"Broken Haley"

[BlueMelodie]

Hey all, I'm relatively new to both the the comic and the forum, so this post may be a bit nostalgic for most of you, but I've got a question and didn't find anything about it anywhere else so here goes. ^^

Does anyone know if Haley's actually speaking words in some kind of code or something in the arc that starts with comic #247 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0247.html)? And if so, is there anyone that's been able to figure out what she's saying? (I'm so curious.)

The reason I ask is because Belkar mentions cryptograms on the next page, but I can't figure it out. And if they are cryptograms, it doesn't seem like the same set is being used for all the strips. Any help/comments/advice is appreciated. Thanks! :smallbiggrin:

[John Cribati]

It is cryptograms. There's a thread entitled "what haley said compilation" or something to that effect. I think we should link it in the FAQ thread.

[TheMac04]

Here you go. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4909)

[Connington]

I swear some of Haley's best lines are in he cryptograms.

"Get this weepy transsexual off of me!"

[BlueMelodie]

Awesome! Thanks a bunch guys! =D

[NerfTW]

And they are different each day.

Meaning one strip can't be translated, because it could be any four letter swear word.

[Mando Knight]

Meaning one strip can't be translated, because it could be any four letter swear word.

Which is exactly how The Giant planned it. No spelling out B-A-D W-O-R-D-S in front of the C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N, even in a cryptic message. :smallwink:

[Connington]

Honestly, in context, she's pretty clearly saying "Bitch"; which is presented in cryptographic form and without any cryptograms whenever the Giant feels like it.

[hamishspence]

That has five letters, not four.

[Connington]

Huh, I'd always assumed it was a four-letter word, and never looked. This is going to take a while to live down.

[Ancalagon]

Huh, I'd always assumed it was a four-letter word, and never looked. This is going to take a while to live down.

But it is a four-letter-word. ;)

[Grey Watcher]

You know, it isn't necessarily a swear word. "Jerk" works as well as anything else for that. :wink:

[Starscream]

You know, it isn't necessarily a swear word. "Jerk" works as well as anything else for that. :wink:

Yeah, but it's no fun structuring your cryptograms to be different every day, forcing people to translate them anew every strip, and then include a strip with only one muddled word specifically so that it can't be translated...and use the opportunity to say "Jerk".

[hamishspence]

The commentaries for Paladin Blues said something along the lines of "it is a swearword, and I'm not saying which" if I remember rightly.

[TheMac04]

Huh, I'd always assumed it was a four-letter word, and never looked. This is going to take a while to live down.
Point and laugh everyone! Point and laugh!

[137beth]

What she says is revealed in the books "No Cure for Paladin Blues" and "War and XP."

[hamishspence]

true- though that one four letter word is left untranslated.

[bibliophile20]

The Giant has alot of fun with cryptograms and whatnot, that's for sure.

(heck, the power-up circle from strip 635, where V is getting "ultimate arcane power", is ringed with runes... which happen to be letters from a font called DarkArtsBB. Translation? "bet you thought you had found a secret message in this didn’t you" :smallbiggrin: Now that's just snark)

[Beren]

And they are different each day.

Meaning one strip can't be translated, because it could be any four letter swear word.

I think it's a quantum superposition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition) sort of thing, meaning that it's actually ALL four letter words simultaneously.

[B.I.T.T.]

The untranslated four-letter word, from what I read in the translations, is left to the imagination of the reader. I had always assumed Haley was not saying "tree".

[ref]

Obviously not, because the four letters are different.

In any case, the translation is in the books. Sadly, I got first printing of No Cure (and the rest, too), which has an omission for the strips in the two-nineties.

I would love a book on the inner Haleys. That would be awesome cool.

[Nimrod's Son]

Sadly, I got first printing of No Cure (and the rest, too), which has an omission for the strips in the two-nineties.
If you're bothered, you could use the money you make from selling it to a collector who cares about that sort of thing to buy a new one, and still have plenty left over.

[Laeranu]

Gee, it must have taken the Giant forever to put all of Haley's speech in cryptograms. I always thought that they were just random letters. I know I wouldn't have bothered to translate everything Haley said.

[The Rose Dragon]

Gee, it must have taken the Giant forever to put all of Haley's speech in cryptograms. I always thought that they were just random letters. I know I wouldn't have bothered to translate everything Haley said.

It's not hard to find or write a program that changes text to a substitution cipher version.

[TheMac04]

The untranslated four-letter word, from what I read in the translations, is left to the imagination of the reader. I had always assumed Haley was not saying "tree".
I think The Giant said that it was a swear word, but he refused to say which one.

[Trixie]

And they are different each day.

Meaning one strip can't be translated, because it could be any four letter swear word.

Actually, if they are all different, figuring it out should be easy, you need to only look for combinations that weren't used :smallwink:

[whitehelm]

It is cryptograms. There's a thread entitled "what haley said compilation" or something to that effect. I think we should link it in the FAQ thread.

Good idea. That's why it's already listed there.


Sadly, I got first printing of No Cure (and the rest, too), which has an omission for the strips in the two-nineties.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what's missing from the end of the Round 2 commentary? The end of the word anticipation is cut off in this printing, and I don't know if there are supposed to be any more sentences after that.

[hamishspence]

I though that was a deliberate joke- a bit like WOTC printing the psionic power Deja Vu twice in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

[Zevox]

I think The Giant said that it was a swear word, but he refused to say which one.
The translations in No Cure For the Paladin Blues say:


Strip #250
Panel 4: (The translation of this four-letter word is left the imagination of the reader.)
So, not explicitly stated to be such, but most likely the case.

Zevox

[John Cribati]

Gee, it must have taken the Giant forever to put all of Haley's speech in cryptograms. I always thought that they were just random letters. I know I wouldn't have bothered to translate everything Haley said.

nah, he'd just need a special keyboard that he'd break and rearrange the letters in between comics. It's what I'd do.

[Nimrod's Son]

I though that was a deliberate joke- a bit like WOTC printing the psionic power Deja Vu twice in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.
Yeah, it was. I can't find the link, but Rich once posted to say that was the case.

[JustIgnoreMe]

If you're bothered, you could use the money you make from selling it to a collector who cares about that sort of thing to buy a new one, and still have plenty left over.

Oh wow. I never noticed that #296 didn't have a translation. I must have an early printing too. Hmm... off to the translated thread!


Speaking of which, does anyone know what's missing from the end of the Round 2 commentary? The end of the word anticipation is cut off in this printing, and I don't know if there are supposed to be any more sentences after that.

I think I just spotted someone who's never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show...

[Knaight]

nah, he'd just need a special keyboard that he'd break and rearrange the letters in between comics. It's what I'd do.

You just reminded me that there are people who don't have at least one keyboard layout memorized. Stop doing that.

That said, the extremely lazy way would be to switch from qwerty to dvorak or similar.

[Grey Watcher]

Given that there is the occasional error in the cipher (which, in at least on instance, caused me no end in frustration because it was in a word I was trying to use to reveal other words), I almost think he might've done it by hand, rather than using software. I know, in a few cases, the ciphers themselves contain a secret message (ie ABCDEFG.... corresponds, in one comic, to the letters in "The quick, brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," taking out repeats, of course).