Kevin's Watch

All I know is that after reading SRD, I can pass any vocabulary quiz... like Freerice.com. I think they read SRD and put all of the words he frequents in levels 42 and up.

A couple I just encountered on freerice:

prophet = seer

harrow = distress

Welcome to the Watch, DotD.

LORD FOUL'S BRAIN wrote:Most of the time SRD's vast vocabulary is employed in such a way that the meaning of uncommon words is implied by the context within the sentence or statement.

I'd argue that. You might *think* that you understand the word in the context that it is used. But sometimes the contextual clues are faulty.

"Imbecile! Anile fool!"

Is the context enough to tell you that "anile" means "like an old woman"?

I could go on ...

Lord Foul's Brain did say "most of the time."

I thought Anile was one of the more common words.. In fact, for a second, i wasn't sure which one you were trying to imply was the rare one.. i thought you were talking about imbecile..

Sill wrote:I'm sorry about running you guys and girls around - being new here, I'm still learning my way around. I tried to search it and came up with so many hits...

Besides, I thought the number one most asked question would have been why the old lore of the Old Lords wasn't readily understood by the New Lords. I mean, in LFB, Atiaran explains to TC that the chief problem in understanding the old lore and Kevin's wards lay in the translation of the Old Lord's language. Wouldn't the Bloodguard and Giants have remembered that language? That seems to be a huge question to me.

Sorry for the rambling.

I seem to remember something in TPTP where Mhoram figures out that it is the Oath of Peace which restrains the understanding of Kevin's Lore. Once Mhoram "moved past" the Oath, he was able to gain a deeper understanding and even learned how to do the Ritual of Desecration...

I think Trell figured this out too...

Indeed - but while is seems apparent in several passages that there was something that the new lords were/weren't doing right with regards to power and understanding Kevin's lore, still Atiaran said it was something to do with the lanuage - but both the Bloodguard & the giants were fluent in Old Land speak - they would have easily interpreted. The OOP was the problem.

uh-uh. It's explicitly stated that they understand the translation fine, and can read the words fine, but that somehow the meaning of those words elude them - there's something missing in the readers that mean that they can't make the Lore work like it should. In TPTP, Mhorram works out that its their serenty that is preventing them from understanding the central role of passion in the Lore.

Prior to that they're like deaf people trying to make music - no amount of study of theory and experimentation was going to help them get anything more than the absolute basics right.

Bran Pendragon wrote:...In TPTP, Mhorram works out that its their serenty that is preventing them from understanding the central role of passion in the Lore...

Serenity provided by the OOP.

Exactly

Bran Pendragon wrote:uh-uh. It's explicitly stated that they understand the translation fine, and can read the words fine, but that somehow the meaning of those words elude them - there's something missing in the readers that mean that they can't make the Lore work like it should. In TPTP, Mhorram works out that its their serenty that is preventing them from understanding the central role of passion in the Lore.

Prior to that they're like deaf people trying to make music - no amount of study of theory and experimentation was going to help them get anything more than the absolute basics right.

Good point - I just seem to remember that even the pronouncation of the 7 words was not mastered - didn't the Ravers mock the some of the lords for not even being able to pronounce them well?

And of course, you're right the OOP was the problem...so to speak.

True, in TIW. I've read that that "pronouncing" them requires something more than just getting the right sound values in the right order - that for them to be effective, you needed to have the correct understanding/intention/mindset as you were saying them. And that this is what the new Lords didn't fully possess.

In that case, because they didn't understand what they were saying, they weren't able to recite them properly. It's like if you cast Jessica Simpson to play Lady MacBeth - with (a lot) of practice she might remember the lines, but because she probably wouldn't grasp the significance of what she was saying, her performance would be distinctly average and less "powerful".

Last Chrons spoiler:

Spoiler

Linden had the right understanding because of her health-sense and because she had heard the Theomach's explanation. Berek, the first time he said them, stumbled onto the right "meaning" and hence pronounciation, because of his desperation and his being 'tuned in' to the Earthpower.

I've found the language of the Chrons to be great fun - and useful in puncturing the occasional over-educated ego..

I wonder, however, how much of it is deliberate - i.e. how can you understand Unbelief or the dilemma of the Bloodguard if you can't be bothered to pick up a dictionary? Are we being filtered, chaps? Does SRD have some secret long-term plan?

On a related note but apropos of nothing else whasoever, may I just point that I'm a tiny bit proud of having finally finished "A Clockwork Orange" without having had to look any of the words up.

Just have a look at the Gradual Interview, SRD talks about his choice of style and language and how much it is deliberate in one of the latest posts.

Aye - "inscita ecastor tu quidam es"

Sorry - *Matrixnan* - Scotland Education...