Descent of the Durtle into eGoooott - NOW AT B8!

Hello @SumRando dude welcome to the cult.

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We have a tendency to only figure out what the hint was trying to tell us AFTER getting to the next step on our own :rofl:

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True, but at least in this case, the use of the phrase “stroke of midnight” triggered connections, so at least in this case, it (somehow) worked…

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It’ll still move discussion forward, I think we’ll just have to develop a keyword system to clearly indicate which posts are talking about the current step, and which have moved forward with the books.

Seeing as this is the Church of Durtholicism, how about you guys be Durthesants?

Please excuse this abomination, feel free to add to it

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Nice idea!

If we go with a step suffix for B3:

  • B3 Step 1 is the Durtle club clue
  • B3 Step 2 is the Tofugu how-to-install-japanese-keyboard article
  • B3 Step 3* is the Tofugu beginner-japanese-textbook article

We should also separate the wiki between B3.1 and B3.2 to simplify navigation. If we merge the B3.3 info from the spoiler thread, having another section would be nice too.

*We don’t actually know if it’s step 3 but let’s keep it simple

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Hi everyone! Not sure how to resolve this whole double topics issue when it comes to post counts. But, let’s just do it here. What do you want to know?

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Where is everybody? Didn’t Koichi just ask us to ask him a question? I suppose we want to know more about the 4 numbered lines in the header image…?

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I think everyone’s asleep lol.
I’ll stay out of this question, I don’t fully understand the progress we’ve already made :sweat_smile:

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I’m not sure there are any specific questions you’d be able to answer right now. Anything you think would help us? Relevant story from the book of the crabigator?

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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Is this puzzle some trick from your education theory studies to help learn, or did you just feel like doing something fun? Edit: that’s not about a hint, I’m just curious.

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How likely is it that the Durthilic Church has used advanced encryption methods as part of the puzzle. By advanced I mean, one where the solution to the cipher requires flipping around 1’s and 0’s. Would that be an affront to the sancity of the church? Should we be using clever sleuthing or instead should we be kidnapping a mathematician?

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Are you disappointed in us for not having solved more by now? :unamused:

…or, is Durtle Heaven EtoEto??

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Well I’m disappointed at least. Y’all’s Overlord demanded it be solved a long time ago!

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When we all stand in front of the great Durt one day – at the hour of reckoning – I do not want to be affiliated with this question. :sweat_smile::wink:

I’m going to second @Tombow 's question: how much advanced coding/math/decryption skills do we need here? Or is it all solvable by reasonable cleverness and a process of deduction?

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DurtoDurto :durtle_stabby:

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Yesterday I was listening to some of the Tofugu podcasts and while I was driving, I thought “Oh whoa - that coincidentally seems to relate to the puzzle!” But overnight I’ve forgotten what the reference was about. I might go back and re-listen. There were two or three episodes I played parts of, I’m thinking it might have been in the History of Kanji episode, but I also listened to parts of the Omiyage episode, and I think one more… Sorry, I know that’s not very helpful by itself.

Edit: Now I remember, it was comments on how the Japanese originally used Kanji purely for the phonetics and @koichi made a comment about how that might make a good/interesting puzzle… something to that effect.

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Whoa! I can’t believe we’ve passed 200013件の投稿. Since I do two kanji every 20013, and since 200013 is evenly divisible by 20013, that should mean it’s time for two more … but my last post already contained Kanji 1c13. How does this all add up?

Well, the truth of the matter is that I skipped Kanji 1613, which was going to be 蘇. You may think I did this by accident, but really it was because I thought it was a dead kanji. Wiktionary said 蘇 was a (“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names), and it only seemed to be used for words such as “perilla”, “ghee” and “the Soviet Union”.
However, I’ve since discovered that it’s used in more useful, modern-day contexts, such as Yu-Gi-Oh, so I’ve decided to bring it back from the graveyard.


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Kanji 16:

Kun’yomi: よみがえ(る)
On’yomi:

Meaning: be resurrected, be revived; perilla; Soviet Union

Click to resurrect wall of text

image Etymology: Phonosemantic compound - Semantic 艸 (grass) + Phonetic 穌

Speculation: This etymology may refer specifically to the meaning of “perilla”.
The use of this kanji to mean “be revived” may be the result of a phonetic borrowing from the homophonous hanzi 甦, which is an ideogrammic compound of 更 (again, more, change) and 生 (life). Level 30+ WaniKaners will recognize 更生 as a word meaning “rebirth”.

The kun’yomi reading よみがえ(る) is cognate with the words 黄泉 (Yomi; the underworld) and 帰る (return) - “to return from the underworld”.

YomiGani: You’re at the veterinarian’s office, crying. You’re crying, because your fish is dying. That fish was your solemate. Your sole companion. You met while you were solediers in the Canadian Marine Forces, fighting back the return of the Soviet Union.

A sole is a type of fish. That is the joke.

Your fish dies. You decide to give it a proper burial, so you bury fish (魚), along with some grain (禾) to eat on its way to the afterlife.
Then you plant some flowers on top (艹).

Yomigae

You sit beside the grave, sobbing in Canadian.
You try to say “You’re my guy, eh.”, but you can’t quite get the words out, so it just comes out as “Yo (sob) mi (sob) ga (snort) eh.”

As you finish saying this, you hear a rumbling coming from underground. You start digging with your hands. You dig until your hands bleed, but it was worth it, because when you get to the casket, you find that your fish is still alive!

Your fish smiles at you. “I’m still your guy, friend.”

Vocabulary:

  • 蘇る (よみがえる)
    be resurrected; be revived; be rehabilitated; be restored

You pick up your little buddy, tears in your eyes. That’s when you notice that the grain is gone, and it’s been replaced by a little snowglobe with “Yomi” written on it.
It turns out your fish really did die, and ate the grain on its way to the underworld. However, when it heard you saying Yomigae, it was so touched by your love that it came back from the dead.

The little snowglobe is an omiyage. As you peer into it, you notice that it looks … distorted, somehow. That sometimes happens when you return from the underworld; things get warped and twisted. This omiyage has been twisted into a yomigae.

  • 蘇生 (そせい)
    revival; resuscitation (する-verb)

If you’ve ever watched Yu-Gi-Oh, then we can be friends. More importantly, though, you’ve no doubt heard of the card Monster Reborn, which allows you to summon a monster from either player’s graveyard GY.

In Japanese, it is called 死者蘇生 (しさそせい), which literally means “casualty resuscitation” or “resurrection of the dead”. This card has been used in every Yu-Gi-Oh series, including the final duel of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (so, spoiler warning for this clip, I guess).

- YouTube

Yami Yugi:
マジックカード死者蘇生を発動!
蘇れ、天空の神、オシリス!

Coincidentally, there is a scroll with a similar name and effect in Dungeon Dice Monsters, even though it’s a completely different game.

  • (そ)
    so (Japanese dairy product)

So is a Japanese dairy product made by solidifying layers of milk skin. The Japanese Wikipedia article about 蘇 notes that it should not be confused with 酥 (そ), which is just condensed milk.

…which really makes you wonder what’s in 蘇茶.

蘇 could be further refined into daigo, which was supposedly the most delicious thing that ever existed. 醍醐 was so delicious, the expression 醍醐味 (だいごみ), or “the taste of daigo”, is used to mean “the best thing”, and is used metaphorically to refer to Buddha’s teachings.

  • 紫蘇 (シソ)
    shiso

Shiso is a seasonal plant that can be used as seasoning. Like most plant names, its name is commonly written in katakana: シソ

It has also been used as a medicinal plant, so if your partner is being ツンツン, turn that frown upside-down with some シソ.

Its name would appear to simply mean “purple perilla”. However, according to a legend noted on the Japanese Wikipedia page for シソ, its name comes from the fact that it was used to make a purple (紫) medicine that could revive (蘇) people who had died from food poisoning after eating crabs.
So, y’know, it’s either “purple perilla” or “purple anti-death medicine”. I know which one I’m picking.


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Kanji 20:

Kun’yomi: おそ (rare)
On’yomi:

Meaning: dread, fear, be afraid of

DON'T DREADFUL CLICK MNEMONICS INSIDE

Etymology: 惧 is a simplified form of 懼. 懼 in turn is a phonosemantic compound of semantic 忄 and phonetic 瞿.
(I wonder if 瞿 may also contribute semantically, though, seeing as it means “shocked”.)

The component 具 may have been chosen because it is homophonous with 瞿 and somewhat similar in form; they are both pronounced in modern-day Mandarin.
Also, note how 惧 and 具 (tool) share the on’yomi reading ぐ (as well as the less common reading く).

Regarding the component 具:
Note how the component 具 is written with the 目 and 一 merged into 且. This is also how 具 is written in Chinese.

Actually, although it isn’t really relevant the history of the character 具 is actually very interesting and is worth describing in more detail:

Note on readings: It seems that the kun’yomi reading is really only used in 惧れる (be afraid), which is commonly written 恐れる.

This kills the Kani: The Omanyte are worried. Oh, so worried. Oh, so worried that their worry might be termed as dread.

They’re worried because the humans have started hunting them for their goo (ぐ), which they use to polish their tools. Harvesting Omanyte goo involves severing the shell (目) from the fins (ハ) by means of a horizontal cut (一).'This is fatal to Omanyte.

As a result, many Omanyte have become radicalized*. They’ve grown sharp spikes out of the sides of their shells (且), and they’ve also started carrying spears (忄).

*Well, not really “radicalized” so much as “phonetically componentalized”, since the radical is 忄, but … shut up, nerd!

Goo%20Omanyte

These new Omanyte are known as Dread Omanyte. They inspire fear in their enemies. You should be apprehensive if you see one coming towards you.

Vocabulary:

  • 危惧 (きぐ)
    apprehensions; misgivings; anxiety; fear (する-verb)

The humans don’t want to harm the Omanyte, but they need their goo to lubricate their keys. That’s why it’s marketed as キグ (which is wasei-eigo for key goo). Just mentioning key goo near an Omanyte is enough to fill it with anxiety.

Key goo is also used to lubricate other utensils, devices and gadgets - things you might also call 器具 (きぐ). This more general-use key goo is marketed as 器具用のキグ.

  • 絶滅危惧 (ぜつめつきぐ)
    endangered; threatened (species)

The demand for key goo has put Omanyte on the endangered species’ list.
Like, literally; they’re in the freaking title.

絶滅 (ぜつめつ) - extinction
危惧 (きぐ) - apprehension; fear


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I know we’ve all been a bit worried about hitting the 4500 mark, wondering if Koichi would scold us for using naughty 総当たり techniques to solve this jiddle. However, it seems we’re free to use all the tools at our disposal, without fear of reprisals.

So, let’s goo up and find all the keys! I’m sure we’ll all make it to Durtle Heaven in the end. But if some of us don’t make it, I’ll trust it to the rest of you to yomigae(ru) with some omiyage.

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Have any brave durtles attempted the journey to Durtle Heaven before? If so, what happened to them?