[MATH/HUMOR] Re: the naked q hypothesis

From: Mikael Johansson (mikael.johansson@wineasy.se)
Date: Mon Oct 08 2001 - 13:46:25 MDT


How about Q -- the set of all rational numbers, or F_q, (where q=2^p), one
of the more common elements of cryptographic groups?

Or, turning to the world of movies: Q, James Bond's gadgeteer?

> [fwd from another list]
>
> Definition:
> A naked q is the occurrence of the letter q in a
> word/name that is not followed by the letter u.
>
> Naked q hypothesis:
> Anything with a naked q in its name is likely to
> be big trouble.
>
> Examples supporting the naked q hypothesis:
> Iraq, Qadaffi, Al-Qaida.

Qadaffi is -- at least here in Sweden -- more commonly transcribed as
Khadaffi...

> Can anyone come up with additional examples? Perhaps a research
> program would be useful to test this hypothesis.

What next? Ban glottal stops? (the Q in arabic names is most often used to
transcribed the glottal stop, a sound used a lot in modern arabic --
existing between vowels in swedish, and mainly existing in various dialects
of english...)

> If the naked q hypothesis is confirmed, a practical application would
> be for the NSA to scan intercepted messages for naked qs, and examine
> those occurrences for possible threats to national security.
>
> -S. K.

// Mikael Johansson



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