Khmauv he/him Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 (edited) I looked at all three words "Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak" and came up with something interesting. --Sneaky Heralds forging bad legends--- I see this as a solid possibility. The Heralds creating legends of the Knights Radiant casting them as bad guys to keep the group from reforming. I think this is supported by Darkness's motives for killing those on the path to becoming Radiants. They (the Heralds) are trying to suppress another Desolation. It makes me think...What other histories are they trying to suppress? I know its a stretch but this is fun! EDIT: Apparently I used an extra 'e'. Whoops! Edited January 30, 2014 by Khmauv 13
bartbug he/him Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 Gosh darn it Brandon! Really, is this necessary? I'm tempted to think that Hoid is breaking the fourth wall here. Maybe that's what you get by compounding sazedium. 1
Mysty she/her Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 I looked at all three words "Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak" and came up with something interesting. --Sneaky Heralds forging bad legends--- you have an extra e in your new phrase...but that is an awesome, in-universe line to create out of Hoid's gibberish! upvote!
Khmauv he/him Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) *Scratches Head* I see it now that you mention it. But I crossed out the letters as I wrote them....weird edit: Still hunting for something better edit2: "BLADED HERALDS SINGING FREAKY SONG" (double checked) Edited January 30, 2014 by Khmauv 7
DocHoliday he/him Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 I've been watching Futurama on Netflix recently, and while I was at first a supporter that there might have been something to this, I know believe we may have been reading to much into this. Professor Farnsworth of Futurama repeatedly uses the phrase "Balderdash!" As a curse. This caused me to raise the question around dinner. Evidently a number of cartoons use it including The Backyardigans, and Fines Finneas and Ferb. The only conclusion I can draw from this, is that balderdash is some sort of colloquial curse. 1
Swimmingly he/him Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 Yes. But it is a perfect anagram for Shardblade, and HOID uses it. HOID. Everything Hoid says is significant. Unless Brandon was having a bad day and decided to do a little trolling. 4
Delightful Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 Everything Hoid says is significant. Unless Brandon was having a bad day and decided to do a little trolling. I'm always a little worried about this. Possibly too much so. 1
Pechvarry Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) I still do not believe there is a full on sentence in what Hoid says. But I DO believe something in that sentence explains something about him, and I still think it's Gibletish. In addition to not being a word (unlike balderdash and gobbledygook - both of which are on my phone dictionary), it's the name of the chapter! This isn't the first time the chapter names tell us something important to focus on. See also: Eshonai, Child of Tanavast. Edited February 20, 2014 by Pechvarry
18th Shard he/him Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 You are very special people. This is what worries me. 2
AerionBFII he/him Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 My brain has motion sickness from this forum trying to mash up words i can't spell into other words i can't spell... 2
Khmauv he/him Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Yes. But it is a perfect anagram for Shardblade, and HOID uses it. HOID. Everything Hoid says is significant. Unless Brandon was having a bad day and decided to do a little trolling. It's also a perfect Anagram for Bad Heralds 5
IllNsickly he/him Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 I think Mr Sanderson realized Balderdash was a perfect anagram for Shardblade and said, Oooohhhh, ill just drop this in the middle of a Hoid speech... And then laughed maniacally.. because since everything Hoid says is meaningful, Balderdash becomes meaningful purely in the context of the story.. Gibletish and figgldygrak would be the words id look for meaning in. Im sure of it. Mr Sanderson knew there would be theoryists who caught it and just wanted a good solid laugh. 2
Alice Rose she/her Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 Well, the best anagrams for "Adonalsium" that I can find are the following: Animal duos Soda alumni Load Animus A dualism no A dualism on! A load minus Anal sodium A snail do, um Or something. My favourite is the third one. The only one I found for adonalsium was "salon du Mai" the name of a group of artists founded during ww2 to, I believe, combat the nazi suppression of art. From what I can tell (since I don't speak French) there were either 16 or 17 founding members. Now this has nothing to do with anything in world but I found it an interesting piece of trivia as there are 16 shards of adonalsium or 16 shards plus Hoid. I think I know I've fallen down the rabbit hole as this makes me want to research the founding artists to see if I could find the names of shards. But I will resist as this is likely a coincidence. 3
Jo and the Bush all/any Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 From Wikpedia; "It's founding members were the art critic Gaston Diehl and the painters, sculptors and engravers Henri-Georges Adam, Emmanuel Auricoste, Lucien Coutaud, Robert Couturier, Jacques Despierre, Marcel Gili, Léon Gischia, Francis Gruber, Jean Le Moal, Alfred Manessier, André Marchand, Edouard Pignon, Gustave Singier, Claude Venard and Roger Vieillard, who together formed it direction committee. What is with the Color? It's being Glitchy. And I don't Think these are the names of the Shard Holders. I alos Think that Balderdash Shardblade Might be a Coinincedence... 1
Swimmingly he/him Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 From Wikpedia; "It's founding members were the art critic Gaston Diehl and the painters, sculptors and engravers Henri-Georges Adam, Emmanuel Auricoste, Lucien Coutaud, Robert Couturier, Jacques Despierre, Marcel Gili, Léon Gischia, Francis Gruber, Jean Le Moal, Alfred Manessier, André Marchand, Edouard Pignon, Gustave Singier, Claude Venard and Roger Vieillard, who together formed it direction committee. What is with the Color? It's being Glitchy. And I don't Think these are the names of the Shard Holders. I alos Think that Balderdash Shardblade Might be a Coinincedence... That's cause they're all links 1
Morsk he/him Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 I don't want to be negative on this if it's for fun and not serious. I can't tell though! I think all that's meant by "everything Hoid says is significant" is that he compares something super important, Adonalsium and its Shards, to nonsense words made of random letters, and also to giblet meat. Most people think of the Shards as divine, but Hoid isn't impressed and thinks they can be improved on. He might be thinking of putting Adonalsium back together in a better form than it was originally, but I sort of hate that. Or perhaps he's talking about Honor's splinters, and putting them back together into something different than Honor. The choice of analogies, nonsense words vs. giblets, leave it ambiguous whether Adonalsium is something completely abstract, or whether it's something that used to be alive. We don't know, and Hoid's examples don't help us get any closer to knowing.
Michael Portz he/him Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 you have an extra e in your new phrase...but that is an awesome, in-universe line to create out of Hoid's gibberish! upvote! Well ... just replace "Sneaky" by "Snaky" then ... 1
Khmauv he/him Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 Well ... just replace "Sneaky" by "Snaky" then ... I like it @morsk I see it as a fun exercise. and I agree on your interpretation of gibletish. however this: "Nonsense. Balderdash. Figgldygrak. Isn't it odd that gibberish words are often the sounds of other wrods, cut up and dismembered, then stitched into something like them-yet wholly unlike them at the same time?" It just screams, "Chop up these words up and rearrange them to make something new and unlike them!" Added that it seems so out of context and delivered by the lips of Hoid... I am just saying that I would not put it past Brandon to drop a little Easter egg in that we will look at later and think, "How did I not see that?"
Haelbarde he/him Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 Has anyone asked Brandon specifically about Balderdash = Shardblade?
Swimmingly he/him Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Yes. He said "Everything Hoid says is important," or something to that effect.
DocHoliday he/him Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 I think Mr Sanderson realized Balderdash was a perfect anagram for Shardblade and said, Oooohhhh, ill just drop this in the middle of a Hoid speech... And then laughed maniacally.. because since everything Hoid says is meaningful, Balderdash becomes meaningful purely in the context of the story.. Gibletish and figgldygrak would be the words id look for meaning in. BWFWUA I love my pet acronyms
Horatio Spifflewicket Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Yes. He said "Everything Hoid says is important," or something to that effect. Couldn't that just have meant the part about Adonalsium? ... Nevermind. 1
Jeh Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Ok so this may be a bit out there but pulling apart the sounds in the words nonsense, balderdash and Figgldygrak and stitching them back together I get: "Sh aw r d b l (long A) d s g i f n g R a y s K n o w l e d g " This is phoneticly close to: Shardblades giving Rayse knowledge What you guys think? Could this be the hidden message? I really like this one. Could be the reason for Syl not liking Shardblades. Also, I haven't seen the idea that it could be Dawnchant. Do we have any excerpts of Dawnchant and their respective translations? I think I think I remember Adolin saying Dalinar spoke "gibberish" during his visions, which Navani believes is Dawnchant. 1
Lift Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I took the words gibletish and figgldygrak and came up with these two sentences: -ie flight by dark giggles -syl gagged bik firelight Not perfect, I agree, but I guess even Hoid has a bad day every now and then.
Devo Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) Just noticed this thread. I think it's going way the wrong way. The word to focus on is Adonalsium. He specifically asks Dalinar about it before saying the bit about mixed up sounds. Specifically one should expect to find other words made from parts of Adonalsium, because presumably Adonalsium is older than most words. I can't believe no one has pointed this out: Adonalsium Adolin asum Not a perfect anagram but the name "Adolin" is inside "Adonalsium". Don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but that's the very first thing i thought of and I was very surprised not to find it mentioned here. In fact, I think maybe Wit was testing to see if Dalinar intentionally named Adolin after Adonalsium to see if Dalinar knew more than he was letting on. Wit just blurts out "Adonalsium" out of the blue to gauge Dalinar's reaction, then asks Dalinar directly if the word means anything to him, then makes a comment that sometime gibberish words are unintentionally formed from the sounds of other words. It seems that he maybe noticed the coincidence that Adolin's name was made of sounds from Adonalsium and having verified that it was a coincidence and not intentional on Dalinar's part, makes an offhand comment about how it's funny that meaningless words (I'm including names here) can be made up of sounds from other words. He then talks about making a person like that and says to name such a person Gibberish/Gibletish after him. Which leads me to believe that Gibletish is not Hoid's real name (he says as much) but like Adolin from Adonalsium, it is made up of sounds from Hoid's real name. I'm actually feeling pretty confident about that. Edit: Just wanted to add that "Dalinar, be sure to name him Gibberish, after me" seems to support my theory that Hoid is referencing Dalinar (unintentionally) naming Adolin after Adonalsium. Edited March 12, 2014 by Devo 5
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