Conference thebay::joyoflex

  These are palindromes.  Try topic 193.

  JP

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Thank you John.
                  You have a good old Ligurian and more specifically
                  Genoese name.
                               regards,
                                       Max 

    Re .2:
    
    And what derivation would you give the name "Finance"? :-)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

  Yeah, I knew the name was Genoese, even more specifically, Napolitano
  (I'm told that in Naples, "Parodi" is as common as "Smith" in America).

  What is Ligurian? "Ligure: a triditional precious stone that is probably
  the jacinth" doesn't seem to fit."

  JP

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Re .3
                       yes Steve it does sound a bit pretentious
                       but it's the area where the notes are situated
                       on the Milan machine.
                  Re .4
                       Liguria is the area of Italy which stretchs
                       down from the French Border at Ventimiglia
                       to Tuscany on the West Coast.
                       It's a fairly narrow strip and was famous as
                       one of the two medieval Maritime Republics of
                       Italy the other being Venice and they were
                       pretty constantly at war with one another.
                       It is, or was, pretty effectively cut off and
                       thus protected from the rest of mainland Italy
                       by the Maritime Alps which continue as the 
                       Appenines.
                       The main city is Genoa where Columbus' family
                       came from.
                       As to the name it is very Genoese and i don't think
                       our Genoese Branch Manager Pietro Parodi would
                       like it much if someone called him a Neopolitan.
                       Maybe the people who have told you they have
                       seen the name Parodi on signs in Naples are
                       referring to companies connected with shipping
                       since the Genoese practically have the monoply
                       of shipping in all Italian ports.
                       
                                          Max   

    	There is a small town near here called Entrevaux, with rather
    impressive fortifications because of a history of several hundred
    years of war with the town of Puget-Theniers, about 6 miles away.
    
    	When we went to visit the fortifications, we had to get the
    keys from a rather talkative old lady, and when she heard the name
    Monahan, she recognised it as Celtic, and told us all about how
    that area used to be inhabited by the Ligurian Celts before the
    Romans came.
    
    	So either she was even more batty than she seemed, or Liguria
    used to reach a little further West.

    	"Ligurians" is the name of the pre-Indogerman population of
    South-East Gallia and North-West Italy (the Rhone valley, Provence,
    Western Alpes and Italian Riviera). They have probably moved there from
    Africa via Spain. They never raised themselves above the level of
    primitive agriculture. From their language nothing remains but a
    number of place and personal names ending in -asca.
    

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                   I was referring to the modern Italian 
                   region of Liguria.
                   .6 and .7 are both right.
                   In fact part of the now French Riviera was
                   ceded to France for their help in the Italian
                   Wars of Independence 1850-70 circa.
                   In fact, I think, Garibaldi was a native of Nice.
                                       Max

    MODERATOR:  Please change the title of this note to "A Ligurian
    parody", or similar.  It certainly contains not one single acrostic.
    
    Jeff.

    mlnois::harbig
                   Re .9 I think you're right Jeff but
                   in the meantime is there " a very 
                   clever genius" (as Sam Goldwyn said)
                   out there who could explain to a
                   squirming noter what an Acrostic is ?
                   Also Chiasmus would be helpful as I
                   don't have access to an English 
                   Dictionary here.
                                   Max
                   

    According to Webster's New World, an _acrostic_ is "a verse or
    arrangement of words in which certain letters in each line, such as the
    first or last, when taken in order spell out a word, a motto, the
    alphabet, etc."
    
    An _acrostic puzzle_ is a crossword-like game where the first letters
    of the answers to clues spell out (usually) a writer's name and
    the subject of a quote from the writer.  All of the letters from the
    answers spell out the quote itself when rearranged in the crossword
    structure.
    
    Bernie

    Probably the best example of an acrostic verse is the dedication
    of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark".  The poem was written
    to Gertrude Chataway, another child-friend of Dodgson's (besides,
    of course, Alice Liddell).
                            
    Anyway, the poem was made up of four verses of four lines each. Each
    line of the poem began with a letter of Gertrude's name.  In addition,
    each verse of the four began with the words "Girt, Rude, Chat," and
    "Away", like so: 
    
    Girt...   Rude...   Chat...   Away...
    E         U         H         A
    R         D         A         W
    T         E         T         Y
    
    As a poem, it's okay.  As an example of the form, it's a masterpiece.
    
					andrew

    One of the most intersting Acrostics was found during excavations at
    Pompeii and in Cirencester (England).  It can be read left to right,
    right to left (or even upwards and downwards).  It is in fact a mixture
    of an acrostic, a word square and a palindrome:
    
                             SATOR
                             AREPO
                             TENET
                             OPERA
                             ROTAS
    
    It may be translated "The sower, Arepo, guides the wheels with care."
    
    It may have been used for persecuted Christians to recognize one
    another.  The word "TENET", at the centre of the acrostic, forms a
    cross and the acrostic's letters can be rearranged in that shape viz:
    
                                P
                                A
                                T
                                E
                                R
                      P A T E R N O S T E R
                                O
                                S
                                T
                                E
                                R
    
    while the remaining letters (two A's and two O's) can be placed at the
    ends of the cross to represent Alpha and Omega.
    
    The letters can also be arranged to make a prayer:
    
     "Oro Te, Pater; oro Te, Pater; sanas" - "I pray to Thee, Father; I
      pray to Thee, Father; Thou healest".
    
    
    Extract from "The Oxford Guide to Word Games" by Tony Augarde
    
    Mike