Dumb Cuneiform

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Dumb Cuneiform

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1timspalding
Modifié : Nov 7, 2015, 10:40 pm

Dumb Cuneiform
http://dumbcuneiform.com

Transliterates your tweets into Old Persian cuneiform, inscribes them on a tablet and mails it to you.

Personally, I want Linear B. Or maybe Lycian.

2Petroglyph
Nov 7, 2015, 11:45 pm

This is actually a neat gift idea.

Maybe bnielsen and his collection of Tim Quotes should be made aware of this.

3timspalding
Modifié : Nov 8, 2015, 12:57 am

Snort. That would fill a room.

Seriously, though, Linear B tablets would be much cooler. Old Persian is a joke—almost nothing's written in it!

4rolandperkins
Modifié : Nov 8, 2015, 1:03 am

" . . . . . nothingʻs written in (Old Persian." (3)

Havenʻt looked into it in years (or is it decades?),
but Iʻm told that the contents of whatʻs been
deciphered from Linear B isnʻt exactly in the
"Canʻt put it down" category. Little more, Iʻm
told, than a "laundry list" type of lit.

5timspalding
Nov 8, 2015, 12:57 am

>4 rolandperkins:

As opposed to the captivating matter usually on Twitter? :)

6rolandperkins
Modifié : Nov 8, 2015, 1:02 am

". . .captivating matter usually on Twitter?" (5)

Timely reminder, but I havenʻt yet sent or read a tweet,
so I canʻt say.

7MarthaJeanne
Nov 8, 2015, 1:51 am

$20! Do people really buy this?

8AndreasJ
Nov 8, 2015, 1:56 am

>3 timspalding:

They say the use Old Persian cuneiform (rather than say Akkadian) because they like the look of it. I confess to wishing they'd gone into a little more detail about that - to me all sorts of cuneiform, except the really early forms that aren't mere collections of wedges yet, look much the same.

One also wonders how they go about it practically, the known corpus of Old Persian is limited as you say and rather deficient in things like pick-up lines. (This assuming they really try and translate - the phrase "translate into cuneiform" makes me wonder if they mayhap merely transcribe English into the script, in which case Old Persian may be the most suitable sort of cuneiform to use.)

9Petroglyph
Nov 8, 2015, 2:16 am

>3 timspalding:
A room full of fired clay tablets that future archaeologists can one day have a career about.

10Petroglyph
Nov 8, 2015, 2:19 am

>8 AndreasJ:
The website says this: "We take the letters from your message and transliterate by syllable, as nearly as we can, into cuneiform." So yes, they merely transcribe English (or whatever) into the Old Persian syllabary.

11guido47
Nov 8, 2015, 7:22 am

Hmm, My relative is a young Architect, currently doing a Masters in Belgium. In Restoration.
BUT.
She is Latvian.

I really do like the idea.
Is it just phonetics?

12shikari
Jan 15, 2016, 7:19 pm

That's a rather fun way of making a business out of an interest. I'd rather have gingerbread ones, though:
http://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/how-to-make-cuneiform-tablet-cookies/

13timspalding
Jan 15, 2016, 11:39 pm

Awesome.

14shikari
Jan 16, 2016, 1:38 am

Or these, on the page I meant to share (but couldn't find at once). They're more of a labour of love and less practical than the Penn Museum ones, but more impressive:

http://mostlydeadlanguages.tumblr.com/post/136361919078/cuneiform-cookies-for-th...

15guido47
Jan 16, 2016, 2:20 am

I loved your recipe >14 shikari: but really would like some way to cheat forming "cuneiform on ginger bread"

Hmm. 3D laser printers perhaps?

16shikari
Modifié : Jan 16, 2016, 4:08 am

You could always make a mould from an Old Persian tweet, Guido...

17shikari
Jan 16, 2016, 4:48 am

I see the OI museum in Chicago does reproduction cylinder seals. Those might be fun to use on on biscuits.
https://oi.uchicago.edu/visit/museum-shop-suq

18DylanCallens
Mar 19, 2016, 11:47 am

I would consider it. It's hilarious!