Re: VMs: Initial gallows

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Larry,

At 17:24 27/03/2004 -0500, Larry Roux wrote:
> My theory is that line initial gallows are breaks - sentence and paragraph 
> or idea breaks.  Or they are encryption/table scheme changes.  They should 
> not be considered part of the word.  The first word on f1r "fachys" should 
> be considered "f" (start) "achys"

I'd guess that probably a majority of non-hoax proponents here would agree 
that page-initial (and almost certainly paragraph-initial) gallows likely 
serve a specific function - but what?

If the VMs is a cipher-system, then the inclusion of such a mechanism would 
appear to make the whole system unique. While this weakens the pro-cipher 
argument (because nobody likes saying "the reason the VMs hasn't been 
broken is because it is unique"), anomalous page-initial gallows-related 
behaviour exists, and as such it still needs explaining.

On the other hand, natural and artificial languages would seem (IMHO) to be 
structurally antipathetic to this kind of page-centric behaviour (never 
mind Neal keys, etc).

Similarly, it would surely be a bizarre hoaxer who decided to hoax 
something that looks like a cipher table-change mechanism if no known 
history of such a mechanism existed at the (suspected) time of that hoax. 
Essentially, why fake a history that never existed? If you go down that 
route, you end up in acutely unsatisfactory Baudrillardian territory, 
arguing that the VMs is (somehow) a simulation of a non-existent 
cipher-system... essentially the worst of both worlds. :-o

In summary... as a general rule, I'd say that if paragraph-initial gallows 
do have a function, it would surely seem most likely to be related to a 
complex cipher-system, simply because other explanations seem to fare even 
worse. :-o

> I am now leaning towards all gallows being separate - ie cphody would 
> really be "p" chody - just put together for ornamentation purposes, but 
> that is due to a few examples and gut guessing.

Be careful not to confuse "ornamentation" with "misdirection"! :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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