IVZW GSRH ULI $100,000!!!

[RocketManJames]

So, before I took a drunken nap this afternoon I was thinking of this contest... grand prize is $100,000. Since English is basically based on an alphabet, letters are just symbols that describe how a word is pronounced... OK. So far so good. Now, here is how you win the money.

You and 9 contestants are going to be given the opportunity to read 30 pages of a classic novel in a reasonable amount of time. Say you need to be reading at the rate of 3 minutes per page. Here is the catch... the letters are mapped backwards. A = Z, I = R, U = F, etc.

You can make only 1 mistake per page you read. You basically will go home and practice re-learning the symbols of the alphabet in a backwards way. When you are ready, you give it a shot in front of a panel of judges. You are only given one shot at this... so you better be damn sure you can do it before you give it a go. First contestant to do this wins the $100,000. Also, you will not know if others have tried and failed... you will be notified only only if a) someone wins or b) all ten contestants have failed (including you), in which case no one wins anything.

How long would you take? Do you think you'd be able to win this?

I was thinking about how difficult this would be... if it were a new alphabet with 26 totally new symbols to replace the 26 letters, I think it'd be a lot easier. But, to force yourself to change how you saw letters would be extremely difficult. But, maybe it's not as tough as I am thinking.

R'w orpv gl svzi blfi lkrmrlmh. (I'd like to hear your opinions.)

-RMJ

[BreakEvenPlayer]

This contest already exists, and it's how ZeeJustin plans on making 100K the first year after the internet poker scene dries up.

[RocketManJames]

Haha. Well, seriously... I think this would be an incredibly hard thing to do.

The current alphabet is so strongly ingrained in everyone's mind. If there was a person who didn't know the standard 26-letter alphabet, then learning a new set of 26 symbols would be trivial. But, if you have lived your whole life with the current alphabet as it is, I think it'd be hard... real hard.

Guess no one thinks this is an interesting idea that could lead to interesting prop bets.

-RMJ

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
This contest already exists, and it's how ZeeJustin plans on making 100K the first year after the internet poker scene dries up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I try to refrain from using this, but...

*sigh*

POTD.

Very funny.

[EliteNinja]

Fantastic idea.
I think it would be pretty cool to see it on a reality tv show.

[FourKing Hell]

Interesting thought. I think it's definitely doable.

Greek and Cyrillic alphabets have letters that are the same or very similar to Latin but have different pronunciations , e.g. the (capital in Greek) 'H'. It's of course not quite the same as just a differently mapped regular alphabet, but I can't even imagina messing up after learning the alphabet and some of the language.
It would really help if you practiced not just reading but also writing with your 'new' alphabet. It would be a real pain at first, but you'll get used to it.

R'w wl rg ru R dvivm'g gll ozab...

[Jman28]

This would be rediculously hard to learn. I wonder if someone who doesn't use our alphabet would be at an advantage or disadvantage. Might depend on how long they have to train.

[RocketManJames]

Oh, I definitely think it is doable... but the more difficult question is how long would it take? A few days? Several weeks? Many months?

I think you're right, that it'd be best to practice both reading and writing.

And to respond to another poster, I, too, think that it'd be a neat single event in some reality show. I'd definitely watch a bunch of people try to completely immerse themselves in this new alphabet, and then go up and read a chapter from a book. They could flash the mangled words up on the screen just to show the audience how incredibly different the words would look.

Ha ha.

-RMJ

[Lazymeatball]

I think it's a cool idea, but a horrible idea for a reality show. Imagine watching people silently reading gibberrish, very slowly, maybe mouthing the letters. So boring. Where's the conflict, the intesity, the drama, the sexy lies. Maybe if they went around backstabbing other contestants like at a beauty pageant it would be kind of cool, but still not. Consensus, bad tv, and I bet $10k even you would find the show boring.

[RocketManJames]

[ QUOTE ]
Consensus, bad tv, and I bet $10k even you would find the show boring.

[/ QUOTE ]

$10K? Didn't we learn anything from the Boggle thread on making these kind of bets? I don't think I want to win your $10K... I'll let it slide. Hehe.

Well, I meant it'd be cool as a single event in a reality show. Think of an "intellectual" Fear Factor show that had this as a one-time event. I'd probably get into it... seeing how the human mind can be pushed to extremes and twisted around a bit. This show would have a bunch of new events that were non-physical, but just outrageous (from an intellectual's point of view). Nothing bland like... here's some tough physics stuff, study it and take this exam. It'd be mostly tough challenges like the alphabet one.

I agree that if this were an event that was repeated over and over again, I'd surely get bored.

-RMJ

[Lazymeatball]

agreed, i still think it's bad tv, but whaatever, it's an opinion. The best part of my bet, was how the hell am I supposed to prove what you think is entertaining. hahaha.

[Duke]

There are benefits and drawbacks when it comes to using a known alphabet.

The benefit is that you *know* what makes up a word. Show someone Korean for the first time, and despite it having an alphabet they'll never figure out which parts are the separate phonemes or whatever.

The drawback is definitely what you suggest - that your brain will constantly be mapping the Vmtorhs to English. But that won't be too difficult to overcome.

There's a reason that Pinyin exists, despite not even being phonetically accurate unless you re-learn the pronunciations of every letter. That's because it's generally a lot easier to re-map letters than it is to learn new symbols.

~D