When I was a kid, we talked about such things as the Side-Hill Troggler. This species is missing in more than one way. I couldnt find it on the Internet, but I did find the following at http://www.algebra.com/algebra/about/history/Munchers.wikipedia In all the Munchers games, the player controlled a green "Muncher" character across a grid of squares containing a short numerical or word expression. The objective is to consume all and only the grids containing information satisfying a specific criterion (determined by the mode of play) while also avoiding the deadly "Troggle" monsters (name probably derived from troglodyte) which roamed the grid. That might be close. Lets look up troglodyte. In the Devils Dictionary I found the following: http://devil.kaywa.com/t/troglodyte.html Troglodyte (By Ambrose Bierce at 14:12) n. specifically, a cave-dweller of the Paleolithic period, after the Tree and before the Flat. A famous community of troglodytes dwelt with David in the Cave of Adullam. The colony consisted of every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented in brief, all the Socialists of Judah. Yeah! Right! Well, that is not the definition I was looking for. Lets try Dictionary.com: They have a big entry that you should find fun to read. I dont want to copy the whole text here because they might become angry with me. The bottom line here is that a Troglodyte is a cave dweller. Read on at http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/04/17.html A flashing sign at Dictionary.com said I could win a vacuum cleaner. I didnt click on it. It probably would have brought up a survey form that would take a month of Sundays to complete. Then it would lay down seven requirements costing me money to actually get the vacuum cleaner. The dirt stays on the floor. What? You clicked on it? Well, Im an old man and I must restore lost knowledge to the worlds youth. A Side-Hill Troggler was an ancient beast that had long legs on one side and short legs on the other. That made it easy for him to walk transverse to a steep slope. His body was always level. There was one slight problem for the Side-Hill Troggler. He could not turn around and go back. That would just make things worse with the long legs on the wrong side of his body. The poor critter would just tumble on down the mountain. The Side-Hill Troggler became extinct when it came to the End of the World. Thats my story and Im sticking to it. We have a lot of One-Way Harrigans in our society. They can only think in one direction and they are never able to turn back. That is another character that must be extinct: Wrong-Way Harrigan. My wife sang me the song Harrigan. Before it is lost too, let me give you a copy here from http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10360 HARRIGAN Lyrics and Music By George M. Cohan, 1907 H-A- Double R-I
G-A-N spells Harrigan!
Proud of all the Irish that's in me.
Divil a man can say a word agin me!
Oh, H-A-Double R-I
G-A-N you see!
It's the name,
That no shame has ever been connected with
It's a name that a shame never has been connected with
Harrigan, that's me! Having disposed of Harrigan and getting to the subject of one-way thinkers, we have a preponderance of them in Washington D.C. Of course these are our present leaders. President Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald H. Rumsfeld are examples. Their extinction is most eminent. Somebody call the World Wildlife Fund. Meanwhile watch out for those deadly "Troggle" monsters. Copyright2006John T. Jones, Ph.D. |
