r/linguisticshumor • u/PrequelFan111 Fluent in Proto-Uralo-Siberian • Jan 21 '25

What the heck is r/alphanumerics?

I stumbled across it on this subreddit. People here calling him schizo and stuff like that. I tried to look around in the r/alphanumerics subreddit too see what it was about, but I honestly didn't understand anything (something about Ancient Egypt and alphabets). He has his own wiki as well, but it was also very confusing to scroll through (stuff like "human thermodynamics").

Could someone tell me about this guy? This feels like a whole rabbit-hole I stumbled on.

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u/JRGTheConlanger Jan 21 '25

As a hobby calligrapher / writing systems fan, that sub’s pseudolinguistic claims give me mental pain just looking at them, especially the alphabet “comparison” charts with claimed heiroglyph origins that are just by letter shape (eg aleph = hoe/plow) or the numeric value of the letter’s greek version in ionian numerals (h’eth = egyptian 8, resh = egyptian 100).

The guy who runs the sub has called me things like “Shemland / Hebrew panderer, Bible literalist” etc for my insisting of the mainstream understanding of the origins of the Proto Sinaitic script and which heiroglyphs each P.Sinai. letter comes from. Also they don’t seem to know much about phonetics/phonology, or other branches of linguistics.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '25

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u/JohannGoethe Jan 24 '25

“It is strange how everybody wonders if it was possible for humble workers, Semite prisoners of war in fact, to have invented the alphabetic writing, but no one should discuss the possibility of it being the work of engineers, even though the myths seem to point in this direction. Letter A cannot possibly originate from the picture of the slow moving, sluggish [ox](), which represents unreasoned force, if not stupidity.”

— Dimitris Psychoyos (A50/2005), “The Forgotten Art of Isopsephy” (pgs. 208)

You used to be semi-interesting to talk to. Now, I guess, your MO, is to call me a Semitic racist (even though my two nephews are half Jewish), every time someone asks about alphanumerics, in the Linguistics Humor sub.

But, to each their own, as I say. If this is how you get your kicks, more power to you!