LJ Idol 33: Musth...
Jan. 15th, 2015 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpIt was a rainy Sunday afternoon, and Parker and I had a game of Scrabble going. According to Parker, Scrabble was an improvement over chess—at least for her, since she felt that chess relied too much on memorization for her to like the game very much.
We had been playing for a little while, and the game progressed rapidly, shrinking the stock of tiles in the bag. As I took a sip of a julep prepared for me by Parker in anticipation of an early spring, she laid down five tiles to spell BLUES, the last letter "hooking" onto the beginning of the word HARD to create SHARD.
"Bravo!" I said, and I allowed my eyebrows to rise a skosh upon seeing how many points her play had scored. "You have been spending time reading the dictionary, I see," I said, engaging in a little coffee-house banter. I knew that what I had suggested was the last way in the world she would choose to spend her time.
"Oh, cut it out, you old fraud!" said Parker. "First of all, these were perfectly ordinary words I played, and second, you know that 'preparation through memorization' is just not my style."
"Hm-mm," I acknowledged, as I surveyed my tiles, "but you know, good competitive players go to the trouble of memorizing a sizable chunk of the 83,667 words that are two to eight letters long, and really top-flight players will have committed many of the 29,150 nine-letter words to memory, as well."
"But that's them, and this is us," said Parker, spreading her hands over the board as if presenting the denouement of a magic trick. She paused, and added: "Unless you've been staying up nights memorizing word lists?"
"Perish the thought, my dear!" I protested, and played some tiles to form a word that Parker immediately challenged successfully, foiling my attempt to sneak in a word spelled the way our British cousins would, with a 'C' instead of an 'S'. My gamble had not paid off, and the affirmation of her diligence had boosted Parker's spirits.
"Memorization is over-rated," she said, alternating her gaze between the tiles on her rack and the game board. "Me, given a choice between a doctor who has simply memorized the parts of the body and one who actually understands how the body works, I'll always choose the one who understands."
"I'm afraid you'll get no argument from me with regard to the last part of your statement," I said. "But can we really say that a doctor who does not know the names of the parts of the body understands how the body works? Surely knowing what things are called is essential if information is to be gleaned from the medical literature, or acquired during lectures or in conversations with colleagues?"
Parker said nothing, but picked up all the tiles from her rack and arranged them on the board, pulling off a 'bingo' and scoring an extra 50 points on top of a 'double-double' because her letters covered two double-word squares. "Your turn, old man," she said, and added, before I could slip into deep contemplation of my tiles: "But all that information is going to be acquired over time, anyway. Why go to the trouble of memorizing?"
I looked up from my rack. "Consider your average superstar basketball player," I said. "Said athlete will spend an inordinate amount of time practicing, say, shooting fouls—the same motion, over and over, thousands of times. And it is that kind of dedication that distinguishes the superstars from those who are merely 'very good' and are satisfied to acquire their skill 'over time', as you put it, during actual games." I made my play.
"What does memorization have to do with sports?" asked Parker, and quickly made a play of her own, dumping a single letter onto the board.
"The same dynamic is at work," I said. "The more you practice, the better you get and the easier it is."
I then made my play, after which both Parker and I remained silent for a turn each, during which the bag was emptied of tiles. This allowed me to identify an interesting opportunity to rob Parker of her last turn, and to narrow her margin of victory. But she'd have to, um, cooperate.
I took an H from my rack and placed it on the triple-word square in the bottom right-hand corner of the board. The letter hooked onto the end of YEA to create YEAH, and onto the end of MUST to create MUSTH. I endeavored to present a positively cherubic poker face in Parker's direction as I calculated points.
"Wait a minute!" said Parker. "You've got to be kidding. 'Musth'? Really? I think I'm going to challenge that!"
"And I believe it means 'a state of frenzy occurring in male elephants'," I said. "Look it up."
Parker's expression fell as the game's official dictionary demolished her challenge, causing her to lose her turn, whereupon I managed to empty my rack of tiles, ending the game. I had not won, but at least I had not lost as badly as I otherwise would have.
"Musth," said Parker, and then repeated the word several more times, letting it roll around in her mouth. "Of what possible use is knowing that word?" she said finally.
"Well, in the admittedly unlikely case of finding myself in the presence of a bull elephant in musth," I replied, "I will make every effort to tread carefully and stay away from the animal. Otherwise," I said, and paused for effect, "knowing such words can, on occasion, help narrow the score in a Sunday afternoon game of Scrabble." I smiled, and asked: "Shall we play another game?"
"Sure!" said Parker, laughing, and got up. "Get ready to lose big, this time. You want another julep?"
"Absolutely!" I replied.
It was turning out to be a marvelous, if rainy, afternoon.
We had been playing for a little while, and the game progressed rapidly, shrinking the stock of tiles in the bag. As I took a sip of a julep prepared for me by Parker in anticipation of an early spring, she laid down five tiles to spell BLUES, the last letter "hooking" onto the beginning of the word HARD to create SHARD.
"Bravo!" I said, and I allowed my eyebrows to rise a skosh upon seeing how many points her play had scored. "You have been spending time reading the dictionary, I see," I said, engaging in a little coffee-house banter. I knew that what I had suggested was the last way in the world she would choose to spend her time.
"Oh, cut it out, you old fraud!" said Parker. "First of all, these were perfectly ordinary words I played, and second, you know that 'preparation through memorization' is just not my style."
"Hm-mm," I acknowledged, as I surveyed my tiles, "but you know, good competitive players go to the trouble of memorizing a sizable chunk of the 83,667 words that are two to eight letters long, and really top-flight players will have committed many of the 29,150 nine-letter words to memory, as well."
"But that's them, and this is us," said Parker, spreading her hands over the board as if presenting the denouement of a magic trick. She paused, and added: "Unless you've been staying up nights memorizing word lists?"
"Perish the thought, my dear!" I protested, and played some tiles to form a word that Parker immediately challenged successfully, foiling my attempt to sneak in a word spelled the way our British cousins would, with a 'C' instead of an 'S'. My gamble had not paid off, and the affirmation of her diligence had boosted Parker's spirits.
"Memorization is over-rated," she said, alternating her gaze between the tiles on her rack and the game board. "Me, given a choice between a doctor who has simply memorized the parts of the body and one who actually understands how the body works, I'll always choose the one who understands."
"I'm afraid you'll get no argument from me with regard to the last part of your statement," I said. "But can we really say that a doctor who does not know the names of the parts of the body understands how the body works? Surely knowing what things are called is essential if information is to be gleaned from the medical literature, or acquired during lectures or in conversations with colleagues?"
Parker said nothing, but picked up all the tiles from her rack and arranged them on the board, pulling off a 'bingo' and scoring an extra 50 points on top of a 'double-double' because her letters covered two double-word squares. "Your turn, old man," she said, and added, before I could slip into deep contemplation of my tiles: "But all that information is going to be acquired over time, anyway. Why go to the trouble of memorizing?"
I looked up from my rack. "Consider your average superstar basketball player," I said. "Said athlete will spend an inordinate amount of time practicing, say, shooting fouls—the same motion, over and over, thousands of times. And it is that kind of dedication that distinguishes the superstars from those who are merely 'very good' and are satisfied to acquire their skill 'over time', as you put it, during actual games." I made my play.
"What does memorization have to do with sports?" asked Parker, and quickly made a play of her own, dumping a single letter onto the board.
"The same dynamic is at work," I said. "The more you practice, the better you get and the easier it is."
I then made my play, after which both Parker and I remained silent for a turn each, during which the bag was emptied of tiles. This allowed me to identify an interesting opportunity to rob Parker of her last turn, and to narrow her margin of victory. But she'd have to, um, cooperate.
I took an H from my rack and placed it on the triple-word square in the bottom right-hand corner of the board. The letter hooked onto the end of YEA to create YEAH, and onto the end of MUST to create MUSTH. I endeavored to present a positively cherubic poker face in Parker's direction as I calculated points.
"Wait a minute!" said Parker. "You've got to be kidding. 'Musth'? Really? I think I'm going to challenge that!"
"And I believe it means 'a state of frenzy occurring in male elephants'," I said. "Look it up."
Parker's expression fell as the game's official dictionary demolished her challenge, causing her to lose her turn, whereupon I managed to empty my rack of tiles, ending the game. I had not won, but at least I had not lost as badly as I otherwise would have.
"Musth," said Parker, and then repeated the word several more times, letting it roll around in her mouth. "Of what possible use is knowing that word?" she said finally.
"Well, in the admittedly unlikely case of finding myself in the presence of a bull elephant in musth," I replied, "I will make every effort to tread carefully and stay away from the animal. Otherwise," I said, and paused for effect, "knowing such words can, on occasion, help narrow the score in a Sunday afternoon game of Scrabble." I smiled, and asked: "Shall we play another game?"
"Sure!" said Parker, laughing, and got up. "Get ready to lose big, this time. You want another julep?"
"Absolutely!" I replied.
It was turning out to be a marvelous, if rainy, afternoon.
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 03:55 am (UTC)Now, I want to go and dig out the Scrabble set from "deep storage" in the garage. :)
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 03:55 am (UTC)Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 06:41 am (UTC)'Musth' at first glance looked to me like something generated by a lisp.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 03:57 am (UTC)And whenever I read or hear the word 'lisp', I think of the programming language first!
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 04:21 am (UTC)But my scripting language is basic Kornshell, so LISP is just one of those potentials like TCL. ;)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 05:15 pm (UTC)Although...and I am showing my ignorance here....is Chess really laborious because of "memorization" or because it requires projecting the mind outwards into all possible outcomes of all possibly likely moves?
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 04:12 am (UTC)Memorization only gets you so far in chess, and mostly in the opening, when pawns and pieces are being deployed, and in the late endgame, when there are very few pieces on the board. And its benefit is IMO mostly in the time and fatigue department, because playing from memory means you don't waste time and mental effort reinventing the wheel each time by figuring out what moves are plausible in any given position. (FYI, serious games are played with time controls, requiring the completion of, say, 30 moves within 2 hours by a player, so playing "book" moves buys time early in the game for analysis later.)
Chess programs are generally built to examine and evaluate all possible positions that may develop from the current position, but human masters don't travel that path. Instead humans concentrate on a relative handful of moves (typically between three and five) that are chosen to either implement or thwart a plan, and then to calculate variations only as far as is feasible to arrive at a final choice of move.
What makes programs so good these days is their ability to examine massive numbers of positions quickly, thereby allowing them to see more "deeply" into a position with utter accuracy.
The thing that's truly laborious about chess is that skill very heavily depends on pattern recognition, and there are a lot of patterns.
Sorry for the long-winded reply. :)
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 05:57 pm (UTC)Thanks for all that info! You make the complexity of that aspect of the game a bit more clear for me!
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-19 06:41 am (UTC)There is a philosophy or two that states the only reason we don't have memories before a certain age is because we don't have the words to describe what surrounded us. And while this philosophy only goes so far (the first time I heard the word musth was this past Tuesday, but that would make no difference if I had been trampled to death by a lust-crazed elephant on Monday), it's fascinating to revisit it during a lazy, intimate game of Scrabble.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-19 08:41 pm (UTC)