<----What's up w/ the coffee mug??

[Cpt_Jigglypuff]

It just dawned on me that the logo/mascot/icon/whatevah, for this website/program is a friggin coffee mug.......I don't mean to sound rude, I just wanna know....what's the story behind that??

[Mr Jake]

its the AGS logo/mascot/demi-god.

[edmundito]

If you've used AGS, you would understand that the original sprite for AGS was a blue cup. 

[Cpt_Jigglypuff]

If you've used AGS, you would understand that the original sprite for AGS was a blue cup. 

.......but why?

[Mr Jake]

you only just found out what the bluecup was and you've already changed you avatar to it -_-;

Bluecup is the defualt sprite - used (unless you are starting with the black template) when a sprite hasn't been defined, why? Probably because a cup was the easiest thing CJ could think of to draw at the time.

[Cpt_Jigglypuff]

you only just found out what the bluecup was and you've already changed you avatar to it -_-;

I needed an avatar, and couldn't remember the name of one of the old forums that my old avatar was at, and my computer was wiped so that would be the only way I could get it back, or making a new one, which I didn't feel like doing right now either....and this topic just came to mind, and I decided I kinda like it cuz it's quirky, and random.....so ....... bada bing I have an avatar....and it 'pwns'... 

[auhsor]

Oh its actually called the Blue Cup, not a coffee mug . I remember a thread a while ago about the mascot/logo of AGS. It was mentioned that newbies would be confused by thee bluecup. I guess they were right.

[TerranRich]

The Bluecup is the AGS mascot, so to speak. According to the AGS Dictionary (www.esseb.com/andail/dictionary.htm)...

BLUE CUP

1. The first object in the sprite manager of the demo-game. Has become a common term within the AGS-community, primarily because of the fact that beginners often fail in changing the graphic of a desired object, and thus keep getting the picture of a blue cup.
2. The Blue Cup trophy is the prize for winning the annual AGS-awards.
3. An IRC-bot on #ags. Referred to as a good-looking woman.

[Andail]

Or, as we can read in this excerp from the 2003 mittens publication "Blimey":

"... it is rumoured that Mittens originates in annual meetings amongst the alchemists of the middle ages, and that the name derives from the hand garments  these druids and sages were required to wear while drinking the traditional Blue Cup of the Mittens Elixir â€" being to hot for bare hands to grasp..."

The blue cup obviously had some sort of ceremonial function in the early days of AGS. Exactly what the elixir consisted of is yet to find out.

[TerranRich]

Whatever was in it, man, was killer! Seriously, my dog died drinking that stuff, man.

[Mats Berglinn]

I was going to ask this question myself but you guys have already anwered it which I'm happy for. I suspected that one of the reasons was that the blue cup was pretty easy sprite to draw so that's why it became the first sprite and therefore the symbol/logo of AGS... and I was right.

[Pumaman]

Exactly what the elixir consisted of is yet to find out.

However, early indications show that Foster's features significantly.


In terms of the Blue Cup, I wish there was some great significance to it, but the truth is that when I first made AGS, I drew a few default sprites like the blue cup, the yellow key, the pink poster, etc, and the blue cup happened to be the first one in the list.

Of course, it's also the default sprite if you don't set things up properly in your game, which is why it has since become something of a 'cult icon'.Ã, 

[Haddas]

So you mean... The pink poster could've been the AGS logo :o ?

You horrible, HORRIBLE man. Good thing fate stepped in and stopped that from happening. I mean... not that there's anything wrong with the pink poster...

that leads me to a question. Why pink?

[Mr Jake]

because he had finished drawing the transparenys on the cup and was too lazy to change the colour?

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Why, why, why! You blasphemous people always want an explanation for everything! Count yer own blessings and be done with ye!

[Pumaman]

I have a question of my own, regarding the subject of this thread... how much longer does it really take to type "with" rather than "w/"?

[Privateer Puddin']

you probably save the time wasted on doing '<----'

[Edwin Xie]

I have a question of my own, regarding the subject of this thread... how much longer does it really take to type "with" rather than "w/"?

Uh, I don't know, they both seem to have the same lengths of time typing them, at least for me.

[Evil]

And whats the deal with the '@' sign? Seriously.

[[Cameron]]

*Alec takes the chance to show his evil red mug of EVIL!

[rodekill]

Did anyone ever actually use the '@' sign before email?
Did anyone even know that '@' was 'at'?

[Scummbuddy]

So you mean... The pink poster could've been the AGS logo :o ?

Could have been worse... we would have been dragging stupid obnoxious keys to mittens and waved them around and gotten them signed by everyone else. You know, those over-sized ones that are sometimes given away as 'keys to cities', but are also seen on my grandmothers walls as 'decoration'.

You know, out there, according to Stephen Hawking, whom, I believe used us as his example, believes there are infinite parallel universes out there, and there are Mittens get-togethers, where our evil-opposites, (so some of us are nice) and oogle pink posters. Whats on them, I cant see from my worm hole direction, but I believe its a girl.

[Las Naranjas]

In The Demolished Man by Bester [1952] there's a character called @tkins, which is interesting.

[Kinoko]

I have a question of my own, regarding the subject of this thread... how much longer does it really take to type "with" rather than "w/"?

I only just noticed that. I always write that when I'm making notes at uni, but I've never ever thought to type it. I do find 'with' much quicker to type myself. Hand writing though... once I saw someone else do it, I got into the habit and I can do it in a flash. I also hand write (again, only when making quick notes) something/someone/somewhere as s/thing, s/one and s/where.

[Haddas]

Rodekill. Acoording to this book I have the '@' letter was invented by a monk during medieval times, possibly around the 15th century. I have sadly lost the book, but this is what I remember. @ started getting used in emails because it had no real purpose and they needed something.

[TerranRich]

After all, that @ symbol was taking up precious space on the keyboard...might as well have used it for something.\

Betcha also didn't know that & is designed to look like "Et" and the word "ampersand" is derived from "And per se and". What that means, I haven't the faintest clue.

[Haddas]

perse means ass in finnish! Did that clear things up? I'm sure it did!

[Proskrito]

Did anyone even know that '@' was 'at'?

i think @ is an old weight unit. In spanish it has a name, ('arroba', dont know if it has one in english), nothing to do with 'at', so it doesnt make much sense in email adresses. Like if you said 'john kilogram yahoo dot com'.
just FYI : )

[Mr Jake]

the AOL scientist era..... 'omglol did u no dat e\thing is made of @oms!!!!!'

[Sutebi]

Yeah, I read a stupid essay on @ in Spanish once. . .yeah.

It mentioned something about the sign (arroba, as said) was used by merchants or something a while ago in their transactions, so it might have been used as unit of measurement. I don't know. It was very vague and I wasn't really paying attention.

[DragonRose]

Everything you want to know about the at sign

As to that "and per se and" thing Rich mentioned, it means "and by itself is and."  I'm guessing the first and means the sign and the second is used as a definition. So basically it comes out as "& is all you need to say and." Yay for half remembered Latin classes!

[mister J frost]

I wonder if centuries from now archeologists will dig up old harddrives and marvel at how twenty-first century humans can begin a thread on the subject of the origins of the blue cup and end it with a long dissertation on abbreviations and symbols.

Astounding.

[Gilbert]

Let's move back on topic then.

[remixor]

Hey man, it's just one of life's glorious mysteries.  Ya gotta have faith.

[Goldmund]

Gilbot has loads of fun insulting us with a vulgar and obscene chinese symbol, whose meaning (apart from the Gil himself + several million chinese people) nobody gets.

[Phemar]

The blue cup holds pure grog ... and perhaps some Fosters if you're feeling lucky

[TerranRich]

Several million Chinese people? What decade are you in? It's more like a billion.

My blue cup is used as a hat when I want to feel pretty.

[SSH]

After all, that @ symbol was taking up precious space on the keyboard...might as well have used it for something.\

Betcha also didn't know that & is designed to look like "Et" and the word "ampersand" is derived from "And per se and". What that means, I haven't the faintest clue.

I did, and this is WHY:

When printers had to lay out movable type by hand, there was usually one guy setting the lead letters in the correct place on the plate for printing, and one guy would help him by finding the letters in the big box of letters for that font. So, the typesetter would say "L and O and L and Space and O and M and F and G and And and ..." for "LOL OMFG&". Obviously "And and and" is a bit confusuing, so for the and which referred to the "&" character, he would say "and, per se, and".

SO there you go.

[Andail]

SSH, a fountain-festival of knowledge

[Haddas]

All hail SSH, the new supreme ruler of oracleness. please do share your wisdom with us more.

[Alun]

Did anyone ever actually use the '@' sign before email?
Did anyone even know that '@' was 'at'?

Yes and yes.  It wasn't a particularly uncommon symbol before e-mail; it's just that after e-mail it's become so thoroughly co-opted that that's what people immediately associate it with.

Betcha also didn't know that & is designed to look like "Et" and the word "ampersand" is derived from "And per se and".

Did know about the &/"et" connection (actually, in some fonts, the resemblance is pretty obvious); didn't know about the derivation of the word "ampersand".

But while we're on the subject of the names for symbols: does anyone know what that backwards P paragraph symbol is called?  (Other than "paragraph symbol", I mean... it has a one word name.)  I do know the name, but I think I'll wait and see if anyone else here knows it before giving the answer....

I also hand write (again, only when making quick notes) something/someone/somewhere as s/thing, s/one and s/where.

Eh... why bother writing all that?  When I write quick notes to myself, I abbreviate "something" as "sth" and someone as "so", among other similar abbreviations.  (Yeah, I know "so" is a word by itself, but it's generally pretty clear whether I mean "someone" or "so" per se from the context.)  I also tend to write extremely small...  frankly, if anyone else ever got ahold of my notes to myself, I think they'd have a heck of a time trying to interpret them...

[TerranRich]

It's called a pilcrow sign.

Next: Give as many names of "#" as you can possibly think of.

Answers below:

Spoiler

UK: hash sign, gate. US: pound sign, crosshatch, sharp. MISC: octothorpe.

[close]

[AGA]

Why would it be called the poundsign?

[m0ds]

When drawing, Chris obviously chose a cup over an actual adventure game studio That would however, make a funky 3D intro.

[TerranRich]

Quote from http://www.daube.ch/docu/glossary/signs.html ...

Until about 1970 this sign was also called pound sign (for weights) in the US and in German speaking areas (1 pound = 1/2 kg).

[Alun]

"Pound sign" is actually what it's still most often called in the U.S. (or at least it's what I've usually heard it called), though I've never seen it actually used to represent "pounds".  I guess its use as a symbol for "pounds" died out but the name stuck.

I prefer the term "octothorpe", personally, but that's one you don't see used very often... 

Okay, you got the pilcrow question, so here's another one: what is the term for three asterisks arranged in a triangle?  (Yeah, that doesn't get used much, but there is a special term for it.)

[Phemar]

Teh bluecup on my desk in my room in all it's glory

[Mr Jake]

I cant remember what the triangle is called... but I know what it means....

[Pft!]

I have that very mug!  :o :o :o

[Phemar]

We all have that very mug...

Else we're not true AGSers ... Are we?

EDIT:



Who will win?

[Mephistophilis]

Somebody isn't trying to show off their collection of classics are they? heh, I don't have a Blue Cup because I believe it is a conspiracy and infact some new kind of spyware, of those of you who have one who can remember where they got it? and if you can did you fel compelled to because of AGS? CJ is invading our homes I tell you!

I'm not paranoid He really is after me!

[Phemar]

Everyone sees the PC and says to themselves, "Hey sweet! That guys got SoMI and LSL1, he must be so l33t! Let me send him all the money in my bank account!"

That's how it works. Several AGSers have already donated their money to me, which due to security reasons name's cannot be mentioned.

Oh yes, that and the corresponding publishers also pay me for product placement.

[Pumaman]

I also have a Blue Cup on my desk, and just to prove it:

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I, however, do not have a blue cup, and am therefore not a true agser.  Yes, I am a spy.  George the spy, to be accurate.  Well, George the FBI Spy Guy to my friends.  Except that I hate being called George, and I hate blue cups....

[Pelican]

I have 2 blue cups! I had three, but some git broke one. And I do remember where I got them. Poundstretcher - we're such cheapos in N.I.

[Domino]

If i had a bunch of styrofoam cups and painted them blue.Ã,  Would that count?Ã,  I could probably attach little paper handles to them also.Ã, 

Geez, i only own clear glasses with no handles.Ã,  Now i feel terrible.

[Phemar]

CJ's cup is not the true blue of the AGS.
Either CJ has had trouble choosing the correct shade of blue for his cup, or he had trouble choosing the correct shade of blue for the AGS logo.

I mean, what if the dark blue cup was actually meant to be light blue, but CJ couldn't find that color in MSPaint?

[TerranRich]

Alun_Clewe: It's called an asterism.

Back at ya... What do you call the Spanish/Portuguese C with a hook on the bottom? (Ç and ç)

[Phemar]

A cedille (in French)

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

And "cê cedilha", or "cê com cedilha", in good ol' Portuguese.

Yarr, matey.

[Alun]

And in English, of course, a cedilla.

Come on, now.  That's an easy one. 

(It's not a "Spanish/Portuguese" symbol, by the way... it occurs in Portuguese, yes, but not in Spanish.  Not in modern-day Spanish, anyway, though I think it did occur in archaic Spanish.  It does also occur in French, though.)

Okay, then, while we're on the subject of diacriticals... what's the difference between an umlaut and a diaeresis?  (No fair cheating by looking at dictionary.com or some other reference source.  )

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Sheesh! What's that? Sounds like it came from a medical text!

Well, I don't know, but I remembered this one, so I thought I'd mention it.

What's the difference between a cat and a complex sentence?

Spoiler

A cat has claws at the end of its paws, and a complex sentence has a pause at the end of each clause

[close]

Now back to guessing what the HECK is Alun_Clewe talking about...

[Andail]

Good one, Redrum.

Alun, that's a tricky one. I'm impressed if anyone knows it without checking it up first. I have studied language for quite some time, and I can only barely recognise the term, much less define it.

[BlackMan890]

i have 3 blue cups, so i am an ags member, but the proplem is, i also got one YELLOW, what does that means:

BLUEÃ,  Ã,  Ã,  =Ã,  official ags logo
REDÃ,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  =Ã,  the evil cup, enemy of The Blue Cupâ,,¢
YELLOW =Ã,  weaker, paler, slower version of The Blue Cupâ,,¢
GREENÃ,  Ã,  =Ã,  evil immortal enemy of The Blue Cupâ,,¢
PINKÃ,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, =Ã,  The Blue Cupâ,,¢ girlfriend
BLACK    =   Unknown enemy of The Blue Cupâ,,¢

Edit finished the list

[Privateer Puddin']

holy crap, bluecup is a lesbian?

[Damien]

I thought that the Green cup is evil immortal enemy of The Blue Cupâ,,¢.

[TerranRich]

YELLOW is the weaker, paler, slower version of BLUEcup. Ya know, the one that people pity.

Also:

Heh, I hope you know this is all my cup of tea, so to speak.

Umlaut and diaeresis: The same exact symbol, but different uses. The diaeresis is used to change a syllable by having one of the vowels pronounced differently, like the second O in "cooperate". Technically, you could add a diaeresis to the second O to change it from looking like "coop" to "co-op". It's used in various languages except German (Greek and French, among others), and even in English in rare cases. The umlaut is used to change a vowel so that it's pronounced more to the front of the mouth, sometimes for a better sounding word. This is the one used mostly in German.

Bring it on! That was all from memory, not from cheating. I'm a language/punctation/letters freak.

[Alun]

QuantumRich - Yes, you are, of course, absolutely correct.  And did a pretty thorough job of explaining the answer, too. 

(By the way, for those who don't know what an umlaut/diaeresis looks like, it's just two dots over the vowel.  The umlaut appears, for example, in the German über, and the diaeresis in the Spanish vergüenza.)

Well, this one's probably going to be somewhat easier, but anyway: in faux Old English, you'll often see "the" spelled "ye", as in "Ye Olde Inne".  In genuine Old English, though, "the" wasn't really spelled with a Y.  What was it spelled with, and where did the Y come from?

[Kinoko]

It was originally spelt with an 'L' because of the French, and the 'Y' came from medieval times when Robin Hood shot an arrow through the top of a lower case 'l' and split it in twain.

Seriously, I have no idea. This is all very interesting but beyond my linguistics knowledge.

[TerranRich]

IIRC, the old-letter form of "th" looked much like a "p" with its stem elongated. People misread the symbol (I believe) and saw it as a "y". Am I right on that one?

If so: What is the name for the dot above the letters "i" and "j"? Bonus: Besides "forward slash", what are the other names for "/"? (three total)

[Alun]

IIRC, the old-letter form of "th" looked much like a "p" with its stem elongated. People misread the symbol (I believe) and saw it as a "y". Am I right on that one?

Basically right, though I was also looking for the name of the symbol.  (It's called a "thorn".)

If so: What is the name for the dot above the letters "i" and "j"? Bonus: Besides "forward slash", what are the other names for "/"? (three total)

Well, in answer to the bonus question, "solidus" and "virgule"--but as for the first question, that one I don't know.  Unless it's "tittle" as in "jot and tittle", but that's pretty much just a guess.  (Hm... I just checked dictionary.com, and it does define "tittle" as "A small diacritic mark, such as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an i"... but that means it's not just the dot over an i or j, but any similar small mark, so it's probably not the answer you're looking for...)

(Oh, and by "three total" in the bonus question, did you mean counting "forward slash", or three total other names?  Because if the latter, I got two of them, but I don't know the third...)

[Phemar]

(By the way, for those who don't know what an umlaut/diaeresis looks like, it's just two dots over the vowel. The umlaut appears, for example, in the German über, and the diaeresis in the Spanish vergüenza.)

This is also in French. It's called a Tréma. It's used the same way in words such as Noël.

[Andail]

Ok here's a tough one.
What's the name of this ancient symbol? It derives from Anglo-saxon times, used to separate sections in a text. It could also mark the end of a text passage.

I uploaded two versions, the first one is a free hand drawing from me, the other is a symbol I found on the internet.




It goes under two names. Any of them will do

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Leaf?

[Andail]

As a matter of fact, it can be called xxx-leaf, but it also goes under a more technical term.

[Ishmael]

Talking about the dots, finnish has two letters, ö and ä, that use them. They're letters by themselfs, but they are pronounced in relateion to o and a, just with a bit more "pitch" maybe... I don't know for sure, but anyway...