# Indus script **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 10, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210 "2005-05-10T13:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/21 "2005-05-12T04:33:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, actually, it’s a warning against sending in any question which **bibliophage** might answer… All of his Reports are full of puns and bad jokes (what, no innuendo this time, **bib**? You’re slipping). . Does this count as innuendo? > [@](#): > > Star Trek, for example, teaches us that a good communications officer can send a message that transcends mere language, especially if she has legs down to here and a hemline up to there. Mmmmm. Mm-HMMMmmmmm . . . er, sorry. Was I saying something? 🙂 You outdo yourself each time, **bib**. Would that we all had your work ethic and attention to detail. (I’ve given up on trying to ever attempt your level of humor). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/22 "2005-05-12T09:21:56Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Next time all puns will be in Norwegian. Except the blue ones of course, because that’s a Norse of a different color. Excellent. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lizbetann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@lizbetann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizbetann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/23 "2005-05-12T17:05:09Z")
This answer amused and interested me so much that, in homage… I made a lame quiz. _rolls eyes at self_ Which Indecipherable Script Are You? > **[TeenNick](http://www.teennick.com/quizzes/?referrer=quizilla%2F)** > > TeenNick Shows & Schedule | TeenNick.com I am such a geek. ---
**Author:** ![Rocket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Rocket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocket)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/24 "2005-05-12T17:06:55Z")
Great job Bibliophage - I loved it! So Thoreau! I am a great fan of word puzzles and with extreme interest read the part about Bauer deciphering the Ugaritic texts by, it seems, a trial and error assignment of letter for letter tranfers from a Semitic language model. This is the same method that I’ve used with word jumble or puzzles - if you know the frequently used letters and common prefix/suffix usages it becomes a fairly simple exercise to “plug and chug”, particularly if you have a clue as to the gist of the sentence/text (even though sometimes these clues are indirect or a pun related to the jumbled text). Of course these puzzles are English to English, but I think I could do the same thing in English to Spanish or vice-versa (even with only a passable knowledge of Spanish). I’ve also used this method on crossword puzzles, and sometimes head down a wrong path by assigning a word that fits the clue/space, and leads to other assumptions that result in not completing the crossword correctly. My questions/observations are: does anyone/everyone else do these puzzles like this (trial and error substitution); and how much more difficult must this be when the language you’re trying to decpher is “unknown” but may be related to/have characteristics similar to an existing language? ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/25 "2005-05-13T05:46:57Z")
> [@Rocket](#): > > Great job Bibliophage - I loved it! So Thoreau! Why are you comparing him to Thoreau? We don’t want to insult the man. You think I’m kidding. In his report, **bibliophage** achieved a level of clarity and expression of which Thoreau could not even dream. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/26 "2005-05-13T12:21:36Z")
[sub]Pssssst, **Spatial** , it’s a pun on “thorough.”[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/27 "2005-05-13T14:35:12Z")
Oh. I knew that. Really. I was, uh, testing you all. Yeah, that’s it. Testing. :o ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/28 "2005-05-20T14:39:01Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Just tossing in another “good job!” Enjoyed it a lot, even if it’s starting to annoy me that I still don’t get all the puns. _grr_ I thought I’d gotten the Harrappan paper pun, but it turns out I’d just misremembered the name as ‘Rappan’. Or _was_ that the pun? PS I haven’t been wondering about that constantly all this time… it just struck me just now… ---
**Author:** ![N.S.VALLUVAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/919ad9/32.png) [@N.S.VALLUVAN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.S.VALLUVAN)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/29 "2005-05-25T12:49:13Z")
Dear Sir, Please Refer the URL: ``` http://murugan.org/research/valluvan.htm ``` Thanks & Regards, N.S.VALLUVAN. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/30 "2005-05-25T13:06:41Z")
Well… um… yeah. And your point is? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/31 "2005-05-25T13:25:16Z")
It’s supposed to be a response to this thread: > **[Indus script](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315899)** > > Troy Dayton of Fargo ND asked bibliophage why we haven’t cracked the Indus script (Staff Report: How come we can’t decipher the Indus script?), and bib mentioned several other historic mysteries that we have not been able to solve. I just wanted to... I’ll see if I can find a mod to merge it in where it belongs. Welcome to the boards, N.S. * * * Done, thanks, **Unc** – CKDH ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/32 "2005-05-25T18:19:14Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > It’s supposed to be a response to this thread: > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315899](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315899) :smack: Now I see what the reason for the post is! Carry on! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/33 "2005-05-25T19:48:49Z")
I can maybe buy that the Indus script carvings are meant to represent astronomical phenomena, but I’m not following the argument at all. What does it mean, for instance, to say that Draco is the dominant constellation in the northern sky? For that matter, is there any indication that the Indus civilization recognized the same set of stars as “Draco”? It would be quite reasonable to consider the stars of any particular constellation to be parts of other constellations, especially for a constellation as large and spread out as Draco. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210/34 "2005-05-29T05:57:43Z")
> [@naita](#): > > it turns out I’d just misremembered the name as ‘Rappan’. Rappan? Oo-wee! Now tell me more about rongorongo… What was that island again… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-script/303210.md?page=1)