Sounds like one of your neighbors needs to change his meds, and he’s gonna be really mad when he finds out you touched his stuff. (or didn’t write back, or something)
I’m going with schizophrenic or bipolar neighbor for the win.
The key word is “Tegretol”
Knowed Out, I’m truly impressed with the research you did. You may have something there with your conclusion - at the very least a career in comedy writing - I busted a gut laughing. On a more serious note, I know a number of people with bipolar disorder but don’t know what meds they’re on. Either way, I doubt either of them put this list in my mailbox.
I can’t make any sense of it, but I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl!
Computer passwords?
Seconded. And yes, Tegretol is the tip-off
This is one of the best threads I have read in quite a long time.
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Any useful code word group will look inexplicable to anyone without the key and this is just weirdly ordered enough to look like what I think a code word group might look like.
Y’all know how this crypto scheme works, right?
How are you going to feel when the Antarctican Hollow-Earthers attack, and you didn’t show the code to the CIA in time to stop the senseless Sno-Cone onslaught?
I’m trying to figure out the ingredients list in illegal toffee chips
It would make a great custom title for you!
O.P. here. I don’t have time to respond to as many of your posts as I’d like, but thought that if any of you would like to see the “original” list, I could have someone at work show me how to fax it. Let me know.
If you can use your power and influence to make it so, I’ll give a donation to a nominated charity.
I think I might have it figured out - and if I’m right, I’m really ticked.
Although it may have been posted in jest, Wile E’s post (#13 above) could be on the nose. And the company whose website Chessic Sense provided a link for in post 17 might be the one behind it.
I didn’t get around to mentioning that the first two words in the list were written larger than all the rest.
So maybe that company decided to come up with a sneaky advertising campaign where they write a slightly disguised version of their name at the top of a list of nonsensical sounding words, run off a buttload of them on a copier, and sneak them into peoples’ mailboxes. Then they hope enough people think WTF, sending them to Google to find a link to their website. (After all, I might not be the only one to find this list in my mailbox - just the only one stupid enough to give them free advertising on a message-board read by teeming millions.)
If my theory is correct, I apologize to you all. I give the powers-that-be my permission to delete this thread if it can be determined without a doubt that I inadvertently spammed the Board. Or perhaps you might think that, just as Hal Briston’s sheep sex thread provided an object lesson in the dangers of leaving your computer unattended when logged in to the Dope, this one could teach people to suspect the possibility of a sneaky ad campaign when they see something weird like this list.
My guess? Somebody’s dabbling in homeopathy. A lot of the terms sound like a phonetic attempt to spell the names of some substances. Maybe they were trying to write down a list of items being relayed to them over the phone or they were seeing on TV.
A list of possible usernames for a message board?
An undifferentiated schizophrenic whose symptoms were mainly a combo of disorganized and paranoid could CONCEIVABLY write this, but it’s far more likely to be either a prank or a code.
It seems like there may be too many instances of resemblance to actual words/names to be an advertising campaign from any place with conventional copyright laws? What with all the patented drugs and references to online games.
I was right? Actually, I came up with my joke comment when I googled one of the word combos in your list and found a whole lot if Russian websites, and Russian usually means spam. But I can’t see how incoherent spam mail in a real mailbox would benefit anyone as advertising. Most email spam wants to trick you into going to their website or stealing your passwords or installing a virus on your computer. Spam mail in you real world mailbox wouldn’t have the same immediate effect. Not to mention, that I think it’s actually illegal to put non mail stuff in people’s mailboxes so if it’s a viral marketing campaign of sorts it’s a bit risky for that company should people complain.
Did you ask any of your neighbors if they got one in their mailbox?
It is the latest “on-palm” set of notes for Sarah Palin at one of her public frenzies of demagoguery. (Don’t worry that it is missing pronouns, verbs, articles, etc. Those are supplied automatically by those accustomed to listening to her.)
Looks like a mnemonic device, perhaps elements? Bismuth, zirconium, cobalt…I see a few that won’t match, though, so maybe not JUST elements.
A number of these items seem to connected to printing or art:
Niehlo
“Niello is a black metallic alloy of sulfur, copper, silver, and usually lead, used as an inlay on engraved metal. It can be used for filling in designs cut from metal. The Egyptians are credited with originating niello decoration, which spread throughout Europe during the late Iron age”
Rosin oil
“A white to brown viscous liquid obtained by fractional distillation of rosin and used in lubricants, adhesives, electrical insulation, and printing inks” Rosin oil - definition of rosin oil by The Free Dictionary
Caster oil
“Castor oil and its derivatives have applications in the manufacturing of soaps, lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids, paints, dyes, coatings,** inks**, cold resistant plastics, waxes and polishes, nylon, pharmaceuticals and perfumes.”
Caster oil | encyclopedia article by TheFreeDictionary)))
BetaCarotem
“β-Carotene is an organic compound and classified as a terpenoid. It is a strongly-coloured red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. As a carotene with beta-rings at both ends, it is the most common form of carotene. It is a precursor (inactive form) of vitamin A.”
Others seem to be more associated with medicine
Tegretol-already noted as a medicine by Knowed Out
Balsam Fur
I think this is a phonetic spelling of Fir Balsam.
“Balsam is a term used for various pleasantly scented plant products. These are oily or gummy oleoresins, usually containing benzoic acid or cinnamic acid, obtained from the exudates of various trees and shrubs and used as a base for some botanical medicines. They may be obtained from…”
The entry associating dioxin and toffee chips is interesting. Dioxin is more closely associated with bio accumulation in animals rather than plants, but might someone with mental problems looking for causes make the leap that they have been poisoned from an otherwise unlikely source?
Perhaps this is the shopping list of a depressed artist, self medicating, with poor spelling skills?
Walt