Vote for Me
If elected Crossword President, I vow to ban Roman numerals forever.
posted by DO at 10:54 AM
About Me
- Name: Dean Olsher
- Location: New York, NY
Author of FROM SQUARE ONE: A MEDITATION, WITH DIGRESSIONS, ON CROSSWORDS (Scribner, June 2009). Spoken-word adaptation (with rich sound design and original music) available from Random House Audio.
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9 Comments:
While I support your platform to some degree, I'm not a single-issue voter. And you might just see that a more nuanced position is needed if you do this Friday's New York Sun puzzle...
In fact, it was that very puzzle that radicalized me. Enough already! Who can keep the Ds and the Ls straight? There's a reason this system went extinct....
The way I remember that D is bigger than L is by the mnemonic "Dalai Lama" (or the name of my stuffed lamb Dolly Lamba).
I don't have strong feelings on Roman numerals, but haven't done the offending Sun puzzle.
Wait a minute. Your objection to Roman numerals is that you can't remember what they are? Dude, there are only VII letters you have to memorize. What, is that III too many for you or something?
Yes. That's it exactly. And then there's the real rub, which is making the conversion. Much more work than fun.
The mnemonic that I've found handiest is MEDICAL. The Roman numerals in that word are in descending order of value. (If you can't remember V and I on your own, I have no advice for you.)
I came up with a mnemonic for Roman numerals once: "I'm very xenophobic. Lithuanians completely discombobulate me."
These mnemonics have changed my life forever. It's still a pain to convert, but at least that pesky D-L problem is solved.
Did you do the one recently with ten (10) gallon hat, ten thousand (10000) maniacs, etc? i had not seen that before?
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