Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

english.stackexchange.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 166 posts

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#151

Post by gozur88 »

Luc wrote: post #109
dahart wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no proof yet, so your judgement is speculative and presumptuous, even if the right answer turns out to be Yxa. The top answer is awesome, and probably right, but who knows for sure? Do you? It's top because of popularity and not because he solved it. Since all answers including the top answer suppose this was a mistake, it's easy to imagine it being the result of a stupid mistake as opposed to one that feels…

Presumptuous, huh? There is no absolute proof of anything, but the Swedish axe image is substantial proof to me. I suppose that when the designer comes forward and explains the way the image was chosen, there will be people who argue the designer is lying, or misremembering, or trying to hide the fact that their drawing was interpreted the wrong way. This way UFOs, 9-11 Truthers, and homeopathy lies.

"Presumptive" would have been a better word.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#152

Post by ryanx435 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #75
ryanx435 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you should read some of /pol/'s analysis of the email leaks from last year: it was truly a wonder of crowd-sourced investigation. They even set up meta investigators (managers?) to help guide the anonymous users' investigations to make sure that all of the emails got read and categorized. it was quite fun to be a part of, actually.

Once you strip out the racist and homophobic filler was it actually good analysis?

It was. Very professional, considering it was all anonymous. But there were high standards and major findings had to be verified before being disseminated.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#153

Post by iak8god »

KGIII wrote: post #120
iak8god wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was like 28 years old before I'd heard of a yurt.

See? You should have had an alphabet ball.

So true. I was even older than that when I first heard (today) of an "yaxe".

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#154

Post by danbron »

thedrake wrote: post #148
thedrake wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought as the shop owner. Where would I buy things for cheap. Alibaba was my first thought. Went there and searched for the ball... bingo! Now I am hot on the trail of unraveling the entire mystery... What I am now doing is to think like the person who designed it. The more I can be in their shoes the better. This has led me to find the discrepancies from the original ball and this one (the knockoff). I have focus…

I now see the ball I found and believe that the ax/yxa is an axe in the ball but has been changed in the OP ball to another variation. Off to find that variation via the other changes like volcano etc.

I'm excited to see what you find! I sent you a message on Twitter, but it's probably easier to communicate here.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#156

Post by louprado »

louprado wrote: post #145

Assuming this was made in China, there are two sources of confusion that could lead to this mix up. 1. The letter 'A' and an upside down Y-shaped character share the same key on a Chinese/English key board. This could lead to an unintended subconscious relationship between these symbol shapes.[1] 2. The orientation of these characters abruptly changed on the ball graphic between W and Q, leaving the orientation of th…

⅄xe

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#157

Post by louprado »

peterkelly wrote: post #49

This reminds me of the scene in Silicon Valley where Peter Gregory notices the popularity of Burger King, the number of sesame seeds they use, and remembers that sesame seeds only grow in Myanmar, Brazil, and Indonesia - the former two of which have large Cicada populations that emerge at different times. After some research, he finds that this is about to occur simultaneously in both countries for the first time in…

⅄xe. See my comment below.

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#158

Post by thedrake »

danbron wrote: post #154
thedrake wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I now see the ball I found and believe that the ax/yxa is an axe in the ball but has been changed in the OP ball to another variation. Off to find that variation via the other changes like volcano etc.

I'm excited to see what you find! I sent you a message on Twitter, but it's probably easier to communicate here.

I found the axe/yxa image that is/was used. See the link to the comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14673668

Re: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture?”

#160

Post by thedrake »

thedrake wrote: post #150

SOLVED!!!! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14673626

   	submissions | comments
*

1 point by thedrake 4 hours ago | parent | un-favorite | on: “Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe ...

SOLVED!!!!!! I spent several hours looking for an axe or a hatchet or an Ubåt This is NOT what the designer would search as they most likely do NOT speak English (Chinese made from earlier research above of the ball manufactuer) Me getting into the shoes of the designer: Assumptions: The designer is in a hurry. They would search in their language which I found via google translate is https://www.dropbox.com/s/h585tt6fwcb0x54/Screenshot%202017-.... 斧头 So my next google search is http://lmgtfy.com/?q=clipart+%E6%96%A7%E5%A4%B4 I looked at the images and in the top right I saw IT... and began to tremble as it was right there.... The Original (bottom right in my screenshot) The Found Ball (top right) And THE IMAGE that was used: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oho6qtlyja7quaq/Screenshot%202017-.... The google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=clipart+斧头&tbm=isch&imgil=ay...: Thanks for the all the help along the way

Post reply on HN