Life In 19x19

Hi,

This looks like a fun forum. I just registered, after having been alerted to it by the aga ejournal.

I was a bit disappointed that during registration, the "filter out spambots" question would not accept weichi but forced me to type go. I would imagine you chinese members should object to that restriction.

I started playing go in 1976, I think on a wednesday. It was at lunch during work at digital equipment corp in marlboro ma.

/Eric ericosman@rcn.com

Welcome.

I saw your question in the EJournal. Here's a couple of threads to get you started.

Learning through imitation: replay games to get stronger?
Replay pro games first?

A little more searching, and you can probably find several more discussion threads along this line.

ericosman wrote:I was a bit disappointed that during registration, the "filter out spambots" question would not accept weichi but forced me to type go. I would imagine you chinese members should object to that restriction.

The English name for the game is Go. I don't see why anyone should object.

Hi ericosman, welcome.

Go is a very nice name. I like it a lot.
( About the only drawback I know of is it's a bit tricky to google for novices. )

would not accept weichi

And it's weiqi.

aha maybe that's why it didn't accept it. oh, and I thought go was the japanese word, and that we didn't have an english word, that we merely often used the japanese word.

ericosman wrote:aha maybe that's why it didn't accept it. oh, and I thought go was the japanese word, and that we didn't have an english word, that we merely often used the japanese word.

The Japanese word is igo.

Some fiction writers suggested "stones" as a good English name, but it really hasn't caught on.

If I ever end up publishing a fiction novel, it's going to contain "stones" though. Maybe it's going to catch on EVENTUALLY.

For the time being, weiqi (围棋 or 圍棋), baduk (바둑), igo (囲碁 or 圍碁) and go (碁) are much more commonly recognized by English speakers, with the latter being the most common. Too bad the Koreans didn't teach it to westerners first. Baduk is a much more unique name, it would make searches much easier.

"surrounding board game with stones" always struck me as a logical translation of 囲碁, which would naturally get shortened to its last word. Not happening so far, though...

tentano wrote:If I ever end up publishing a fiction novel, it's going to contain "stones" though. Maybe it's going to catch on EVENTUALLY.

Sounds more like a medical drama.

Oh man, not those stones... That's a different game, where you lose if you have more than zero stones.

tentano wrote:For the time being, weiqi (围棋 or 圍棋), baduk (바둑), igo (囲碁 or 圍碁) and go (碁) are much more commonly recognized by English speakers, with the latter being the most common. Too bad the Koreans didn't teach it to westerners first. Baduk is a much more unique name, it would make searches much easier.

I've never met a person outside of the hobby who recognised baduk or weiqi. Occasionally someone would recognise go. Usually you have to go with "the game with black and white stones on a grid."

I've had people eat one of the stones, thinking they were mints. They apparently look extremely appealing.

Boidhre wrote:"the game with black and white stones on a grid."

The Shakespeare play that rhythms with Hello.

tentano wrote:thinking they were mints. They apparently look extremely appealing.

Yes, very common reaction. German & M&M's ?

There's also a fair amount of people who think it's liquorice.

>>> surrounding board game with stones" always struck me as a logical translation of 囲碁, which would naturally get shortened to its last word

Hmmm, I think such a phrase might more likely get shorted to "the surrounding game" . However, this name may be anathema to some go teachers who stress that surrounding (and killing) stones is not the object of the game, and that beginners often make this mistake, losing because they killed a group and ended up with less total points.

EdLee wrote:

Boidhre wrote:"the game with black and white stones on a grid."

The Shakespeare play that rhythms with Hello.

Othello isn't that common here.