3MW

[Edward Pungot]

Part 1
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/magic-from/episode-61-a-conversation-oAcGNgR5dMb/

Part 2
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/magic-from/episode-62-a-conversation--7Q4DuibKc6/

Part 3
https://www.listennotes.com/fr/podcasts/magic-from/episode-63-a-conversation-vS9CWcPE3hX/

[Kent Gunn]

I detest obscure acronyms. For those with my affliction, 3MW refers to Michael Weber podcasts.

I know I'm being grumpy. I know podcasts be are all the rage. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Mr. Weber's works.

I detest being read to. That's simply how podcasts affect me. I also dislike magic video instructions and long walks on the beach.

Rant over. Weber's one smart sumbitch. Someone who listens to the podcasts will, no doubt, glean something worthwhile. If anyone has a transcript . . .

[Joe Mckay]

This looks special. Can't wait to check them out.

Cheers!

[Edward Pungot]

Long Walks + Podcast + WWWD?

I guess it would be like taking an hour long stroll along the beach while listening to an engaging conversation about a topic that interests you.

[Kent Gunn]

Edward,

WWWD?

If you can't communicate in writing with some degree of consistent clarity, even when gently chided, stop. Did you mistype some other obscure set of capital letters? Is that supposed to be What Would Weber Do?

The use of acronyms has grossly increased with online communication. Adding your own clever concatenations is obfusticating and pretentious.

Podcasts, pfui and be damned. Darned kids and their loud music!

[Joe Lyons]

ROTFL

[Brad Jeffers]

I detest obscure acronyms.

I'm with Kent on this one.

I will however point out that 3MW is not an acronym, but an example of that equally detestable form of abbreviation, the initialism.

I mean FBI is okay.

NBC or CBS - sure.

And we all know what a CD or a DVD is.

But 3MW

Really?!

[Joe Mckay]

I just finished listening to these. Really really good. Michael covers a lot of interesting topics.

It was a very good interview.

[Kent Gunn]

Brad,

I saw 3MW and in my head I said Three Mew. Mewthree is a thing. One's Pokemon knowledge expands with the advent of grandchildren.

Mssr's Pungot's initialism was so obscure, until I clicked on the link I had my only my Pokemon-related guess. He communicated so poorly I mistook Mr. Weber for a Pokemon.

I still hate podcasts.

50 points to Brad's house, (Hufflepuff), for pointing out my mistake in miscalling an intialism as an acronym.

100 points has been deducted from Edward's house, (Ravenclaw) for his spewing of self-invented initialisms.

[Joe Lyons]

While we're picking nits in isolation, is 3MW an initialism or a numeronym?

[Jonathan Townsend]

When did morse/teleptype shorthand get trendy?

[Barden]

To this point this has to be the quintessential forum thread, it has it all.

I've thoroughly enjoyed following it.

[Bill Mullins]

When did morse/teleptype shorthand get trendy?

-- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / .... .- ... / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / -... . . -. / - .-. . -. -.. -.--

[Kent Gunn]

Bill, you have won.

Trendy? I think so. Oddly, I remembered the letters. Your missive was more communicative than this thread's title.

200 points to Gryffindor!

Jon and I, both being from Slytherin choose to mock you all in Parseltongue.

KG

[Brad Jeffers]

To this point this has to be the quintessential forum thread

You could have saved yourself a lot of time and effort and just said it's the QFT.
We would've figured it out.

[Bob Coyne]

When did morse/teleptype shorthand get trendy?

-- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / .... .- ... / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / -... . . -. / - .-. . -. -.. -.--

. ... .--. . -.-. .. .- .-.. .-.. -.-- .-- .. - .... - --- --- .-.. ... .-.. .. -.- . - .... .. ... -·-·-- .-.. --- .-.. -·-·--

.... - - .--. ---··· -··-· -··-· .-- .-- .-- ·-·-·- ..- -. .. - -····- -.-. --- -. ...- . .-. ... .. --- -. ·-·-·- .. -. ..-. --- -··-· - . -..- - - --- --- .-.. ... -··-· -- --- .-. ... . -····- -.-. --- -.. . -··-·

[Jonathan Townsend]

Thanks for finding 23.227.169.89
Funny world where Q went awry and CW turned into a frog.
We could decorate props with barcodes... http://goqr.me/

[Joe Lyons]

Thanks for finding 23.227.169.89
Funny world where Q went awry and CW turned into a frog.
We could decorate props with barcodes... http://goqr.me/

Ok.

I think I’ve got CW and 23.227.169.89.

How did Q go awry?

[Joe Lyons]

Podcasts, pfui and be damned.

Sounds like Nero Wolfe.....

[Kent Gunn]

Joe,

I have been reading Rex Stout novels recently; good catch.

I knew Jon would chime in. I'm now officially lost. Number sequence looks to be an IP address. I don't do Q-codes. The only links I like are sausages.

Stay weird.

KG

[Jonathan Townsend]

To answer Joe, the letter is currently displayed proudly, apostrophied, and used to hide enmity behind anonymity.

Context: Q codes were useful shorthand before 1337 when words starting with the letter q did not signal "other".

Whose words these aren't I think you know. Nostalgic then recalling snow.

[Joe Lyons]

Joe,

I have been reading Rex Stout novels recently; good catch.
KG

Thought so, I've got the oeuvre, great stuff.

The letter is currently displayed proudly, apostrophied, and used to hide enmity behind anonymity.

Context: Q codes were useful shorthand before 1337 when words starting with the letter q did not signal "other".

Whose words these aren't I think you know. Nostalgic then recalling snow.

Ok, LEET and Frost, I understand.
Thanks.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Thanks for noticing the podcast and posting links Edward

An hour to listen versus waiting for a transcript - an hour well spent.

What serves the listener in the moment is both more and less than the words spoken.

[Kent Gunn]

Ok, now I'm on a goddamn mission.

Leet - (in England) a yearly or half-yearly court of record that the lords of certain manors held.

That's not the definition my esteemed magic buddies were using. I had no idea what leet meant. Luckily I have access to the internet. Having to decode other people's entries is, generally a sign that they are self-involved and don't know how to clearly communicate. They assume old fogies can translate their newspeak. Or they're oblivious or indifferent to a broader audience.

I fully realize the entries that included Q-codes, leet, Morse code and 1337 were mocking the same thing I detest. The Robert Frost and Nero Wolfe references were just cheery bonuses.

Jon's propensity for obscure and apparently disconnected references is always a joy.

I must go, tempus edax rerum.

KG

[Joe Lyons]

I tend to think of Mr. Townsend’s missives as being postmodern Andy Kaufman-esque, blurring the lines of parody, irony and reality to the point where he is sometimes the only one left in on the joke.

In other words, I think he does some of these just for himself.

[Jonathan Townsend]

They assume old fogies can translate their newspeak. Or they're oblivious or indifferent to a broader audience.

Or they are choosing their code as part of their message.

@Joe, yes to exploring technique though the amusement is intended for others.

*and thanks for the reminder to ask Edward a question.

[Dave Le Fevre]

Having to decode other people's entries is, generally a sign that they are self-involved and don't know how to clearly communicate. They assume old fogies can translate their newspeak. Or they're oblivious or indifferent to a broader audience.

Or that they wish specifically to exclude a broader audience.

Terms like 1337 are used to keep the right people in and to keep the wrong people out. Rather like teenagers using their most recent slang.

(I'm not suggesting that anybody here is trying to exclude anybody, not in the least. Merely observing the general purpose of such terminology.)

[Bill Mullins]

Or that they wish specifically to exclude a broader audience.

Terms like 1337 are used to keep the right people in and to keep the wrong people out.

Which is exactly the purpose of cant and slang in general. The best example probably is Polari, but carny slang is also a good example.

[Max Maven]

Didn’t expect to find Polari referenced on this site. On YouTube there’s a clip from British television some years back, which shows a full conversation in Polari that is impenetrable.

[Bill Mullins]

Polari draws somewhat from theatrical and Punch and Judy slang, so it comes up from time to time in conjuring history. For example, in the British magazines you might read about a "cod" performance or show. "Cod" is a Polari word meaning "bad".

[AJM]

Mr Maven - how bona to vada your dolly old eek.

Polari came out of the closet, as it were, in the early 60's on the British radio show Round the Horne when Kenneth Williams (from the British Carry On films) and Hugh Paddick, in their characters of Julian and Sandy, used it to converse with one another. The audience of course laughed at their funny sounding exchanges although never quite understood what was being said nor its double meaning. Nor, surprisingly, did the BBC.
Welsh actor Michael Sheen later portrayed Kenneth Williams in the bio-pic Fantabulosa, the title being a Polari term.

An even more exclusive language to explore perhaps is 'Professor' Stanley Unwin's Unwinese, a mangled version of English which again came to prominence briefly in the 1960s. Deep, deep joy...

Great thread

Andrew

[Joe Lyons]

Think I prefer rhyming slang ever since I saw Cary Grant speak it in an old movie.

Of course I now understand he may have been speaking Polari on his time off....

[Bill Mullins]

Today Dictionary.com announced a number of new words that they are including. One of them is "zhuzh", a Polari word meaning "to make (something) more lively and interesting, stylish, or appealing, as by a small change or addition (usually followed by up)".

https://twitter.com/mashedradish/status ... 7349822465

[MagicbyAlfred]

My favorite rhyming slang is that which was/is used by the various 3-Card Monte dealers, some of which I use in my own routine. Although I would be quick to add that the dealers themselves, and their accomplices (shills) are reprehensible.

[AJM]

I wouldn’t say the expression to ‘zhuzh up’ something was uncommon in this part of the world. Or to give something a bit of ‘va va voom’ as they say in France.

Interesting to hear it comes from Polari. And first time I’ve seen the word written down.

Andrew

[Jonathan Townsend]

Cultural appropriation as misdirection?

[AJM]

Exactly Jon - I had exactly the same thought.