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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3188 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 31, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Speaking of lines, it may be read in the boustrophedon way, in alternative direction, like how a farmer plows his field

Overall fascinating, 10/10 funpost -- but that's not how you plow a field. You want to scoop the dirt into the furrow from your last pass, so reversing directions everytime is the opposite of what to do.

If you start at the edges, you do either end first, working your way towards the middle -- where there is a 'dead furrow', a low spot from scooping a single furrow of dirt outwards on two opposite passes. (which lines up perfectly if you are an awesome ploughman)

Or you can start in the middle piling two furrows on top of undisturbed soil, and work your way to the edges leaving a dead furrow there.

Done this way it would read either "Rotas Rotas Opera Opera Tenet" or "Tenet Arepo Arepo Sator Sator". Nice rhythm; not sure how meaningful.

(How do you say "Pedantic farmer, signing off" in Latin?)

I think the term boustrophedon is older than a mouldboard plough. The Greeks used ards, which allow you to plough in any direction.

That is fair enough -- I think the Romans were first to come up with something like a moldboard?

So I suggest to sub "Ancient Greek farmer" for "farmer".

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