Magrat vs Peanut (incomplete nov 06)

'Bank holiday'? I had to look up the term, but being a non-UK resident... no sorry, but we have the 'bouwvak' (Dutch abbreviation for builder) currently, which means nothing 'constructive' is done

Well, back to the matter at hand, and best wishes to you too!

T H9 - H10

d F15 - 07

Oh, so sorry... I didn't see your location.... You see, I myself had to ask one of the Brits on the client what a "bank" was.

d K1 - K14

T J8 - K7

If you would like to take back a move at any point, that's fine. I know you're just getting started.

@ Magrat

Hmmm, well I'll 'trial & error' my way out of these games, so if you don't mind, just say "You shouldn't have done that" or a less polite equivalent of it and kick the ^&%*# out of me

T H10 - J10 (probably should have done that the move before, but we'll see what happens)

d G1 - N7 (I'm sure something will go utterly wrong here as well )

All right!

d P9 - L13

T K7 - L6

@magrat, what do you call a Bank across the pond? it would be interesting to know what else is different in our fair language

sorry for the intrusion

P

Well, you know, here it is a financial institution, like elsewhere. But the exact remark in the chat window that I was responding to, which was between two folks acquainted in real life, was something like this:

"Hey, you know, Jack is going to the bank dressed as a girl!"

I imagined that we were not referring to a financial institution, because why would a man dress up as the other gender to go to the bank? So I inquired, and was told that "bank", in this context, meant "event for British Civil War reenactors which is happening during bank holiday, in August." I had heard of bank holiday, but didn't know they called it "bank" for short.

And now you know the whole story. But in return, you (this is @ peanut) must tell me why, if it is known, the Dutch holiday is called "builder"? I need to further my education in European summer holidays. Thanks.

Business before pleasure:

T G8 - H9

d N7 - F14 (Ah, I'm desperate already, that position could not be held )

Heya Ponder, you're not trying to disrupt our concentration or anything? It's hard enough already

@Magrat: The 'Bouwvak' is, if I remember correctly, a three week period during the summer where no work on constructions is being performed. It also signifies the three weeks that all the children in the country have a holiday, as the country is divided in three zones which have different summer holiday weeks. For example, the holiday for the southern part of The Netherlands started three weeks ago, while the northern started today, or last week I believe. The school holidays last six weeks, and the three weeks the three zones have in common is usually the bouwvak, but any Dutchman may correct me here as I'm not sure on the last part (and I have no relatives and friends in the profession to ask).

Anything I should know about American holidays? Do you have, for example, the same zone system?

d G15 - H15

T H9 - G10 That was not a desperate move, it was a brilliant strategem. You got me to commit a troll to one direction, and then headed off in another. A crucial tool in the dwarf game.

And about school holidays, it appears the Dutch have demonstrated once again their general engineering superiority (for exhibit A, take a look at the flood control in Genua). In this fine country, the timing of the school holiday (known here as vacation) is decided by each and every town individually. Period. So it can be any time at all, but by custom, during the summer.

So, from whence do you come originally, if not Dutch yourself, btw?

T G7 - G6

d F14 - B10 Thank you, I hadn't thought of it that way yet

Vacation is really out of the question, I (and with me most English-learning highschool teenagers in Holland, though this is changing in favour of the American language) we're taught British variants of the language with 'ou' in colour and odour and similar words, and different pronunciation of the tomato and potato terms

Good thing that tradition tells the local authorities that summer is actually the time for a holiday (hence 'holiday season'). If my previous post suggested that I don't originate from Holland, I apologize, we have to go to far back in time to make it different. I was merely pointing out that I don't know for sure about the whole 'bouwvak' thing and I've seen other Dutch people on the forum so they might correct me here.

That I'm not per se at home here and don't feel obliged to stay in Holland necessarily is a totally different thing - I'm more attracted to a global citizenship - but for practical reasons I'll just stay where I am right now I understand the size of your country makes State governmentship necessary, on the other hand I have the feeling that you guys travel a lot further than we do in our tiny country. Isn't it annoying that as soon as you cross a stateborder, you have order laws and similar things?

d D13 - K13

T G9 - F9

Yes, it IS annoying, now that you mention it. We drive several times a year to Pennsylvania to visit family, through five states. Talking on a cell-phone while driving is illegal in New York. Not in Massachusetts. Don't know about the other three states, but I don't do it anyway. My daughter has a learner's driving permit that is legal in Massachusetts, but she might not be able to drive in some of the states we pass through - we have to find out.

Fortunately, that's become easier now that we are driving on the information superhighway.

Your English is wonderful; you fooled me completely. I thought you might be an immigrant from a non-UK English-speaking country. But I should have known, because the other Dutch folks are also kind enough to meet us more than half-way. I wish so much that US schools valued language the way European ones do.

T J10 - J13 x J14 x K14 x K13 It has to stop at some point, I'll gladly sacrifice a Troll before you pesky little ones become too cluttered

d C12 - E10 Hmm, that move completely caught me offguard, and with my F15 position gone, I can't just move my dwarf across the board like I use to do in this situation.

At the same time you note one of the great benefits (for a teenager at least) of the States: you can have your driver license by age sixteen *blushes* Thanks for the compliment, I must admit I had a very inspiring English teacher in highschool. Do you also have different levels of highschool (like in Holland roughly three, one lower level for the manual labours, a second for the midlevel and a third level for university preparation), or is a school's reputation simply the mark on the ladder?

d L13 - J13 x J13

T F9 - E9 x E10

We don't have exactly the system you describe - that would contradict our egalitarian myth, which is nonetheless entirely mythological.

The basic public school system is meant to serve all. There are "vocational schools" for those headed for the trades, but many more who are also headed there graduate from standard high school. There are expensive private schools which only admit students who are going to college anyway, but many, many more graduate from standard high schools.

This is good for students because you could go from not being college-bound to being college-bound overnight simply by changing your grades and the difficulty of the courses you take. But it's very hard for schools to be everything to everybody, and I'm not sure everybody gets what they need because of this.

So in reality it ends up as you describe. One school, in a wealthy community, will have 95% of students go on to two- or four-year colleges. Another, in the inner city, will have only 5% going on. So a school system in a certain town definitely has a reputation that enters into the college admissions process. On the other hand, the country is so large, it's impossible to know all the schools - it must be done by gathering statistics.

Ok, then, let's get our American and British English straight. Here's the American:

holiday: a day off when something is being celebrated, such as Christmas, New Year's, or Independence Day. From the derivation, "holy day."

vacation day: a day off with nothing like that going on. Just a day off.

holiday season: refers exclusively to the time from our holiday of Thanksgiving (last Thursday in November) through New Year's. Also called "the holidays," but that's because ti has actual holidays in it.

summer vacation: that time we were orginally talking about.

But, as is often the case, I like the British better. We are a family of anglophiles, and often slip "u"s into our colours when no one is looking. Here's another one: theater (American) and theatre.

Sorry. Accidental double post.

T J9 - J12 x J13

d B10 - K2 (that dwarf has seen quite a lot of the board now)

Quite typical that school system. I also envision that exactly this kind of system encourages the competitivity that is found among the talented for a 'top-of-the-class' position, as it is this and only this that makes you able to distinguish yourself from the rest. I'd have to look up the numbers for Holland, but what I've been able to uncover in a quick google search is that 60% of the teenagers attend a craft-orientated training, while the other 40% are those heading for the colleges and universities. That's already a rough 50/50 way of distinguishing, while both the 60% and the 40% can be divided up more specialized.

Still, the problem always remains, just like you point out, how to serve the special cases, e.g. those weak of mind and without the gift of special intelligence or those with a very good intelligence but very little persistence.

And thanks for the etymology lesson (on holiday... why didn't I figure that out myself), speaking of which, reading in 'Wyrd Sisters' today uncovered a lot about your name, I think at least?

d H15 - P8 That was good. You came out even on that one.

T L6 - L5

Yes. Well, Magrat is actually my middle name - except my parents misspelled it.

T J8 - M11 x N12 This is a try-out, let's see what happens...

d N4 - L4 same here...

Posting may be a bit slow from now on as I'm visiting friends abroad next week, starting saturday, packing friday, stuff like that. I'll surely have internet access available, but I'm not sure I'll manage daily posts. Afterwards, we can continue on the old pace. Happy gaming!

T J8 - M11 x N12 It's definitely a good idea to slam the trolls out to the edges. Once you have a troll in an area, a block can never be built there. But this one might be too close to the other one to be completely useful.

d O11 - O6

Going to Germany, I gather? Have a wonderful time.

T J12 - K13 x L14 It's exactly because they're close to eachother that I send it there. Now I can tie them together again in a way.

What about our second game?

Indeed off to Germany, your research was quite adequate If you want to know why, have a look around here
- Gean Firefeet, Santharian Historian at yer service...

d E14 - N6

T L5 - K5 x L4 Sorry about the other move. You have to watch out for me. I am forever posting my opponent's moves instead of my own...

My, Santharia looks like a lot of fun. I need to look around when I have some time. Have a great time.

T K13 - L12 x M13

d K2 - O6 Hmmm

Actually, it is a lot of fun, do have a look around should you be interested in a 'home cooked fantasy dish', there's litteraly a cookery book to be found somewhere as well but of course there's the artwork, the novels, the music and the world itself...

d P8 - O7

T K5 - L6

Just, curious, since we have been talking about languages - what is the language of the group when you get together?

T G6 - G7
d P9 - P8

Back again. Took me a while to get back into this, but we've been doing some moving in my house and I went on a spontaneous trip with a friend, so...

Germany was a lot of fun. We talked mainly English, because that's simply the Lingua Franca these days. This time German might have been a possibility as well, since almost everyone spoke that, but there was one who barely spoke a single word German, so we stuck to English mostly. When I talked to the other family members, for example when playing cards with the youngest daughter of the hostess, I try to speak as much German as I can. It gives me the opportunity to practice

The funny thing is, that my accent changes completely during a weak like that. If I concentrate, I can keep up a fairly decent British accent, but there was only one native speaker around and he was of American origin, Colorado to be exactly, and they talk differently. So now, my beautiful accent is gone, because all the other ones speak german-english or dutch-english. Ah well, it's a funny thing, language.

d J15 - G15

T J9 - K8

Welcome back. It is funny about languages. Americans will often come back from an extended stay in England speaking with half an English accent, which sounds extremely silly on them. Sorry about that Coloradoan...

Have you caught up on this thread?

http://forum.thudgame.com/viewtopic.php?t=416&start=0

I think your experience could be very helpful here, if you have time to help the admins think about this.

T L12 - L11

d E14 - N6

I've seen the thread, but I haven't had time to read it all, I hope to get to it somewhere this weekend or monday. I'm curious what kind of ideas people had concerning the issues brought forth by the admins.

T L12 - L11

T L6 - L7

Not too many people have responded to the admns' ideas. That's why your experience would be so helpful.

I'm going away myself today, for a week or so, and no internet at all! I'll be back Sept. 3, although I may get one chance to make a play between now and then.

See you in a week!

Have a good trip wherever it goes. Let's try to get the first game roling as well, because, well, errr... you posted my move again
So if you post an answer to the first game first, then I'll post an answer to that, and then we can go on just where we left?

d M13 - M6

Drat. So sorry.
d G1 - N7
T L7 - M8

T M11 - M10

d O6 - N7 Argh, I must have overlooked that particular move. This is going to be one bit of slaughter now...

"I could be bound in a nutshell and still count myself king of infinite space." - Hamlet, Shakespeare
"What do dwarfs, rocks and nuts have in common? All can be thrown at Trolls with ... various results." - Nybbles Cliffhanger, Dwarf Tactician

d P7 - O8

T M8 - M7 x M6 x N6 x N7

I wouldn't call that a slaughter. A respectable trade, I think.