Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Slime <pov### [at] slimelandcom> wrote:
> > If you're playing a game with one die, this is the word you use. "Roll
> > the die."
>
>   Maybe it's a British quirk. For example this Briton clearly says "roll
> the dice" even though there's only one die:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx_g47kKs

Could be. I think I'd say that too, albeit in the slightly guilty knowledge that
I'm saying it wrong. But then if nobody else said it first, I'd probably plump
for 'die'.

I'm going to correct everyone I know now :)

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On 07/07/2011 7:34 AM, Warp wrote:
> Slime<pov### [at] slimelandcom>  wrote:
>> If you're playing a game with one die, this is the word you use. "Roll
>> the die."
>
>    Maybe it's a British quirk. For example this Briton clearly says "roll
> the dice" even though there's only one die:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx_g47kKs
>


as singular as well. I would also say taps and dies.
On a related point, in the north of England some people will still say 
thou as the singular form of you and in the west of Scotland, youse for 
the plural of you.


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 07/07/2011 8:39 AM, Bill Pragnell wrote:
> Warp<war### [at] tagpovrayorg>  wrote:
>> Slime<pov### [at] slimelandcom>  wrote:
>>> If you're playing a game with one die, this is the word you use. "Roll
>>> the die."
>>
>>    Maybe it's a British quirk. For example this Briton clearly says "roll
>> the dice" even though there's only one die:
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Lx_g47kKs
>
> Could be. I think I'd say that too, albeit in the slightly guilty knowledge that
> I'm saying it wrong. But then if nobody else said it first, I'd probably plump
> for 'die'.
>
> I'm going to correct everyone I know now :)
>
>

Would you say that the circumference of a circle is two pice are? ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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Bill Pragnell <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Could be. I think I'd say that too, albeit in the slightly guilty knowledge that
> I'm saying it wrong.

  Maybe "roll the dice" is an expression that's independent of how many
physical dice there actually are. A bit like the expression "coin toss"
in certain situations where there isn't actually a physical coin being
tossed.

  If that's the case, then "roll the dice" isn't actually incorrect (when
there's only one die), just a colloquialism.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 07/07/2011 03:33 AM, Slime wrote:

> If you're playing a game with one die, this is the word you use. "Roll
> the die."

Apparently every board game we've ever known has this misprint in the 
instructions them. They all say "roll the dice", regardless of the 
actual number of dice in the box.

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Alain <aze### [at] qwertyorg> wrote:
> Have you tryed the Amber game? It's dieless...



The GM that introduced me to the Amber game was absolutely THE worst I have ever
encountered in many decades of gaming by several orders of magnitude. I
understand, and can even enjoy, the concept of recreational (pretend) paranoia
and intrigue.  This game, however, was pretty much nothing but genuine
player-on-player petty confrontation and backstabbing, with the GM routinely
rewarding the most ruthless and instantly killing off any character who showed
the tiniest hint of scruples of any kind.

I should probably make an effort to look past the prejudice created by this
experience and give the game another shot.

Best Regards,
Mike C.

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On 7/6/2011 23:16, Slime wrote:
>>
>> Ibid.
>>
>
> I am not with the understanding of which you say.

http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aibid&btnG=Search

It's the bibliographic equivalent of "ditto".

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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On 7/6/2011 23:34, Warp wrote:
>    Maybe it's a British quirk. For example this Briton clearly says "roll
> the dice" even though there's only one die:

Well, there's two dice in the shot, so maybe it's just confusion. As an 
aside, that looks like a pretty fun game.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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I have been watching this discussion but there is not much to add from 
my side. Other than that I know both die and dice as words and that I 
always though dice was the plural.

Totally irrelevant to this english discussion, but it did remind me of 
the standard translation for 'alea iacta est' in Dutch. Which is: 'de 
teerling is geworpen'. Where 'teerling' is the Dutch word for a die.
Only it isn't, sort of. The Dutch word for die is 'dobbelsteen' I have 
never heard anybody use the word 'teerling' except in this context. 
There is no way you can understand 'teerling' from other words. It was 
some time after I learned this Dutch expression that I finally gave up 
trying to understand it myself and looked it up in a dictionary. I don't 
think I was the only one. What is the point of using an unknown, archaic 
word in an expression if there is a perfectly normal word for it?

Now playing: Rush, roll the bones.

-- 
Apparently you can afford your own dictator for less than 10 cents per 
citizen per day.

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andrel <byt### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Totally irrelevant to this english discussion, but it did remind me of 
> the standard translation for 'alea iacta est' in Dutch. Which is: 'de 
> teerling is geworpen'. Where 'teerling' is the Dutch word for a die.
> Only it isn't, sort of. The Dutch word for die is 'dobbelsteen' I have 
> never heard anybody use the word 'teerling' except in this context. 
> There is no way you can understand 'teerling' from other words. It was 
> some time after I learned this Dutch expression that I finally gave up 
> trying to understand it myself and looked it up in a dictionary. I don't 
> think I was the only one. What is the point of using an unknown, archaic 
> word in an expression if there is a perfectly normal word for it?

  The translation to Finnish is "arpa on heitetty". The interesting
thing about this is that "arpa" does not refer specifically to a die,
but to any instrument or method of randomly making a selection. The
accurate translation of "arpa" to English is "lot" (with the meaning of
"one of a set of objects, as straws or pebbles, drawn or thrown from a
container to decide a question or choice by chance.") It has most of the
same derivatives too; for example, "arpapeli" (literally "lot game") means
"lottery" (with the meaning of any game where prices are awarded purely
at random, by drawing lots.)

  "Die" in modern Finnish is "noppa", although the derivative "arpakuutio"
(literally "lot cube"), while slightly more archaic, is still valid.

  An interesting question is what the original latin word "alea" means,
and whether "die" or "lot" would be more accurate of a translation.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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