Ballade of adventure
Thomas Thurman
Get sword. Examine sword. It's glowing blue.
Say "plugh". You watch the world around you flee.
You're standing near a boulder marked "Y2".
Put Auntie's thing in bag. It doesn't fit.
(By Infocom. Wherever games are sold.)
Such antics are the price for us to sit
where Thorin sits and sings about his gold.
You're standing west of house again. You see:
a robot and a door. The door sees: you.
You're carrying some fluff, some shades, no tea;
Be careful. You'll be eaten by a grue.
Oh, now you've gone and fallen in a pit.
You're carrying as much as you can hold.
In Bedquilt. You see shadows through the slit,
where Thorin sits and sings about his gold.
But Activision's little shopping spree
had turned the world to wanting something new.
It's sad, but still, I think we'd all agree
the Z-machine's demise was overdue.
The day when all the world went sixteen-bit
the era died. I think they broke the mould
when pictures took the place of words and wit,
where Thorin sits and sings about his gold.
Prince of the numbers, worlds have watched you knit
the memories of processors of old;
you've made a better planet, I submit,
where Thorin sits and sings about his gold.
Jeremy Freese
"Glulx."
--Jeremy
On Jun 11, 3:23 pm, Thomas Thurman <tthur...@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
wrote:
Andrew Plotkin
> I would be more impressed with this if it included a rhyme with
> "Glulx."
How could you tell?
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Gene Wirchenko
<jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I would be more impressed with this if it included a rhyme with
>"Glulx."
Hulks? Bulks? Sulks?
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
John W Kennedy
> On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:28:09 -0700 (PDT), Jeremy Freese
> <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I would be more impressed with this if it included a rhyme with
>> "Glulx."
>
> Hulks? Bulks? Sulks?
Yes, but a ballade requires six A rhymes, fourteen B rhymes, and five C
rhymes (including the refrain), and English-language tradition is not
to repeat any of them for the entire poem.
--
John W Kennedy
"When a man contemplates forcing his own convictions down another man's
throat, he is contemplating both an unchristian act and an act of
treason to the United States."
-- Joy Davidman, "Smoke on the Mountain"
Thomas Thurman
John W. Kennedy wrote:
> Yes, but a ballade requires six A rhymes, fourteen B rhymes, and five
> C rhymes (including the refrain), and English-language tradition is
> not to repeat any of them for the entire poem.
And there I go using ababcdcd. I do apologise; I'll know better for
next time.
Thomas
Gene Wirchenko
<jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:
>On 2010-06-11 19:50:31 -0400, Gene Wirchenko said:
>
>> On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:28:09 -0700 (PDT), Jeremy Freese
>> <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I would be more impressed with this if it included a rhyme with
>>> "Glulx."
>>
>> Hulks? Bulks? Sulks?
>
>Yes, but a ballade requires six A rhymes, fourteen B rhymes, and five C
>rhymes (including the refrain), and English-language tradition is not
>to repeat any of them for the entire poem.
For the fourth, how about a naive pronunciation of "pulques"
(plural of "pulque")?
"Culks" appears to be a proper name. See
http://www.cambridgetraining.co.uk/profiles/2356/
There are five. That will cover the C rhymes. Now, let's see
some literature!
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Tiddy Ogg
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Here, Jeremy Freese <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I would be more impressed with this if it included a rhyme with
>> "Glulx."
>
>How could you tell?
>
>--Z
sulks, hulks...
Victor Gijsbers
>>> Hulks? Bulks? Sulks?
>>
>> Yes, but a ballade requires six A rhymes, fourteen B rhymes, and five C
>> rhymes (including the refrain), and English-language tradition is not
>> to repeat any of them for the entire poem.
>
> For the fourth, how about a naive pronunciation of "pulques"
> (plural of "pulque")?
>
> "Culks" appears to be a proper name. See
> http://www.cambridgetraining.co.uk/profiles/2356/
Pulks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulk
Regards,
Victor
khelwood
Are we forgetting "skulks"?
Gene Wirchenko
Oh, excellent! We are up to seven! Bring on the A rhymes!
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Dannii
it might be...
Andrew Plotkin
> I think Zarf's point was the Glulx may not be pronounced how we think
> it might be...
Hell no. My point was that I've *heard* people pronouncing it, and
it's rarely pronounced how *I* think it would be.
Jason Ramboz
> Here, Dannii <curiou...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think Zarf's point was the Glulx may not be pronounced how we think
>> it might be...
>
> Hell no. My point was that I've *heard* people pronouncing it, and
> it's rarely pronounced how *I* think it would be.
Wait, you mean it DOESN'T rhyme with "orange?"
-- Jason
Gene Wirchenko
<erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Here, Dannii <curiou...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think Zarf's point was the Glulx may not be pronounced how we think
>> it might be...
>
>Hell no. My point was that I've *heard* people pronouncing it, and
>it's rarely pronounced how *I* think it would be.
How about you tell us the official pronunciation?
(This does not constitute agreement by us that we will use said
official pronunication -- consider "GIF" -- but you might get lucky.)
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Reiko
> On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:12:43 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Plotkin
>
> >Here, Dannii <curiousdan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I think Zarf's point was the Glulx may not be pronounced how we think
> >> it might be...
>
> >Hell no. My point was that I've *heard* people pronouncing it, and
> >it's rarely pronounced how *I* think it would be.
>
> How about you tell us the official pronunciation?
>
> (This does not constitute agreement by us that we will use said
> official pronunication -- consider "GIF" -- but you might get lucky.)
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gene Wirchenko
Wait, what's the official pronunciation of GIF? (Have I been doing it
wrong all these years...?)
I want to know the "official" (Zarf-approved, anyway) pronunciation of
Glulx too! (Not to mention Quixe...did I even spell that right? Can't
you guys make up more sensible words for your projects? And this from
someone who normally does not have any trouble with spelling....)
~Reiko
Gene Wirchenko
wrote:
[snip]
>Wait, what's the official pronunciation of GIF? (Have I been doing it
>wrong all these years...?)
Possibly. According to the creators of the format, it is "jiff"
(soft G) as in "jiffy". What I and many others say is "giff" (hard
G).
>I want to know the "official" (Zarf-approved, anyway) pronunciation of
>Glulx too! (Not to mention Quixe...did I even spell that right? Can't
>you guys make up more sensible words for your projects? And this from
It would be a break with Sacred Tradition. We started with
"plugh" and "xyzzy".
>someone who normally does not have any trouble with spelling....)
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Reiko
> Possibly. According to the creators of the format, it is "jiff"
> (soft G) as in "jiffy". What I and many others say is "giff" (hard
> G).
It seems more consistent to me to have a soft g when the other major
picture format also has the same sound (jpg/jpeg = jay-peg). I hope
people don't try to pronounce bmp as spelled though...
> >I want to know the "official" (Zarf-approved, anyway) pronunciation of
> >Glulx too! (Not to mention Quixe...did I even spell that right? Can't
> >you guys make up more sensible words for your projects? And this from
>
> It would be a break with Sacred Tradition. We started with
> "plugh" and "xyzzy".
Plugh's fine. (Ploog, hard g?) I never even tried to pronounce
xyzzy...I always just spelled it out when referring to it. I suppose
it could be something like zizzy, but that's awfully close to sissy,
which seemed a rather unfortunate association for a magic word.
~Reiko
Peter Pears
In my head, "xyzzy" always comes out as "cheesy"...
Michael Neal Tenuis
I always thought of it as "Ksyzzy", with the x pronounced like in the
German/Bavarian name Xaver (Ksah-fair); like the x in vexing.
Nice poem from the OP, BTW.
Regards,
Michael
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