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Milan’s odds-guessing experiment

Milan, from the local blog a sibilant intake of breath, is conducting an odds-guessing experiment and he needs more guessers.

Last night, by the way, I kept waking up and thinking “What does sibilant mean?” I’ve been visiting Milan’s blog for a couple of weeks now, but for some reason it never occurred to me to wonder about this until the middle of last night. Around 2:00 in the morning I decided it meant a hissing sound. But then I tried to make a hissing sound while inhaling and couldn’t do it, so I figured I must be mistaken.

I woke up again at 3:30 and pondered it some more, and almost got up and googled it, but Duncan had me pinned firmly to the mattress, so I didn’t. (Subsequent googling at a more respectable hour determined I was on the right track with the hissing thing.)

Anyway, if you’d like to help the science experiment along, just go here and follow the instructions. It’s easy and it only takes a minute.

4 comments to Milan’s odds-guessing experiment

  • I believe the sound written as “tsk, tsk” is a sibilant sound using inhaled breath.

    The tongue is in the same place as for making the “sss” sound, but air is sucked in.

  • People often use sibilant intakes of breath or register sympathy for intense physical pain. Think about the hissing sound people make (often accompanied by a turn of the head) when they see someone fall spectacularly on a motorbike or skis.

    An explanation of the name of my blog is at:

    http://www.sindark.com/projects/my-blogs/

    The title ‘a sibilant intake of breath’ is borrowed from Vladimir Nabokov’s superb 1955 novel “Lolita.” The breath in question belongs to Annabel Leigh: the childhood sweetheart of the narrator who dies of typhus, and who is clearly an allusion to Annabel Lee, the last poem written by Edgar Allen Poe.

    The title ‘a sibilant intake of breath’ should be italicized, with no capital letters used.

    Night’s Sindark Nave, the previous title for my main blog, is taken from the James Joyce poem ‘Nightpiece.’

  • We are starting to get some data now:

    Data
    Boxplot

    I will write an explanation once all the guesses seem to be in. Thanks a lot for the traffic.

  • Yes, thanks everybody for going over there and guessing, and if you haven’t played yet, there’s still time.

    I’m looking forward to the explanation.