So I ran home, looked it up in my Korean dictionary, saw that it means "beautiful woman," ran back to where he was and slapped him.

Reminds me ... I knew somebody once who used "What time is it in China?" as a euphemism for "your flies are undone" / "your zipper is open". Far too genteel to refer directly to the area in question.

Apparently, male Koreans over 40 years old command so much respect that they can get drunk during work and kick policemen in the nuts and it's perfectly acceptable.

So they say here.

It's the irony, the sarcasm? The three dots.. The relative ignorance..

Who knew?

I guess only Jess can tell..

"Overhere" you can get away with being drunk as a premier on prime time television, because you're labeled as "father of the country". (Wim Kok - 60+ )

How the hell Sarkozy pulled it off remains a mystery to me..

In built kaste system? Bribery? Intimidation? Traditions?

And you only use *two* dots, Niels. Modesty? Economy? Or precise understatement, with a dash of minimalism, getting the full effect with less expenditure of effort?

It's quite Dutch, I think. Makes the rest of us seem florid, over-elaborate, carelessly wasteful.

Ah, such style. Only the Japanese really come close, and they unfortunately spoil the effect by making a philosophy out of it.

But Dutch precision out-Zens Zen.

My three dots, en passant, are otherwise known as ellipsis. They originally, in the history of printing, signified that something had been ... left out. But now they're a type of pause, with the implication that there is more to come, yet no obligation to actually provide it.

btw, have you been following any of the China-vs-England games from Liverpool? Adams, Short, Pert, Gawain Jones & Co against Ni Hua and the rest. Some good games yesterday, although Kurtz seems to have decided that a draw is a good result. Can't really blame him, given that almost all of the Chinese players are less than half his age.

I can remember the name <Ni Hua> because it's almost identical to the Irish for "it is not" (a phrase which turns up with alarming frequency in any use of the Irish language whatsoever).

In this case it was, partly, related to the three dots, the preceding poster had used.. What did he mean / was there a clue as for the "severity" of irony ? Und so weiter u.s.w. ...

But Zebra didn't disclose, clever guy.. So the full effect of minimalism was minimized by the, again brilliant, < I always thought sarkozy was some kind of disease.>

<But Dutch precision out-Zens Zen.> heh.. Maybe outwise Trice, perhaps?

I suspect that the idea is to play 1.a7 stalemating the black king, and then arrange for a knight to deliver mate on c7 -- before black can either draw by losing all his pawns or possibly even win by running amok with a queen.

Thus e8(N) is a good place to promote, as it's mate next move. And g8 is also good because of g8(N)-f6-e8-c7#.

Some examples might run:

1.a7 hxg6 2.h4 f6 3.e4 f5 4.e5 f4 5.e6 f3 6.e7 f2 7.e8(N) f1(Q) 8.Nc7#

or 3.e4 g5 4.hxg5 f5 5.e5 f4 6.e6 f3 7.e7 f2 8.e8(N) f1(B) 9.Nc7#

or 1.a7 f5 2.g7 f4 3.g8(N) f3 4.Nf6 fxe2 5.Nd5 e1(Q) 6.Nc7#

<Kurtziana> I also retract anything I may have said about Mr Short. He had a brilliant win in a Najdorf against Bu Xiangzhi today. Short presses, wins a pawn or two, forces Black to launch an attack that looks unsound, and then things get a little crazy. So far I'm unable to say whether Nigel always had matters under control, or whether Bu's attack proved unexpectedly dangerous, almost winning before Short reasserted control in what looks like a time scramble -- 1-0 on move 39 in a position where White is clearly better but Black should be able to fight on for a while. Time?

*mack's latest surrealist chess problem*

click for larger view

"White to play and deliver mate with a KNIGHT in ten moves or less"

<1.a7 hxg6 2.h4 f6 3.e4>

What about 2...f5? (Or should that be 2..f5?)

Also --

<8.e8(N) f1(B)>

It's a fine man that can me chuckle with a single letter in a long string of chess notation. WIST.