Comments on: Our Daily Bread http://iamnotmakingthisup.net My personal account of living real life in real Venice, and more Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:50:36 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: erla http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/street-names-our-daily-bread/comment-page-1/#comment-119 erla Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:46:19 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?page_id=469#comment-119 I suppose the simplest explanation was the need to save space, so they used a sort of shorthand, or abbreviation system, which if you knew how it worked made perfect sense. They certainly did this in the manuscript shops of the medieval monasteries. Anyway, it's evident that the important bits still are clear enough, as in "Just don't screw up" -- the essential message of every law and decree since time began. I suppose the simplest explanation was the need to save space, so they used a sort of shorthand, or abbreviation system, which if you knew how it worked made perfect sense. They certainly did this in the manuscript shops of the medieval monasteries. Anyway, it’s evident that the important bits still are clear enough, as in “Just don’t screw up” — the essential message of every law and decree since time began.

]]> By: Krystyna Sibielak http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/street-names-our-daily-bread/comment-page-1/#comment-113 Krystyna Sibielak Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:38:17 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?page_id=469#comment-113 This is totally fascinating! Especially that text on the stone tablet. My favourite details are the punishments for children and the boat burning. It's just so vivid, that I can almost see the people and scenes from those days, without even closing my eyes. You commented on the "disjointed" writing - I've got a third "theory" which might be silly, but it just popped into my mind now: if in those days, maybe, not too many people were capable of writing and reading, there would be a little problem with the "quality control" of the writers and stone carvers, wouldn't it... Or, I imagine that the process of making a tablet could go like this: somebody dictated the text. Somebody wrote it down, this was given to the carver, who then carved it into stone. With this chain of people there is room for mistakes, omitted or shuffled words etc... Or is my imagination just flying too far? And btw sorry if it's too off topic. 30 years ago my mum gave to a stone carver a sheet of paper with only 2 words: the name of my grandma, which had to be carved on her gravestone. He carved it wrong. This is totally fascinating!
Especially that text on the stone tablet.
My favourite details are the punishments for children and the boat burning. It’s just so vivid, that I can almost see the people and scenes from those days, without even closing my eyes.

You commented on the “disjointed” writing – I’ve got a third “theory” which might be silly, but it just popped into my mind now: if in those days, maybe, not too many people were capable of writing and reading, there would be a little problem with the “quality control” of the writers and stone carvers, wouldn’t it…
Or, I imagine that the process of making a tablet could go like this: somebody dictated the text. Somebody wrote it down, this was given to the carver, who then carved it into stone. With this chain of people there is room for mistakes, omitted or shuffled words etc…

Or is my imagination just flying too far?
And btw sorry if it’s too off topic.

30 years ago my mum gave to a stone carver a sheet of paper with only 2 words: the name of my grandma, which had to be carved on her gravestone.
He carved it wrong.

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