Re: VMs: evidence against line transposition

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Wayne,

At 10:02 01/04/2005 -0500, Wayne Durden wrote:
> This makes me wonder if this list is truly a
> good way to solicit honest public feedback.  I was hoping maybe even three
> or four folks might say I see no similarity there other than what I see
> elsewhere in the manuscript and I believe you are chasing cloud bunnies, or
> an opinion that yes, it looks somewhat interesting to me.  There was nothing
> like that on the public list, and even Nick, whose comment resulted in the
> post, didn't directly opine afterward? Was this politeness Nick?

Well... it's the first time I've been named and shamed for excess 
politeness, but I'm happy to take it on the chin. :-)

First, a couple of quick observations. Voynichese is strongly structured at 
the letter level, which makes many short clusters of letters recur from 
page to page: these alone would make cloud bunnies easy to find. But 
also... in EVA, a/o are visually similar, as are n/r, ch/sh, etc: these too 
add to the distraction, making everything seem a little more regular than 
it actually is.

So... in your examples, I couldn't help but notice your matching up short 
clusters of letter, as well as your matching a/o and ch/sh. In my opinion, 
any resultant match built on these is more likely to be cloud bunnies than 
a message from a higher intelligence. Even if it is in French. ;-)

Your other point (not quoted) about differences of opinions over 
transcriptions being problematic for you: there's normally a good (though 
perhaps very faint) reason for particular choices, which looking at the SID 
files may well reveal to you. Also note that many people here (myself 
included) believe that parts of the VMs were emended (probably incorrectly) 
by a later owner, so don't get too hung up about it. :-)

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


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