“I win the bet”
In what sense is it the first letter of the English lexicon? Lexicon ≠ alphabet
In the sense that Alphabet has an ‘a’ in it.
Yeah, but it isn’t impressive avoiding a letter if you can use any word you want, and it doesnt matter what it means. “Without employing the second most frequent letter of English.” would make sense or “the vowel which is commonly listed first” or some sort of thing. I suspect they just didn’t know what lexicon meant and thought it sounded smart.
I think the description “first letter” is easily understood if you remember what a lexicon used to look like.
Ahh, I didn’t know that Americans* called dictionaries ‘lexicons’. In most forms of English I’ve heard, and in the field of linguistics, ‘lexicon’ is the complete set of vocabulary in a language, or subject. A dictionary is an alphabetical list of a lexicon, often with definitions.
*I’m presuming it’s Americans because mirriam webster lists the dictionary definition first, while OED and Cambridge only list that as archaic usage.
Well I’m neither English or American, but to me the word lexicon means encyclopedia. It’s still alphabetical.
In English, not using “e” seems like the true struggle.
(Sentence above free of "a"s).
Fuck you.
You thought you did somthing thr didnt you? Wll sorry to burst your bubbl but numrous sentnces could b constructd without mploying th first ltter of the Nglish lxicon.
sentnces
They snuck right past you
There’s an entire novel that did it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsby_(novel)
Several. Later Georges Perec also did
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void
Which is a book about a world in which the letter “E” has disappeared and only one guy notices it. He tries to prove it, but of course all works of literature have been “rewritten” by reality to no longer include E. For example, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, is now A Blackbird - which the author includes in full, keeping the original meter and plot.
I heard about this when I was in my twenties, forgot the details, and purchased The Great Gatsby instead.
I thought I was missing something for the longest time. I guess I was.
I just did it.
It’s not too difficult to avoid using it.
Just reminded me of this.
Mastodon instance where you can’t post the letter “e”: https://oulipo.social/public/local 🙃
A bit of a drag that a lot of local posts look so short and cut off—avoiding that fifth glyph isn’t particularly difficult. I was hoping individuals willing to sign up to this community would find joy in writing out paragraphs about various things.
Did you… Did you do the thing there? There’s no e
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
Bingo, saw an opportunity and had to jump on it.
Thomas Jefferson: Intelligence.
Benjamin Franklin: Genius.
deleted by creator
I’m going to assume you’re serious…
You’re describing the relationship between Nicola Tesla (inventor, genius) and Thomas Edison (business man, scumbag).
Benjamin Franklin (pictured right) is the guy who proved the existence of electricity. He is better known for
inventingusing the printing press and inventing bifocals.Apparently he invented time travel, too, if he was able to go back to 1440 to invent the printing press.
I wouldn’t put it past him.
You’re right, not the inventor. I had thought he reinvented it, making the first modern printing press, rather he built his own and was one of the first prolific users of one in America.
I’ve never seen a picture of Franklin when he was young. Maybe he was almost 400 years old when he died?
/s
The former; the person you’re thinking of, as the latter, is Thomas Edison.
Thanks!
Could still be shorter, “So?”
O!
Oi mum, where’s Grond?
Grond
