Just what exactly does this cursive word say?

[BicycleTree]

I was taking notes earlier today and noticed this very strange thing...
http://img288.echo.cx/my.php?image=ambiguity1ay.png
Just what exactly does this cursive word say?

 

[brewnog]

Love?

What else could it look like?

 

[Moonbear]

It says you need to work on your penmanship if you have to ask us what your own writing says.

 

[BicycleTree]

Love?

What else could it look like?

Look closer! It can be 3 words. In white:

Foul
Force
Love
[/color]

 

[brewnog]

I don't see the ambiguity, I'm pretty sure that most people would agree that it says "love". Out of context, I think that quite a bit of imagination is needed to see the other two, no?

 

[BicycleTree]

Not really. When I actually first wrote the word, it was "force."

 

[honestrosewater]

I see the other letters but not the 'f'. It isn't connected and doesn't extend below the base line. I think it could be an 'l' or 'b'. If you're going to stretch it, that 'o' could be a very sloppy 'a', giving 'lace' and 'face'.

 

[JamesU]

it is not an 'f'

 

[Danger]

it is not an 'f'

By extrapolating the first letter below that baseline, I did manage to come up with 'force' and 'foul'. It took a long time to think of doing that, though.

 

[BicycleTree]

Okay, here's a better one:
http://img184.echo.cx/my.php?image=ambiguity8rk.png

 

[Grizzlycomet]

Okay, here's a better one:
http://img184.echo.cx/my.php?image=ambiguity8rk.png

That's still no "f"

 

[JamesU]

do you know what a cursive 'F' looks like?

to help you learn cursive:

 

[Moonbear]

Ooh, we should get a hand-writing analyst in here. That's still a sorry excuse for an F. I only saw "love" as well, but knew that couldn't be what the word really was based on your question. This is why we make students type everything now; it used to be very painful grading hand-written assignments due to poor penmanship.

 

[Knavish]

Haha, I thought my cursive was atrocious (which I gave up because so many teachers teased me about it), and even I can't see an 'f.' If anything, it's an 'l,' maybe a 'b.' Seriously, how can you put up with your writing if even you can find three ambiguities? For the past year I've been writing in print, and although it's like starting where I left off in third grade, people can atleast read what I write.

 

[BicycleTree]

Now you are being twits.

The first letter of the new image could easily pass for an f. There is an inward bump, which anyone who writes or reads a lot of hastily-written cursive understands is enough for a cusp. You are stupidly nitpicking when you could be basking in the sun of the glorious four-and-five-letter double-ambiguity.

 

[BicycleTree]

And, you know, it almost says louie. It's so close to saying louie.

 

[Evo]

The second example could be a "b" but an "f" is stretching it.

 

[Knavish]

BicycleTree: Even though I've written in cursive for about eleven years, I couldn't see an 'f' there, and I still barely can after you tell me. You need to drag you bottom cusp farther down, and I'm not nitpicking--it's what distinguishes a 'b' between an 'f.' And I'm not a "twit" because I think that either.

 

[Knavish]

For the sake of creativity, I guess we can imagine it's a 'f' though. (Even though it's not.)

 

[Moonbear]

Now you are being twits.

The first letter of the new image could easily pass for an f. There is an inward bump, which anyone who writes or reads a lot of hastily-written cursive understands is enough for a cusp. You are stupidly nitpicking when you could be basking in the sun of the glorious four-and-five-letter double-ambiguity.

If you don't want your handwriting nitpicked, don't post it in a thread about the ambiguities of your handwriting. Nobody is being a twit for elaborating on what you yourself pointed out...the handwriting is ambiguous. A lowercase f, in cursive, has a loop below the baseline, your loop stops right at the baseline. That's a lowercase b at best.

Do you have trouble re-reading your notes when you go back to them? If not, then you can read your own writing well enough for note-taking, so that's fine. If even you can't read it, then you need to change something. When you have to write for someone else (i.e., on an exam), I suggest either printing or working on your penmanship so it will be legible to others, otherwise they're going to want to know why your physics exams are covered with love notes.

 

[brewnog]

they're going to want to know why your physics exams are covered with love notes.

There's a perfectly good reason for that...

 

[Moonbear]

There's a perfectly good reason for that...

Well, I would completely understand if I was the physics professor, but considering most I've run into are balding, middle-aged men, they aren't usually getting love notes from their students.

 

[BicycleTree]

I am surrounded by twits. In a situation like this I must abandon love and go straight to foul force.
http://img281.echo.cx/my.php?image=ambiguity8nx.png

 

[brewnog]

Bovce? What does Bovce mean?!

 

[Berislav]

It could also be "lorca", as in F. G. Lorca, the poet.

 

[Knavish]

Haha, that's more like an f.

 

[mattmns]

When I first looked I thought it was love. But after you saying it was "force" I can see that too. Still that is some terrible cursive; however, after trying to write it in cursive myself I can see why it looks so terrible. Who writes in strictly cursive anyway?

 

[JamesU]

but now there's no 'L'

 

[Moonbear]

I am surrounded by twits. In a situation like this I must abandon love and go straight to foul force.
http://img281.echo.cx/my.php?image=ambiguity8nx.png

Ah, love is a foul force, isn't it? Much better f.

 

[matthyaouw]

Bad handwriting is hard to read. I knew that before I came in here...

 

[BicycleTree]

Are you people really idiots? Griping about poor handwriting? You are the third person to do that in this thread. Do you understand that this is an image I have created deliberately?

 

[BicycleTree]

Here I am, having posted an amusing and rare double-meaning between a word of four letters and a word of five letters, and all I see is people saying "there's no way that can be interpreted as an f" and "your handwriting sucks."

 

[mattmns]

Well you know my reading comprehension is terrible, and that I am unqualified to read your posts anyway

 

[matthyaouw]

Very clever. See if you can get this one.

 

[Moonbear]

Are you people really idiots? Griping about poor handwriting? You are the third person to do that in this thread. Do you understand that this is an image I have created deliberately?

Whether you created these particular images deliberately or not (isn't all your writing deliberately done? Did your hand just spontaneously start writing stuff that you didn't intend to write at some point in time?), they are all still examples of atrocious handwriting if that first letter in the first two images is supposed to be an f. Those are the sort of examples they show to M.D.s to demonstrate why they should write prescriptions more carefully or use a computer and print them so pharmacists can actually read them.

 

[Moonbear]

Well you know my reading comprehension is terrible, and that I am unqualified to read your posts anyway

You're right, he's already declared us all unfit to have a discussion with him, so I have to wonder why he keeps posting topics for discussion with us...if you can even call them "topics".

 

[JamesU]

Very clever. See if you can get this one.

l don'l core?

 

[Knavish]

Wow, you need to calm down, BT; if you get mad at crap like this you're going to have a heart attack. Anyway, I should probably make it clear that I was telling myself off more than you in my first post.

 

[BicycleTree]

Moonbear: Creating the images deliberately is obviously as opposed to just writing the word without thinking about ambiguity and having the entire double-ambiguity just appear, as an accident. The two tools required for you to realize this are common sense and reading comprehension. Furthermore, how is it relevant to preach about the importance of neat handwriting relevant, given that the image is not an example of bad handwriting, but rather an example of carefully crafted ambiguity? My actual handwriting is perfectly legible.

Furthermore, this is not supposed to be a discussion. It is an interesting image, posted to draw comments, not argument.

I believe that the reason I am receiving opposition here is the nature of the words in the ambiguity. The hidden words "Foul force" in the original image prime your subconscious into pessimism and antagonism.

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear: Creating the images deliberately is obviously as opposed to just writing the word without thinking about ambiguity and having the entire double-ambiguity just appear, as an accident.

In your first post, you said you noticed it while taking notes. The astute reader interprets that to mean it is your usual handwriting while note-taking.

Furthermore, this is not supposed to be a discussion. It is an interesting image, posted to draw comments, not argument.

Perhaps you should try re-reading the title of the forum: "General Discussion." If you do not wish to discuss something, there is no point in posting it, unless of course your intent is to troll. You may also want to look up the definition of "discussion." Surely someone with your superior reading comprehension skills is aware that discussion is not synonymous with argument.

I believe that the reason I am receiving opposition here is the nature of the words in the ambiguity. The hidden words "Foul force" in the original image prime your subconscious into pessimism and antagonism.

Nope, what you're calling an f simply doesn't look at all like an f, there's nothing more to it. The only antagonism around here is you calling people twits and idiots because they have told you that the word you are claiming is ambiguous is primarily ambiguous because one of the letters is written with atrocious penmanship.

 

[BicycleTree]

Moonbear: Obviously, the type of discussion to which I was referring was the type of discussion for which very high reading comprehension is required--an argument. Used more broadly, "discussion" can mean other things. But because the "parent" subject was the reading comprehension requirement for a contentious discussion, the sense of the word "discussion" in use was this:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=discussion
2. A formal discourse on a topic; an exposition.

An informal commentary on a picture is not a formal discourse.


What I noticed while taking notes was a hint of the ambiguity. If you simply write the word, "force," in neat, clear, cursive, it can be interpreted as "foul" provided that the e is slightly larger than normal, which was in fact the only abnormality the original time I wrote it.

Also, you should have realized that the only thing depending on the f - L ambiguity was the interpretation of "love." The original "force-foul" interpretation does not depend on the f - L ambiguity, but rather on the fusing of the r and the c into the letter u (which is interesting, as it is a two-letter ambiguity), and the reading of the final letter as an L.

Also, my use of the word "nitwit" was clearly in jest, as you could tell from the context. And I did not call anyone an idiot, simply ask rhetorically and incredulously if that were the case (the implied answer to the rhetorical question obviously being no, the people here are not idiots, and the point being that they are acting foolishly in this case). Both of those cases were a reaction to people criticizing my carefully made image without a single good word.

Furthermore, the fact that in the original image the first letter was more difficult to read as an f is the reason why the words "foul" and "force" in that image were subliminal.

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear: Obviously, the type of discussion to which I was referring was the type of discussion for which very high reading comprehension is required--an argument. Used more broadly, "discussion" can mean other things. But because the "parent" subject was the reading comprehension requirement for a contentious discussion, the sense of the word "discussion" in use was this:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=discussion
2. A formal discourse on a topic; an exposition.

An informal commentary on a picture is not a formal discourse.

Of course it is not; this would be an inappropriate place for an exposition on a topic. An exposition upon which commentary or debate is not desired would be most suitable for a journal entry, which you most certainly already knew. Clearly, we agree that the definition of discussion pertinent to this thread and this forum is the first definition provided, namely:
"Consideration of a subject by a group; an earnest conversation."

Furthermore, this is not supposed to be a discussion. It is an interesting image, posted to draw comments, not argument.

Based on your explanation that "discussion" in the above statement refers to the definition: "A formal discourse on a topic; an exposition," then one must interpret that you are using "argument" consistent with that usage. While one could of course view that as two independent sentences with "argument" being unrelated to your usage of "discussion," in your previous lecture on reading comprehension skills, you informed us that your view of the matter is that in the absence of a statement indicating a change in topic, we must assume that no change has occurred. Thus, I will defer to your expertise in regard to your own writing and interpret that no shift in topic has occurred here. This would mean you were not interested in an argument according to one of the following definitions of argument (I'll offer the benefit of doubt that it could be any of the three of these definitions, as any would be consistent with your usage of "discussion" defined as an exposition:

2. a. A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood: presented a careful argument for extraterrestrial life.
b. A fact or statement put forth as proof or evidence; a reason: The current low mortgage rates are an argument for buying a house now.
c. A set of statements in which one follows logically as a conclusion from the others.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=argument

I see no problem here, as the defintion of argument presented in this thread is consistent with the usage of discussion we agree most appropriately suits this topic: "A discussion in which disagreement is expressed; a debate."

What I noticed while taking notes was a hint of the ambiguity. If you simply write the word, "force," in neat, clear, cursive, it can be interpreted as "foul" provided that the e is slightly larger than normal, which was in fact the only abnormality the original time I wrote it.

Also, you should have realized that the only thing depending on the f - L ambiguity was the interpretation of "love." The original "force-foul" interpretation does not depend on the f - L ambiguity, but rather on the fusing of the r and the c into the letter u (which is interesting, as it is a two-letter ambiguity), and the reading of the final letter as an L.

Also, my use of the word "nitwit" was clearly in jest, as you could tell from the context. And I did not call anyone an idiot, simply ask rhetorically and incredulously if that were the case (the implied answer to the rhetorical question obviously being no, the people here are not idiots, and the point being that they are acting foolishly in this case). Both of those cases were a reaction to people criticizing my carefully made image without a single good word.

Furthermore, the fact that in the original image the first letter was more difficult to read as an f is the reason why the words "foul" and "force" in that image were subliminal.

Yes, we can once again appreciate the extraordinary reading comprehension ability demonstrated in understanding, interpreting, and further elaborating upon your own statements. I'm sure it has not gone unnoticed by others that such ability is unparalleled among the rest of the membership here.

 

[εllipse]

more ambiguity

l .. is it a one, an L, or an i?!?

O .. the letter o, or a zero!??!?

$5 .. 5 U.S. dollars or 5 Mexican pesos?