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Kobe The Future Mrs. Chopstick Sensei That was all she wrote This is the Part Where I Punch That Camel in the Face The Bog of Eternal Stench Learning to shred Love Hotels and Pachinko Parlors Spam Box No such thing as a free lunch? Links
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.:individual archives:.
May 08, 2004It finally happened!Though James may be the only person who takes the slightest interest in these kinds of things, I'm totally stoked, so I'm gonna write about it. As I've mentioned before, I'm using the book "Remembering the Kanji" by James (different than the one mentioned above) Heisig to learn Kanji. In addition to that, i'm using "The Kanji Learner's Dictionary" by Jack Halpern. About half way through the first book, I started cross referencing the two, marking in each one what entry number you can find any given kanji in the other book. When you do things like that, you start making games for yourself... I guess this wasn't so much a game, but something to hope for: I kept waiting to match up the entry number in one book to an entry number in the other book. Considering that each book is based on a completely different structure and organization, I didn't hold out much hope... but still, that little glimmer kept me going. Also, considering that Heisig's book has 2042 entries, and Halpern's has 2230, the odds of one kanji being the same entry number in both books is pretty astronomically unlikely... I haven't done the actual math, but it seems like it'd probably be more likely that i'd win the lotto while having an orgy with a group of brazillian super models. Anyway, you can see where this is going... I went back to start the cross reference from the beginning... and there she was: Kanji 151 (look it up in either book. it doesn't matter!). "Spit, Spew, Vomit, Exhale" ...haku! It is the magic kanji that corresponded in both books! I know what you're thinking: I'm far too easily entertained. But when you're tediously cross-referencing kanji for hours and hours on end, you tell me you wouldn't be excited. I totally gave a Wesley Willis head-butt to the guy behind the counter at the coffee shop! It was that shred! Ah, but glory is fleeting... so I'm off to brazil now. Posted by Brent at May 8, 2004 12:58 AMComments
I got out the dictionary and read entry 0151 TO ha(ku): "to spew". That's funny. Have you been to Halpern's homepage? The odds of a particular kanji having the same entry number in both books are, I think, right around 1/2042, but the fact that the books have different amounts of kanji makes it harder to be sure. The odds of at least one entry number corresponding to the same Kanji in both books are probably above 50%, though I'm not exactly sure how to prove this. Once I saw it demonstrated that you only need 23 people in a room to be 50% sure that two of them have the same birthday. The math for these problems must be similar. Posted by: James at May 9, 2004 03:24 PMHaha, yeah, i've been to Halpern's page... I love that he's a total dork. That's weird about the math... i thought it would be something rediculous like multiplying 2042 time 2230 and then dividing it by 2 or something... It's been a long time since i was in a math class. Maybe Mike Leon knows... Posted by: Brent at May 9, 2004 03:32 PMHaha, how funny! Especially since it's a kanji with such a meaning! By curiosity, I searched the KANJIDIC database (available at the Monash Nihongo FTP Archive) and can confirm that's the only kanji with the same number in these two books. :) Posted by: Patrick at May 10, 2004 10:43 AMyou mean I went through all that cross referencing for nothing?! How can I have not seen this page?... I must explore it some more. IMMEDIATELY. Posted by: Brent at May 10, 2004 09:33 PM |
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