XYZZY
Adam Dawes
Just curious...
How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
.\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ Ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk \//
> Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1225/
Jason Compton
Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
: why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
I use the American pronunciation.
--
Jason Compton jcom...@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine (847) 741-0689 FAX
AR on Aminet - docs/mags/ar???.lha WWW - http://www.cucug.org/ar/
The path is clear... ...though no eyes can see.
There is always a choice. Alternative Computing Now!
Neil deMause
Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: : How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
: : why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
I never say it out loud, for fear of being suddenly transported to another
part of my house.
Neil
wet cat
Neil deMause wrote:
>
> Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>
> : : How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"?
Well, I pronounce it to rhyme with "busy" or "Lizzie." But that doesn't
answer the question. It's possible to make a "ks" sound without a vowel
in front of it (though I know of no English words with such a sound) -
so I pronounce it "ksizzy"
(after walking back into the house from the sinkhole; there are lots of
caves under this part of the planet)
-w.c.
Admiral Jota
Adam Dawes <ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk> writes:
>Just curious...
>How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
>why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
I've always pronounced it 'zizzy'. I have trouble imagining actually
spelling it out every time I want to be teleported; would you pronounce
PLUGH as 'pee el you gee aitch'?
--
/<-= Admiral Jota =->\
-< <-= jo...@tiac.net =-> >-
\<-=- -= -=- -= -=->/
Stephen van Egmond
This is reminiscent of the "is it a zed machine or zee machine?" thread.
FWIW, the Jargon file offers the pronounciations "X-Y-Z-Z-Y",
"X-Y-ziz'ee", "ziz'ee", and "ik-ziz'ee". Personally, I use "zizzy" and
call it a zed-machine, my computer ends with .ca, so I get to be like
that.
/STeve
Julian Arnold
In article <9702201...@darkside.demon.co.uk>, Adam Dawes
<URL:mailto:ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Just curious...
>
> How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
> why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
The one time I said it out loud I said "zizzy". I'm just glad I was
sitting down at the time.
Still, I had even more fun saying legach at the Tate.
Jools
--
"For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand
ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me
from ever completing anything." -- Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"
Jason Compton
Stephen van Egmond (svan...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca) wrote:
: This is reminiscent of the "is it a zed machine or zee machine?" thread.
Aaaargh! Now you've ruined all modern IF for me.
David Lebling
Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
Infocom.
Dave Lebling
(david_...@avid.com)
Neil deMause
David Lebling (david_...@avid.com) wrote:
: Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
: Infocom.
You all were weird. :)
Neil
Drone
Adam Dawes wrote:
>
> Just curious...
>
> How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
> why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
>
I pronounce it with a hard initial "k" sound, as in "ksizzy". Don't ask me why, I
just always have.
Drone.
--
"Esse est percipi."
foxg...@globalserve.net
they got purple; purple's a fruit
And behold, Drone <foxg...@globalserve.net> did spake, speaking:
> Adam Dawes wrote:
> >
> > Just curious...
> >
> > How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
> > why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
> >
>
> I pronounce it with a hard initial "k" sound, as in "ksizzy". Don't ask me why, I
> just always have.
>
There was an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse where the secret word was
"XYZZYBALUBA" and they pronounced it "zizzybaluba". However, one might argue
that adding "baluba" at the end would force the beginning to be pronounced
"zizzy"... who knows?
- spatch, xyzzybaluba was also the alien visitor that episode, don't ask me
how I know this -
--
derSpatchel resides at http://error.net/~spatula, among other places.
"But Basketball is a peaceful planet! We have no weapons!"
PUTPBAD 2: 94% IQ DROPPED: 12%
mstie#43790
Graham Nelson
In article <9702201...@darkside.demon.co.uk>, Adam Dawes
<URL:mailto:ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> (or "ex why zee zee why" for the Americans), or "zizzy",
> or some other way?
Boringly enough, I spell it out, ex why zed zed why, and any
elision is solely the result of impatience. (Nothing happens.)
I rhyme PLUGH with "through", despite my suspicion that the
name is a sort-of-pun -- I think it's a contraction of
"plughole". Think about the geography and you might agree.
I pronounce PLOVER to rhyme with "lover", ZOOGE to rhyme with
"stooge" and GREP to rhyme with "what's the sodding port of grep
called on my machine".
--
Graham Nelson | gra...@gnelson.demon.co.uk | Oxford, United Kingdom
R.C.Call
>On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
Before anyone asks, it's "ploo," of course.
Chris
R.C.Call, Lucent Technologies Bell Labs Innovations,
908 946-1133, rcc...@lucent.com
R.C.Call
>> > How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee
> zee
>> > why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
One doesn't pronounce it; one _intones_ it. In a sepulchral voice,
preferably.
Anyway, I've always said X, Y, Z-Z, Y; that is, pronounced the individual
letters (and those are "zees", by the way)--except in a little ditty that I
once wrote (although why I'm admitting it is anyone's guess):
I'm looking over and em'rald plover
That I overlooked before.
If I say "x-yzzy," I'll come home to you--
But if I say "plugh," then I'll go to Y2.
There's no need explaining--the gold remaining
Is something that I must store.
I'm looking over and em'rald plover
That I overlooked before.
In this case, you must say "eks-izzy," and must also mispronounce "plover."
On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
And if you're caught actually _singing_ it (and if you don't know the tune,
where have you been living--in a cave?), you must go to bed without any
supper.
Admiral Jota
rcc...@lucent.com (R.C.Call) writes:
>>On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
>Before anyone asks, it's "ploo," of course.
What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
(That's similar to 'plug', except the GH is much more strongly aspirated
than a G; air continues to flow out of the mouth for a moment after the
later solid consonant sound.)
Adam Dawes
Hi Neil!
>> : How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why
>> zee zee : why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
Nd> I never say it out loud, for fear of being suddenly transported to
Nd> another part of my house.
Rotfl! I'm glad you mentioned that.. However, I just tried it, and a hollow
voice said nothing at all. :(
.\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ Ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk \//
> http://www.rdainfotec.demon.co.uk/adam/
> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1225/
Cyber-Babushka
On 20 Feb 1997, Jason Compton wrote:
>Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>
>: How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
>: why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
>
>I use the American pronunciation.
I'm an apostate; I pronounce it "skizzy".
bonni
http://wvnvm.wvnet.edu/~u6ed4/bonni.html
C++ Turbo Vision archive: http://brooks.wvn.wvnet.edu/tvhome
__ __
IC | XC | bonni mierzejewska "The Lone Quilter"
---+--- | u6...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu
NI | KA | Kelly's Creek Homestead, Maidsville, WV
Andrew Plotkin
> >Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
> >
> >: How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
> >: why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
> >
> >I use the American pronunciation.
> I'm an apostate; I pronounce it "skizzy".
Oh, no, a xyzzym in our faith!
--Z
(I say "ex why zee zee why"; "plover" rhymes with "clover"; and "plugh"
is to "plug" as "Bach" is to "bock.")
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
Magnus Olsson
In article <jota.85...@laraby.tiac.net>,
Admiral Jota <jo...@laraby.tiac.net> wrote:
>rcc...@lucent.com (R.C.Call) writes:
>
>>>On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
>
>>Before anyone asks, it's "ploo," of course.
>
>What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
>
>(That's similar to 'plug', except the GH is much more strongly aspirated
>than a G; air continues to flow out of the mouth for a moment after the
>later solid consonant sound.)
You're not the only one; I pronounce it that way as well. And, for the
record, I've always pronounced "xyzzy" with a "ks" sound at the
beginning.
--
Magnus Olsson (m...@df.lth.se, zeb...@pobox.com)
Matthew Daly
In article <9702212...@darkside.demon.co.uk> ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk writes:
> >> : How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why
> >> zee zee : why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
>
> Nd> another part of my house.
>
>Rotfl! I'm glad you mentioned that.. However, I just tried it, and a hollow
>voice said nothing at all. :(
In the interest of removing some of these dilatory proposed pronounciations,
I propose that anyone who submits a pronunciation also point out what
happens when they say it.
-Matthew, who spelled the pro- word differently both times in hopes that
I'd get it right once.
--
Matthew Daly I feel that if a person has problems communicating
mwd...@kodak.com the very least he can do is to shut up - Tom Lehrer
My opinions are not necessarily those of my employer, of course.
Drone
R.C.Call wrote:
>
> >On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
>
> Before anyone asks, it's "ploo," of course.
>
It's not "ploof"? How disillusioning.
Cyber-Babushka
On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Adam J. Thornton wrote:
>In article <Pine.LNX.3.95.970222094354.176D-100000@seraphim> you write:
>>I'm an apostate; I pronounce it "skizzy".
>
>Yeah, but you use vi, too.
>
>Ugh.
THBPPPTTT!!!!
REPENT!!!
O:)
Chris Lang
David Lebling <david_...@avid.com> wrote:
>
>Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
>Infocom.
>
> (david_...@avid.com)
I've never bothered trying to actually pronounce the word, I just
thought of it as 'x-y-z-z-y'. I pronounce 'plugh' 'ploog', however.
Of course, these are both old 'teleport' words from the original
Adventure, and they rarely actually do anything in games since then,
aside from reward veteran gamers with a humorous remark.
Chris Lang
Chris Lang
ne...@echonyc.com (Neil deMause) wrote:
>
>David Lebling (david_...@avid.com) wrote:
>: Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
>: Infocom.
>
>
>Neil
Indeed. It was their eccentricity that helped give classics like Zork,
Enchanter, and the other Infocom games their charm. Thanks to Dave
Lebling and others, adventurers now run the risk of being eaten by grues
(or like-minded carniverous creatures) if they wander around dark places
without a light source, rather than fall into a bottomless pit like the
old days. As well as 'grue', they've also contributed the words 'Frobozz',
'Frotz', 'Fweep', and several others to the language...(grin).
Of course, XYZZY and PLUGH were not their invention. They came from
the original Adventure, which, of course, inspired the original mainframe
Zork.
Chris Lang
Givan
In article <Pine.LNX.3.95.970222094354.176D-100000@seraphim> Cyber-Babushka <u6...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu> writes:
>On 20 Feb 1997, Jason Compton wrote:
>
>>Adam Dawes (ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>>
>>: why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
>>
>
>
Zie-Zizzy.
-Aphoriel/Kinsman
Sean Givan
Chuan-Tze Teo
Magnus Olsson wrote:
> And, for the
> record, I've always pronounced "xyzzy" with a "ks" sound at the
> beginning.
I do this as well; I also pronounce both y's with a long "i" sound as in
"why".
- Chuan
Andrew Plotkin
Andrew Plotkin (erky...@netcom.com) wrote:
> (I say "ex why zee zee why"; "plover" rhymes with "clover"; and "plugh"
> is to "plug" as "Bach" is to "bock.")
I would also remind people of the chant used to summon the Winged Monkeys
in the Oz books. I don't remember all of it, but I'm pretty sure that the
last phrase was (rendered phonetically) "ziz-zi, zuz-zi, zik!"
Heretofore unsuspected universal laws of magic may imply that this was in
fact "xyzzy, xzzy, xyk".
(I'm not happy with the spelling of the second word, but "xuzzy" looks too
easy to pronounce, and the only other linguistic barbarity I can think of
that rhymes is "SCSI.")
--Z
Joe Mason
"Re: XYZZY", declared David Lebling from the Vogon ship:
DL>Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
DL>Infocom.
Well, we've been told. Come to think of it, I like that pronunciation
much better anyway.
Joe
ţ CMPQwk 1.42 9550 ţOriginality is the art of concealing your source.
Joe Mason
"XYZZY", declared ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk from the Vogon ship:
a>How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why
a>zee zee why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
ex why zee zee why (I also pronounce it "zee-machine". And the "wait"
command is "zee" about half the time, and "zed" the other half. I'm not
sure why it flip-flops like that. I'm not American, BTW, so I'm
*supposed* to be using "zed", but in the first two cases it just doesn't
flow, and in the second "zee" reminds me more of sleep.)
XYZZYNews, on the other hand is "ZeeZeeNews" to me.
Joe
ž CMPQwk 1.42 9550 žNuke them 'til they glow, then shoot them in the dark
Joe Mason
"Re: XYZZY", declared David Lebling from the Vogon ship:
I was just wondering if you've been hanging around rec.arts.int-fiction
as well as rec.games.i-f. There was a thread there about the "Annotated
Adventure", an idea someone had to do a port of Adventure in which
Crowther and Woods followed the player around as NPC's giving comments
on how the game was developed and any interesting stories about the game
background.
Have you read this thread? Do you think you could give us your thoughts
on a similar "The Annotated Zork"? (ie. Do you think it would work?
Would you or any of the other implementors be willing to do this at some
time in the future?)
BTW, I'm just asking out of curiosity - I haven't even participated in
the thread, so I certainly don't speak for the idea's originator or
anything!
Thanks.
Joe
ş CMPQwk 1.42 9550 şVultures only fly with carrion luggage.
Drone
Cyber-Babushka wrote:
>
> I'm an apostate; I pronounce it "skizzy".
>
I like that. It makes no sense at all, but I like it.
Drone
they got purple; purple's a fruit wrote:
>
> There was an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse where the secret word was
> "XYZZYBALUBA" and they pronounced it "zizzybaluba". However, one might argue
> that adding "baluba" at the end would force the beginning to be pronounced
> "zizzy"... who knows?
>
Actually the first "ba" is silent, unless the word is used in an adjective
phrase...
Cyber-Babushka
On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Andrew Plotkin wrote:
>Cyber-Babushka (u6...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu) wrote:
>
>> I'm an apostate; I pronounce it "skizzy".
>
>Oh, no, a xyzzym in our faith!
>>>>>>>>>>GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAANNNNNNN<<<<<<<<<<
Admiral Jota
joe....@tabb.com (Joe Mason) writes:
>"Re: XYZZY", declared David Lebling from the Vogon ship:
>DL>Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
>DL>Infocom.
>Well, we've been told. Come to think of it, I like that pronunciation
>much better anyway.
I don't. I'm going to wait until I hear what Will Crowther has to say
about it (unless Woods wrote that part, in which I'll wait until I hear
what Don Woods says about it). ;-P
Den of Iniquity
On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Drone wrote:
>R.C.Call wrote:
>>
>> >On the other hand, you must pronounce "plugh" correctly. :-)
>>
>> Before anyone asks, it's "ploo," of course.
>>
>It's not "ploof"? How disillusioning.
You're sort of on the right lines... It's one of those pronunciation joke
things, like "GHOTI" being pronounced 'fish'.
Take the 'p' from 'psychology', the 'l' from 'folk' and the 'ugh' from
'though' and you get the answer ' '. That's how I pronounce it, anyway. I
could be wrong.
By similar reasoning, it is easy for anyone to show that XYZZY should be
pronounced 'badgers'. I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
--
Den (Some familiarity with xenolinguistics may be useful here.)
(Yes, it's still one of those days.)
Paolo Vece
"Adam Dawes" <ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Just curious...
> How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee
> zee why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
I say ksizzy
> .\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ Ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk \//
>> Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1225/
--
Paolo Vece (Roma, Italy) - pv...@mclink.it
Don Woods
Alas, Crowther was responsible for XYZZY and PLUGH. I think I remember
him saying that he'd generated them at random, but I don't remember how
(or even if) he pronounced them.
For my part, I say "zizzy" and "ploog". I'm actually rather emphatic
about the latter, since it's supposed to be said in a hollow voice.
I've heard some people pronounce it "plug", "pluh", or even "pluff",
and when I imagine the hollow voice trying to say those I keep thinking
the poor voice is going to break down laughing... (A hollow laugh,
naturally. :-)
On the other hand, PLOVER was my addition, and since it's keyed to the
name of the bird ("an emerald the size of a plover's egg!") it ought to
be pronounced like the bird. But -- aha! -- being ignorant on the topic,
I always thought the bird's name was pronounced ploh-ver. It wasn't
until I saw the discussion here that I thought to look up the word, and
found that both pluh-ver and ploh-ver are accepted, but pluh-ver is
apparently preferred. Oh well. But if you pronounce it pluh-ver, don't
blame me if the magic doesn't work!
-- Don.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
-- Don Woods (d...@clari.net) ClariNet provides on-line news.
-- http://www.clari.net/~don I provide personal opinions.
--
Trevor Barrie
wet cat <mun...@cfw.com> wrote:
>> : : How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"?
>
>Well, I pronounce it to rhyme with "busy" or "Lizzie." But that doesn't
>answer the question. It's possible to make a "ks" sound without a vowel
>in front of it (though I know of no English words with such a sound) -
>so I pronounce it "ksizzy"
But isn't one of the rules of English that an X at the beginning of a word
is pronounced "z"?
Admiral Jota
d...@madrigal.clari.net (Don Woods) writes:
>On the other hand, PLOVER was my addition, and since it's keyed to the
>name of the bird ("an emerald the size of a plover's egg!") it ought to
>be pronounced like the bird.
As someone who's never actually seen a plover, I have to ask: How big *is*
a plover's egg?
Clyde Sloniker
In article <DON.97Fe...@madrigal.clari.net>,
Don Woods <d...@madrigal.clari.net> wrote:
>Alas, Crowther was responsible for XYZZY and PLUGH. I think I remember
(Sound of someone forcibly expelling the entire contents of his lungs as
the Clue hits him in the chest. Sort of a spit take without the cup of
coffee.)
(strangled clearing of throat)
Don Woods. *The* Don Woods. *The* Don Woods?
(more business-like attention-getting clearing of throat)
> DON, GIVE ME YOUR ID CARD.
> PUT DON'S ID CARD IN SLOT. PUSH THE BUTTON THEN READ THE VERIFIER
> DISPLAY.
---
The .sigless one, waiting to see if the ID is confirmed before typing
> TAKE DON'S HAND THEN SHAKE IT. G. G. G.
Drone
Trevor Barrie wrote:
>
> >Well, I pronounce it to rhyme with "busy" or "Lizzie." But that doesn't
> >answer the question. It's possible to make a "ks" sound without a vowel
> >in front of it (though I know of no English words with such a sound) -
> >so I pronounce it "ksizzy"
>
> But isn't one of the rules of English that an X at the beginning of a word
> is pronounced "z"?
Oh, Lord. Here we go.
Drone.
--
"Ah, the drone," says Whistler. "A drone is just an agent for unseen interests. An
empty vessel. I don't know how it came to be. 'It's barely alive,' was all you told
me."
--
foxg...@globalserve.net
--
Graham Nelson
>
> d...@madrigal.clari.net (Don Woods) writes:
>
> >On the other hand, PLOVER was my addition, and since it's keyed to the
> >name of the bird ("an emerald the size of a plover's egg!") it ought to
> >be pronounced like the bird.
>
> As someone who's never actually seen a plover, I have to ask: How big *is*
> a plover's egg?
Incidentally, the Harvard Lampoon's generally puerile parody
of Tolkien, "Bored Of The Rings", includes a plover's egg the
size of an emerald. Just thought I'd mention.
--
Graham Nelson | gra...@gnelson.demon.co.uk | Oxford, United Kingdom
Brad O`Donnell
> As someone who's never actually seen a plover, I have to ask: How big *is*
> a plover's egg?
Well, the plover is not a giant bird, but its egg-size makes for a
huge emerald.
--
Brad O'Donnell
"A story is a string of moments, held together by memory."
Julian Arnold
> >name of the bird ("an emerald the size of a plover's egg!") it ought to
> >be pronounced like the bird.
>
> a plover's egg?
It's about the size of an impressive emerald.
Jools, who's pleased to note that he pronounces xyzzy, plugh, and plover
the correct, Woodsian way. :)
--
"For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand
ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me
from ever completing anything." -- Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"
Richard H. Poser II
On 27-Feb-97 05:36:46, pu...@u.washington.edu
(Clyde Sloniker) wrote the following:
>(strangled clearing of throat)
I had to check his web page in his signature before I believed it. I'd say
that the ID should come up confirmed any moment now. Then I'll reciprocate
the above line as well....
Richard H. Poser II (The Next Regeneration) <rhp...@fair.net>
--
The Whomiga Times: http://www.fair.net/~rhposer
Doctor Who Pinball: http://www.fair.net/~rhposer/pinball
Selected RADW Links: http://www.fair.net/~rhposer/RADW
--
Official RADW Birthday Clearinghouse / Team AMIGA
Russ Bryan
In article <9702201...@darkside.demon.co.uk>,
ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk wrote:
> Just curious...
>
> How does everyone pronounce "XYZZY"? "Ex why zed zed ehy" (or "ex why zee zee
> why" for the Americans), or "zizzy", or some other way?
Actually, I'm surprised to realize that I have never spoken this word out
loud. Since most of my friends don't work with computers except to type up
their resumes, I guess I've never discussed xyzzy, plugh, frotz, etc.
beyond the I-F newsgroups.
But if I were to say it out loud, I'd probably stick with zizzie.
--
"Forever caught in desert lands, one has to learn to disbelieve the sea."
Russ Bryan (cle...@javanet.com) ã Genesis
Neil deMause
In the interest of furthering human knowledge, I typed in XYZZY and PLUGH
to the Mac's text-to-speech software to see how it pronounced them. The
results: "zizzy" and "pluh".
This adds almost exactly nothing to the debate, but I thought I'd post it
anyway. It's been that kind of day.
Neil
John Pappas
I recall seeing a road in California with that name. Don't recall where,
somewhere on the way from LA to Las Vegas. I don't live in CA, but
hopefully
someone will read this and let us know how the natives pronounce it. It'd
be
also interesting to find out who's responsible for naming it.
Russ Bryan <cle...@javanet.com> wrote in article
<cleofax-ya0240800...@news.javanet.com>...
GraemeCree
>(I say "ex why zee zee why"; "plover" rhymes with "clover"; and "plugh"
>is to "plug" as "Bach" is to "bock.")
I also say "ex why zee zee why" and "plover", but pronouce "plugh" to
rhyme with Kruge (the Klingon captain from Trek III).
GraemeCree
>I'm pretty sure that the last phrase was (rendered phonetically) "ziz-zi,
zuz-zi, >zik!"
Not bad, but "Frobizz, Frobozz, Frobozzle," is even better.
GraemeCree
I've always pronounced it like an acronym, "X.Y.Z.Z.Y.", but I always
assumed that everyone else pronounced it zizzy.
GraemeCree
>You [Infocommies] all were weird. :)
Yeah, but for them it worked.
GraemeCree
> Of course, XYZZY and PLUGH were not their invention. They came from
>the original Adventure, which, of course, inspired the original mainframe
>Zork.
Actually, early versions of Zork I explicitly acknowledged their debt
to Colossal Cave. If I had my copy of The Ultimate Infocom Collection
handy (a CD-ROM archival backup I made that has every known version of all
the Infocom games) I could even tell you which ones. Later versions
removed the reference, and it is not present in Version 88 (the one that
Activision distributes these days).
GraemeCree
>As well as 'grue', they've also contributed the words 'Frobozz',
> 'Frotz', 'Fweep', and several others to the language...(grin).
To this day, whenever a piece of personal software asks me to enter a
company name, I use "Frobozz Magic Computer Company" rather than just
leave it blank.
GraemeCree
> Of course, these are both old 'teleport' words from the original
>Adventure, and they rarely actually do anything in games since then,
>aside from reward veteran gamers with a humorous remark.
Yes, but considering that one of the two major IF magazines has XYZZY
in the title, it behooves us to try to figure out how to pronounce it.
Besides, surely you still take the occasional jaunt into Colossal Cave,
don't you?
GraemeCree
>XYZZYNews, on the other hand is "ZeeZeeNews" to me.
And I suppose the singer is XYZZY Top.
GraemeCree
>>I'm looking over and em'rald plover
That I overlooked before.
If I say "x-yzzy," I'll come home to you--
But if I say "plugh," then I'll go to Y2.
There's no need explaining--the gold remaining
Is something that I must store.
I'm looking over and em'rald plover
That I overlooked before.
>>
Not bad, but I still prefer "Plover the river and Frotz the woods."
GraemeCree
>>What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
No, it's "ploog". It's official from Don Woods now.
Adam Dawes
Hi Den!
DoI> Take the 'p' from 'psychology', the 'l' from 'folk' and the 'ugh' from
DoI> 'though' and you get the answer ' '. That's how I pronounce it,
DoI> anyway. I could be wrong.
Do you find you have to say it at an infinite volume in order to get heard?
.\dam. [Team AMIGA] //\ Ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk \//
> http://www.rdainfotec.demon.co.uk/adam/
> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1225/
Admiral Jota
graem...@aol.com (GraemeCree) writes:
>>>What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
> No, it's "ploog". It's official from Don Woods now.
But didn't Don say that he only created PLOVER, and not PLUGH? We still
need to find Will Crowther to get the real answer. So where the heck is he
-- does *anyone* know his Email address? Don? :)
Admiral Jota
Adam Dawes <ad...@darkside.demon.co.uk> writes:
> DoI> Take the 'p' from 'psychology', the 'l' from 'folk' and the 'ugh' from
> DoI> 'though' and you get the answer ' '. That's how I pronounce it,
> DoI> anyway. I could be wrong.
>Do you find you have to say it at an infinite volume in order to get heard?
Well, whether he does or not, I'm sure that it *does* sound rather
'hollow', no matter what voice says it.
Gunther Schmidl
This may sound stupid, but in German you can pronounce it just like it is
written without difficulties...
--
Gunther...@jk.uni-linz.ac.at
"This is not a signature."
Joe Mason <joe....@tabb.com> schrieb im Beitrag
<66.735...@tabb.com>...
> "Re: XYZZY", declared David Lebling from the Vogon ship:
>
> DL>Ik-ziz'ee (i.e., "X"-izzy) was the official pronunciation at MIT and
> DL>Infocom.
>
> Well, we've been told. Come to think of it, I like that pronunciation
> much better anyway.
>
> Joe
>
> þ CMPQwk 1.42 9550 þOriginality is the art of concealing your source.
>
Andreas Hoppler
In article <19970301014...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, graem...@aol.com
says...
: To this day, whenever a piece of personal software asks me to enter a
: company name, I use "Frobozz Magic Computer Company" rather than just
: leave it blank.
And when the software doesn't work, you call Frobozz Magic Support, I presume?
-- Andreas
Roger Giner-Sorolla
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological
Association, revision IV-Z, defines "xyzzophrenia" as "a neurotic
syndrome common among adventure game commentators, characterized by
obsessional ideation focused upon apparently trivial points of usage."
Xyzzophrenia is often comorbid with other diagnoses, such as antisocial
flaming disorder and pre-millennial syndrome.
Roger Giner-Sorolla University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
rs...@virginia.edu Dept. of Psychology (Social)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please, your Majesty," said the Knave, "I didn't write it, and they can't
prove I did: there's no name signed at the end."
"If you didn't sign it," said the King, "that only makes the matter worse.
You /must/ have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your name
like an honest man." -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Andreas Hoppler
In article <01bc272a$9eea5bc0$d105...@slip.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at>,
Gunther...@jk.uni-linz.ac.at says...
: This may sound stupid, but in German you can pronounce it just like it is
: written without difficulties...
xütsü? xitsi? oder wie sprichsts du denn aus?
Adam Dawes
Hi Neil!
Nd> In the interest of furthering human knowledge, I typed in XYZZY and
Nd> PLUGH to the Mac's text-to-speech software to see how it pronounced
Nd> them. The results: "zizzy" and "pluh".
Good idea! Interestingly, AmigaSpeech produced exactly the same results. I
wonder where my speakers have gone?
they got purple; purple's a fruit
And behold, Andreas Hoppler <andreas...@logon.ch> did spake, speaking:
I will point out right now that in terms of Internet, frobozz.com is still
available for the taking, and if anyone has eyes on it, they better snap
it up before I get it.
--
derSpatchel resides at http://error.net/~spatula, among other places.
"But Basketball is a peaceful planet! We have no weapons!"
PUTPBAD 2: 94% IQ DROPPED: 12%
mstie#43790
Joe Mason
"Re: XYZZY", declared Neil deMause from the Vogon ship:
Nd>In the interest of furthering human knowledge, I typed in XYZZY and
Nd>PLUGH to the Mac's text-to-speech software to see how it pronounced
Nd>them. The results: "zizzy" and "pluh".
Nd>This adds almost exactly nothing to the debate, but I thought I'd
Nd>post it anyway. It's been that kind of day.
Especially since the Mac text-to-speech software (if its the same one we
have at school) pronounces "diet" as "deet". I wouldn't trust it...
(BTW, if you want to hear something really hilarious on a Mac, get a
copy of the Bodyworks program, put the speech synthesizer on the one
that sings, and feed in the entry for "Hemmorhoids". It's almost as
funny as Bowser & Blue's "Colo-Rectal Surgeon Song", and competely
unintentional.)
Just one more example of the things I learned in Biology class (speaking
of "it's been that kind of day...")
Joe
ş CMPQwk 1.42 9550 ş"Resistance is futile." -- sign in an electronics classroom.
Don Woods
Richard H. Poser II <rhp...@fair.net> writes:
> pu...@u.washington.edu (Clyde Sloniker) wrote:
> >(strangled clearing of throat)
> >Don Woods. *The* Don Woods. *The* Don Woods?
> >> DISPLAY.
> >> TAKE DON'S HAND THEN SHAKE IT. G. G. G.
>
> I had to check his web page in his signature before I believed it. I'd say
> that the ID should come up confirmed any moment now. Then I'll reciprocate
> the above line as well....
Geez, what's so hard to believe? I have to exist _somewhere_, don't I? :-)
But you actually have a friend of mine to thank for mentioning the "xyzzy"
discussion to me; I don't normally browse this newsgroup.
-- Don.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
-- Don Woods (d...@clari.net) ClariNet provides on-line news.
-- http://www.clari.net/~don I provide personal opinions.
--
-- One sharp nasty knife is thrown at you!
-- It gets you!
David Glasser
In article <19970301023...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
graem...@aol.com (GraemeCree) wrote:
> >>What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
>
> No, it's "ploog". It's official from Don Woods now.
And, pretty much unrelated...
I think that the email address that the TiDBITS people send TiDBITS, the
Macintosh magizine from is tidbit...@tidbits.com, or something like
that.
Oh, wait, never mind, that isn't that exciting. I just remembered that I
heard somewhere that raif or rgif (forget which one) was started by Adam
Engst, TiDBITS' publisher.
As always,
David
dsgl...@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/6028/
Adam J. Thornton
In article <DON.97Ma...@madrigal.clari.net>,
Don Woods <d...@madrigal.clari.net> wrote:
>Geez, what's so hard to believe? I have to exist _somewhere_, don't I? :-)
>But you actually have a friend of mine to thank for mentioning the "xyzzy"
>discussion to me; I don't normally browse this newsgroup.
Well, please stick around.
Do you know if Will Crowther is on line anywhere? I've been kicking around
an idea for a paper, that goes back to the naming of parts of the Flint
Ridge Cave System by Stephen Bishop, takes a look at the connection efforts
of the Crowthers and others in the 60s and 70s, and then talks about the
influence of technical caving language and culture (e.g. The "room," the
"dome," the "staircase," and the ubiquitous compass) on those parts of
Adventure that aren't a cave simulation and then on text adventures in
general. My thesis is that much of the flavor of text adventures comes
from a misreading of terms. That is, when a caver says, "dome" what he
means is "naturally arched ceiling." What I, and I suspect most non-caving
people, imagine is a room with finished stone walls and a hemispherical
dome on the top. It is this cross-pollination that has proved
extraordinarily fruitful in terms of defining the genre and giving a
certain feel to the early dungeon-crawl-find-the-treasures game and then
propagating out to all the other genres of IF that still retain many of the
original conventions.
Which brings me to my question to you: did you read Crowther's descriptions
of "rooms" in Colossal Cave as a caver, or did you have in mind something
like someone familiar with Tolkien but not with caves? That is, "rooms" as
a product of artifice rather than erosion?
Adam
--
"I'd buy me a used car lot, and | ad...@princeton.edu | As B/4 | Save the choad!
I'd never sell any of 'em, just | "Skippy, you little fool, you are off on an-
drive me a different car every day | other of your senseless and retrograde
depending on how I feel.":Tom Waits| little journeys.": Thomas Pynchon | 64,928
a...@tidbits.com
On Fri, 07 Mar 1997 16:15:52 +0325, dsgl...@hotmail.com (David Glasser) wrote:
> In article <19970301023...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
> graem...@aol.com (GraemeCree) wrote:
>
> > >>What? Don't tell me that I'm the only one who pronounces it as 'plugh'!
> >
> > No, it's "ploog". It's official from Don Woods now.
> And, pretty much unrelated...
> I think that the email address that the TiDBITS people send TiDBITS, the
> Macintosh magizine from is tidbit...@tidbits.com, or something like
> that.
> Oh, wait, never mind, that isn't that exciting. I just remembered that I
> heard somewhere that raif or rgif (forget which one) was started by Adam
> Engst, TiDBITS' publisher.
cheers... -Adam
--
Posted using Reference.COM http://www.reference.com
Browse, Search and Post Usenet and Mailing list Archive and Catalog.
InReference, Inc. accepts no responsibility for the content of this posting.
JID
In article <19970301022...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
graem...@aol.com (GraemeCree) wrote:
> Not bad, but I still prefer "Plover the river and Frotz the woods."
You know, if it had been "Plover the river and plugh the woods," not only
would the whole discussion of how to pronounce "plugh" become obsolete,
but there'd have been a nice little tribute pun in there as well.
'Course you know what they say about hindsight.
Joey, proud to be a backseat driver
****************************************************
American Gothic fanatic or just a tourist in Trinity?
Read The Trinity Guardian: http://www.best.com/~owls/AG/
****************************************************
Guildenstern: He's -- melancholy.
Player: Melancholy?
Rosencrantz: Mad.
Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can't help that, we're all mad here.
(From "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in Wonderland")
****************************************************
Johanna "Joey" Drasner: ow...@best.com (San Francisco)
****************************************************
Don Woods
ad...@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Adam J. Thornton) writes:
> Do you know if Will Crowther is on line anywhere? I've been kicking around
I have an address for him, which might be current, but I hesitate to
post it in an open forum without his permission. I'll forward your
paper topic to him and he can respond if he wishes.
> Which brings me to my question to you: did you read Crowther's descriptions
> of "rooms" in Colossal Cave as a caver, or did you have in mind something
> like someone familiar with Tolkien but not with caves? That is, "rooms" as
> a product of artifice rather than erosion?
Sort of a cross, I expect. I certainly didn't think of crafted rooms,
and especially not for things like "domes". However, not being a caver
myself, I expect that my idea of a "room" is still off the mark. I
picture it as a large mostly empty area (or volume), where the walls,
floor and ceiling are still rough natural rock, but where the passages
in and out are clearly delineated. In reality, I assume that "rooms"
simply narrow down into passages and there's no clear dividing line for
when you leave the room and enter the passage.
Of course, the Tolkienesque view isn't entirely out of place, either.
Since there are treasures, and dwarves, and so forth, it makes some
sense to think of at least parts of the cave as being carved by design
instead of by nature. But my own mental picture is mostly natural,
with perhaps a tendency to think of certain "passages" (e.g. between
the Hall of the Mountain King and Y2) as being carved corridors.
-- Don.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
-- Don Woods (d...@clari.net) ClariNet provides on-line news.
-- http://www.clari.net/~don I provide personal opinions.
--
-- It is now pitch dark.
-- If you proceed you will likely fall into a pit.
Joe Mason
"Re: XYZZY", declared Don Woods from the Vogon ship:
DW>Geez, what's so hard to believe? I have to exist _somewhere_, don't
DW>I? :-) But you actually have a friend of mine to thank for mentioning
DW>the "xyzzy" discussion to me; I don't normally browse this newsgroup.
What gets me is, Dave Lebling of Zork fame posted an answer as well, and
I don't think anybody noticed. :-)
Now that you're here, I wonder if we could get your opinion. There was
a thread on rec.arts.int-fiction (maybe it was here too) on a new port
of Adventure: "The Annotated Adventure". The idea was to get
ş CMPQwk 1.42 9550 şVegetarians eat vegetables-Beware of humanitarians