I vote Imran wins!
Ginnie
Ginnie Redston
>
>
> Ginnie Redston <Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:9onn4e$e6b43$1...@ID-72565.news.dfncis.de...
> >
> > "JHP" <john.powell1@(nospam)virgin.net> wrote in message
> > news:tkFr7.975$2K4.3...@news6-win.server.ntlworld.com...
> > >
> > > > > >
> > purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked
in
> > the oven.
> >
> > Ginnie
> >
> >
> That's not true. Some aubergines start glossy smooth and *pink* and
shrivel
> when exposed to the electorate. It's a colour issue - one has to be
correct
> in these things.
>
> Btw, why have you been so strangely silent lately? The sound of off-stage
> giggling has been almost absent. Spooky.
>
> John
>
Oh just those beginning of academic year blues! Compounded this year by the
fact that new systems have been imposed from On High, and few of them work.
Normal operation will be resumed as soon as possible, meanwhile we hope you
will enjoy this Himalayan yeti chant.
Ginnie
Chris Share
>In article <3bae43d...@news.virgin.net>, idot...@virgindot.net
>says...
>> On Sun, 23 Sep 2001 18:48:15 +0100, j...@ainfigree.co.uk
>> <tooth...@delinquency.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> >I bought a smaaaaaalll aubergine, just the one, for some veggie meal
>> >thing last year.
>>
>> Very nice though - we have aubergine sauce with Lamb balls. With
>> chilli and stuff - v easy. Would make a good student mean. Not sure
>> what you could replace the meat with if you were a veggie though - I
>> imagine Quorn balls is cheating. Good use of the the old aubergine
>> though - that and anti-pasta.
>
>Ah, anti-pasta - is that the stuff which explodes if kept on the same
>shelf as normal pasta? ;) Or something even more bizarre from Pratchett,
>IIRC.
You do RC - it's from one of the feetneet in RM... page 157 in my
copy. Hang on, I'll type in the relevant bit...
"but in fact the HEM building has helped provide one of the rarest
foods in the universe - antipasta. Ordinary pasta is prepared some
hours before being eaten. Antipasta is created some hours after the
meal, whereupon it then exists backwards in time, and if properly
prepared should arrive on the taste buds at exactly the same moment,
thus creating a true taste explosion. It costs five thousand dollars
a forkful, or a little more if you include the cost of cleaning the
tomato sauce off the walls afterwards."
chris
Chris Share
(Gin...@btinternet.com) said....
Seconded.
Imran, is that real or just real-sounding BS?
chris
Ian/Cath Ford
<Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote:
><cackle>
>Oh just those beginning of academic year blues! Compounded this year by the
>fact that new systems have been imposed from On High, and few of them work.
*Really?* Systems that don't work in education? Blimey - whatever
next :-) They'll be trying to bring in new syllabuses before we know
it...
>Normal operation will be resumed as soon as possible, meanwhile we hope you
>will enjoy this Himalayan yeti chant.
Oooh, folk music - yummie.
Matthew M. Huntbach
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:31:28 +0100, "Ginnie Redston"
> <Gin...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> >The depressing thing about aubergines is that they begin all smooth,
> >purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked in
> >the oven.
> Nah, roasting's not the thing to do to the old Aubergine. What you
> want is either one of those ridged grill pans or, even better imho,
> just a grill and a little pastry brush and some oil.
You can also dip them in batter and fritter them. Or stuff them.
Matthew Huntbach
Matthew M. Huntbach
> The depressing thing about aubergines is that they begin all smooth,
> purply-black and glossy but become a wrinkled charcoal grey when cooked in
> the oven.
Never cook a whole one in an oven without at least piercing it. I am told
of one occasion where one exploded inside the oven while cooking, covering
the whole inside of the oven with vegetable bits.
Matthew Huntbach
Matthew M. Huntbach
> >> Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
> >> seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
> >> of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
> >> "garden egg").
> I've always considered the Urdu/Hindi word to be "Bagan" but Omar &
> Gaurav may be right with "Bangan".
OK, I'll concede on yours and Omar's and Gaurav's better Urdu/Hindi
than mine. But how come it's Brinjal Bhajee in the Indian restuarants?
I know that Indoian restuarants are actually owned and staffed by
Bangladeshis, but I thought they used Hindi terms for the food?
> I suspect the word "brinjal" comes from a different language tree
> (unless it is from Begali or Pashto, neither of which I am even
> vaugely familiar with), possibly from the Dravidian language group.
> If so the word for aubergine was probably a very early loan word from
> the Dravidian into the indo-iranian language.
My mother-in-law's food terms come from Konkani, which is about as far south
as you can go in Indian languages without getting Dravidian.
Matthew Huntbach
Ian/Cath Ford
wrote:
>You can also dip them in batter and fritter them. Or stuff them.
Deep fried Aubergine is certainly good - I like a little cayenne
sprinkled on them or in the batter first.
Never had stuffed Aubergine. I can see it might work though. Trouble
is the stuffing would really have to be lamb for me - and that kind of
defeats the purpose of eating a vegetable like that.
Imran
<ch...@caesium.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>><waves white flag>
>>
>>OK people, I vote Imran wins!
>>
>>
>>Ginnie
>
>Seconded.
>Imran, is that real or just real-sounding BS?
I think most of it would be accepted as "real"[1] by most
etymologists/glottochronologist/historical linguists.
Searching Google, other people appear to agree with my opinion that
the English word is derived from the Arabic "al badinjan", although
some websites claim the word came from the Sanskrit "vatin-gana"[2].
That argument ignores the existence of the word "badenjan" in
Persian, Persian comes from an entirely different branch(from
Sanskrit) of the indo-iranian tree. Persian is derived from old
Iranian, but Urdu/Hindi is derived from Vedic (Sanskrit is also
derived from Vedic), the fact that a similar word for aubergine
exists in languages from the Vedic branch and the Iranian branch
seems to indicate that the word entered the language before Sanskrit.
A nitpicker might note that in my arguments I stated that the Indus
Valley script might reveal the actual earlier word, this isn't
certain as there is no strong evidence that the language used is
actually Indo-European[3] (if it is Indo-European, then it will be
the oldest Indo-European language to have ever been discovered).
[1] "Real" as in a reasonably strong arguments, as with other things
in history it's quite hard to say for sure whether opinion A or B is
true, and is mainly solved by balancing off opposing arguments. As my
argument was mainly linguistically based, the fact that it generally
agrees with archeological evidence strengthens my argument a fair
bit.
[2] Although "vatin-gana" may well share the same root as aubergine
[3] The current archeological evidence indicates that the language is
either a Dravidian, Indo-European or proto-Elamite language.
Imran
wrote:
>Imran (Imr...@btinternet.com) wrote:
>
>> >> Americans call it "egg-plant". Indians call it "brinjal". "Egg-plant"
>> >> seems sily, unless you are aware of the small whitish-orange version
>> >> of it, which does look very much like an egg (Africans call this
>> >> "garden egg").
>
>> I've always considered the Urdu/Hindi word to be "Bagan" but Omar &
>> Gaurav may be right with "Bangan".
>
>OK, I'll concede on yours and Omar's and Gaurav's better Urdu/Hindi
>than mine. But how come it's Brinjal Bhajee in the Indian restuarants?
>I know that Indoian restuarants are actually owned and staffed by
>Bangladeshis, but I thought they used Hindi terms for the food?
[I'm placing Brinjal in Language A]
I'm speculating here, the difference between Brinjal and Bangan
indicates that the words have been seperated for some time, given the
existance of Language A and Hindi/Urdu both in India within close
proximity it suprising that a traded commodity would have two would
have two fairly seperate word. From this we can derive two
possibilities:
1) That both words are fairly old and come from a time when the users
of the two languages seperated. This is the arguement I used in the
other post.
2) The word is an import from another language, this is possible, for
instance a European language could have imported the word from
Arabic, the word would then have evolved and at some time later the
word could have been introduced back into India (for instance by
traders)
rafaelro...@gmail.com
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