What do these symbols mean?

[Flame of Anor]

Does anyone know? I think the second one is a "K" in cuneiform. It's for my college's Scavenger Hunt.

http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/sumter/freebie/freebie.jpg

[The Rose Dragon]

They very vaguely look like Mayan hieroglyphs. Very vaguely. However, actually looking at the Mayan script, they are most definitely not them.

[Adumbration]

Any context you can provide? What do you study?

[Flame of Anor]

Any context you can provide? What do you study?

There's no context. It's just a puzzle.

[Innis Cabal]

I don't know the first two but considering you go to the University of Chicago or there around I am going to take a stab at the third, fourth and fifth.

The first two are roads right after another. You can see that the top and bottom of three and four sync up. The dots on three and four are stop lights. The last one is a tree.

[Flame of Anor]

I don't know the first two but considering you go to the University of Chicago or there around I am going to take a stab at the third, fourth and fifth.

The first two are roads right after another. You can see that the top and bottom of three and four sync up. The dots on three and four are stop lights. The last one is a tree.

Problem is, the answer is supposed to be a word or set of abbreviations, indicating one of the following grievances:

" One group is furious about Amazon.com's new tax strategy. Another state is home to a powerful group of birthers who insist that Rahm Emmanuel was born by C-section and won't stand with a nation that allows such unconstitutional nonsense. Another worries that new-age foodies from Chicago and the coasts will force them them to let go of their proud traditions of corn, cattle and soy and begin planting terrorist food: things like quinoa and organic vegetables. Another group just wants to form a country whose national language is their own, mandating a "sorry" ever few sentences and boasting North America's longest vowels. Lastly, one pragmatic group wants to market their rust-belt towns as third-world slums for adventure tourists; but poverty tourism just isn't exotic enough if there isn't an international border involved. "

[Spartacus]

Problem is, the answer is supposed to be a word or set of abbreviations, indicating one of the following grievances:

" One group is furious about Amazon.com's new tax strategy. Another state is home to a powerful group of birthers who insist that Rahm Emmanuel was born by C-section and won't stand with a nation that allows such unconstitutional nonsense. Another worries that new-age foodies from Chicago and the coasts will force them them to let go of their proud traditions of corn, cattle and soy and begin planting terrorist food: things like quinoa and organic vegetables. Another group just wants to form a country whose national language is their own, mandating a "sorry" ever few sentences and boasting North America's longest vowels. Lastly, one pragmatic group wants to market their rust-belt towns as third-world slums for adventure tourists; but poverty tourism just isn't exotic enough if there isn't an international border involved. "

Hey look, context.

[Flame of Anor]

I forgot about that context. :smallredface:

[Innis Cabal]

Ya, that's some pretty big context. It's not really a scavanger hunt either really...

[Flame of Anor]

This is just a subsection of one part of one of the items.

[Asthix]

If that's the context, it seems ridiculous? Are they all going to give tinfoil hats to the winner?

Wait, by 'group' you mean each symbol? Seems like the first has something to do with C-sections.

but seriously those conspiracy theories are just, wow. Oranic vegetables and quinoa are terrorist vegetables? Such an epic fail, why are you even bothering?

[Renegade Paladin]

If that's the context, it seems ridiculous? Are they all going to give tinfoil hats to the winner?

Wait, by 'group' you mean each symbol? Seems like the first has something to do with C-sections.

but seriously those conspiracy theories are just, wow. Oranic vegetables and quinoa are terrorist vegetables? Such an epic fail, why are you even bothering?
It's obviously a riddle. I seriously doubt the organizers of whatever he's doing actually hold these opinions.

[Flame of Anor]

It's obviously a riddle. I seriously doubt the organizers of whatever he's doing actually hold these opinions.

Exactly. We solve the riddle, we get points.

[littlebottom]

well im stumped, the first thing i would of done is put them into word then try and turn them into a font that actually uses english :smalltongue:

[Keld Denar]

Some of those look like Dethek runes. Man, where is the decoder ring that came with my old Pools of Radiance gold box video game...

[arguskos]

Some of those look like Dethek runes. Man, where is the decoder ring that came with my old Pools of Radiance gold box video game...
They're not. Dethek is composed exclusively of straight lines, due to the constraints of working with stone and chisels. Those are uniformly curved, meaning Dethek isn't the culprit here.

[Keld Denar]

Bah, not Dethek then. Whats the old elven language called in FR? Elves are fancy and curly like that. I remember you had to match up a Dethek rune with an elven rune on the wheel to get a word...

[arguskos]

Bah, not Dethek then. Whats the old elven language called in FR? Elves are fancy and curly like that. I remember you had to match up a Dethek rune with an elven rune on the wheel to get a word...
Not Espruar either. That script is more akin to proper calligraphy (though not quite, of course). Also, Espruar uses almost no dots or accent marks, unlike those symbols.

And before someone asks, it's also not Thorass (the script of Common in the Realms). Thorass is far more blocky.

[Telonius]

Problem is, the answer is supposed to be a word or set of abbreviations, indicating one of the following grievances:
Another state is home to a powerful group of birthers who insist that Rahm Emmanuel was born by C-section and won't stand with a nation that allows such unconstitutional nonsense.

This one does exist as a parody (http://www.alldeaf.com/war-political-news/58956-rahm-emanuel-awesome-chuck-norris-except-100-true.html) of Chuck Norris. Guy lists Knoxville in his location; so I'm guessing the abbreviation there should be TN.

[Flame of Anor]

We've got it. It says "arugula".

[Keld Denar]

How? Why? Explain?

[Coidzor]

That is two characters too many. Thus the riddle-maker was being dishonest. :smallannoyed:

[Keld Denar]

Assuming a 1:1 relationship between characters. Some languages have symbols to represent combinations of letters. German, for example, uses the ß symbol in place of ss. You could write the word either way and be correct.

So...yea.

[arguskos]

So...yea.
/thread, in so many ways.

But seriously, arugula? :smallconfused:

[Flame of Anor]

German, for example, uses the ß symbol in place of ss. You could write the word either way and be correct.

Historicaly it was sz, not ss, but you're right that it's ss now.


Anyway, the first character is "a" in something, the second is "r" in cuneiform, the third I don't remember, the fourth I think is "gu" in something African, and the fifth is "la" in Mayan runes.