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#24662 - 03/08/04 02:04 PM
Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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I am in the process of creating a file that will probably make a definitive showing of who John Titor really is. And who he isn't.
Unfortunately, none of the free programs I got have worked for me. So I'm having to do it with a simple word processor, and it does take some time. I just want to lay down this marker that the evidence is coming. I suppose I could add them in point by point.. perhaps that's a good way to go.
Alright, I've decided. That's what I'll do.
I have to warn you THIS IS EXTREMELY BORING!!! You may learn something about who did the deed, but you'll probably be put to sleep too. Allow me to apologize in advance..
Now, let me get some files together for you.
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#24663 - 03/08/04 02:26 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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DrainBamaged
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quote:
Originally posted by Feadhel:
I have to warn you THIS IS EXTREMELY BORING!!! You may learn something about who did the deed, but you'll probably be put to sleep too.
Learning who 'did the deed' won't put me to sleep in the slightest. But hopefully it will...put this fairy-hoax fable to bed. So please, anytime you are ready.
DB
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#24664 - 03/08/04 02:35 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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Who was John Titor?
We’ve already considered Mal, but what about that other connection to the JTF, Buzzmaker? How is he connected to JT? I want to have a good look at that at the start of this thread.
A casual glance might convince you that JT and Buzz are not connected. They couldn't be the same person. They certainly do use a different wordset. Buzz says things like, “cool”, “knock it off”, “we stink”, “bring it on brother!”, “baby”, “brotherly love”, “Oh yeah”, etc., that John Titor never said. Where JT was formal, Buzz is (apparently) informal.
One thing I noticed about JT is that he was a darn reliable speller. Most people aren’t that good. I wondered about that. In his 40,000 or so words, he’s responsible for maybe a dozen spelling mistakes. I think it’s actually less. Buzzmaker, on the other hand, is a terrible speller. He can’t even spell the first word in his first post, “curtin” (curtain).
You would think these two people couldn’t be less alike. But is that really true?
I said I thought Titor might have been an attorney. What about Buzzmaker? He knows a very succinct explanation of copyright law: “Since only words can be copyrighted and not ideas or concepts, John’s book is in the clear. Not only do no names appear in the questions but they were all substantially rewritten and summarized. To take up a case against John you would have to prove who you are, that you have the copyright to the exact text in question and that you’re possibly losing money. If you can’t, the courts have a tradition of looking at you as being a vengeful pain in the rear and they hammer you with fines and courts fees.”
Aside from the obvious colloquialisms, this is essentially lawyerspeak for “don’t even think about suing me.” (Buzz may be right, but you have to wonder whether he sweats it a little since he went to the trouble of explaining it so well..)
So Buzzmaker knows some law. He also clearly knows the media, since he works in the field. Oddly enough, JT knew an awful lot about the media as well. He spoke of the pitfalls of "[b]eing exposed to a society through its art, music, and advertising." I particularly recall how he went so far as to critique some commercials:
quote:
I saw something last night that I want everyone’s opinion on. Its concerning two television commercials advertising the same cellular phone product. The first commercial I didn’t understand right away but the second was obvious.
In the first commercial, a man dressed in cold weather gear appears to be in a snowstorm. He’s on a cellular phone saying goodbye to his family as if he was going to die in the storm. We then see he is standing in front of a snow machine at a ski resort area.
In the second commercial, another man dressed in cold weather gear is talking on a cellular phone. We see a young women inviting him to a romantic evening. He seems a bit stunned and excited, hangs up the phone and runs off. We then see he has abandoned an unconscious person he was giving emergency medical treatment to.
What do you think of these commercials?
And he knew some of the jargon associated with the entertainment business too. "[C]athartic entertainment," is a phrase not used by many on a Time Travel forum, but it'd sure be used by someone familiar with the ins and outs of entertainment.
Next post: Words words words..
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#24665 - 03/08/04 02:43 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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Now comes the boring bits..
One of the things you look for to see if two writings were written by the same person is characteristic mistakes.
So have a look at this set:
----------------------
**Affect/effect confusion
Titor: “ These odd properties also have a pronounced affect on the black hole’s gravity.”; “Problems with the environment still have lasting affects on all people”; “The major physical affects include skin cancer, infertility, infection, etc.”
Buzz: “(I added that for affect).”
-----------------------------------
You also want to look for similar usage. If you read JT a lot, you soon realize that he favors certain words used a certain way. What about Buzz? Consider:
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**Conversational “you know.”
JT: They did have the Dew Line you know
Buzz: You know, one person plays Kirk, another is Spock and everyone fights aliens on the weekend between D&G games.
**Sentence begins with “Again”:
Titor: “Again, this is the second time it has come up and I am very curious.”; “Again, it is very decentralized.”; “Again, this is an issue I will be happy to go into later.”; “Again, people have lived through so much hardship..”; “Again, I don’t believe I said I want to kill you.”; “Again, I don’t believe I said that either.”; “Again, my viewpoint is quite squewed.”; “Again, the entire world is affected.”; “Again, what I think is important doesn’t impress anyone..”; “Again, I am unable to make you do anything nor would I want that.”; “Again, you should not offer this to anyone for any reason.”; “Yes but again, not nearly as many.”; “Again, please do not confuse my inability to answer the same questions over and over with a desire to make someone upset.”; “Again, you use the world virtually, which to me means not exactly the same spot.”; “ Again, all the things you claim I can do you are capable of also.”; “Again, maybe you should ask yourself if you’re sure you want me to prove I’m a time traveler.”; “
Buzz: “Again, I apologize for stepping into your sandbox.”; “Again, I apologize for stepping into something I didn't fully understand.”
**Repitition of “I apologize for..”
Titor: “I apologize for the poor quality of the files.”; “I apologize for the links.”; “I apologize for a missed key..”; “ I apologize for the confusion..”; “I apologize for being a bit slow.”; “I apologize for not being able to get to all of them.”
Buzz: “I apologize for my clumsy marketing attempts.”; “I apologize for stepping into your sandbox.”; “I apologize for stepping into something I didn't fully understand.”
------------------------
I'm truly sorry but it's only going to get worse in the next post..
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#24666 - 03/08/04 02:45 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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John Titor really really liked the word "however"..
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**Use of the word “however”:
Titor: “you may be surprised at how many people use typewriters however I agree the documents were probably not created that way.”; “However, if I had an opportunity to talk to a time traveler..”; “However, the very nature of time travel states that every worldline is unique..”; “However, from their perspective, I will only have been gone a split second.”; “However, if I were to go on some sort of a murder spree and I admitted it when I returned, then I would be held responsible for the crime of murder.”; “However, I would have to dump a great deal of archival material to get you in.”; “However, I am confused by a twist in the way the language is used.”; “However, I don’t think it will be easy.”; “ However, there are a great many “non lethal” weapon systems in development that turn out to be quite lethal.”; “However, altering the sperm and egg cell are common.”; “However, women do fight in the military just as the men do but their role on the community level is very conservative.”; “However, there is still a great deal of internal conflict with conventional arms.”; “However, in the opening hours of N Day, the Russians did not launch any high altitude detonations.”; “ However, the new fear is that Christ has returned, he’s not telling us and he’s very angry.”; “However, my concern would be the potential actions of a single person, not the masses.”; “ However, I am not confident things are different enough for you to avoid the conflict.”; “However, I have given some very detailed information that could be checked out.”; “However, since I'm archiving all of this and will submit it with my report, it will eventually end up on our internet.”; “However, you’re too confident I won’t be able to offer an explanation that I’m sure other physics fans will appreciate.”; “There are, however, certain quantities that do remain constant.” (Note: This is a possible plagiarization); “However, in this case, I just don’t know.”; “However there is a fear about being here that I can only define as uncertainty.”; “ However, my job was to go and get it and not debate why they wanted it.”; “However, if you’re trying to hurt my feelings, comparing me to a politician will do it.”; “However, we remove any identification and patches before we go anywhere”; “However, if I were able to physically help you from a situation because I was there and I knew it was coming, I would help you.”; “However, I submit to you that when the moment comes it will be absolutely plain as day that you are unsafe in the cities.”; “I do however find myself stoping in mid-stride and paying extra attention to my environment when I forget "when" I am.”; “However, there are many families where the wife / mother is the main breadwinner and the husband / father remains “home” with the family.”; “However, like everything else, the monetary system is decentralized.”; “However, if I were standing next to a soldier who was about to be shot by a passing Japanese plane, I would push him to safety.”; “However, I don’t think we have the right to force criminals on unsuspecting worldlines and sending them to the Stone Age might be a bit much.”; “However, don’t worry too much about major portions of coastline slipping under water.”; “ I may however offer advice to my younger self.”; “However, I am not Trott and this name and TTO are the only names I’ve used online.”; “I do however want to repeat my offer and add a slight twist.”; “However, I believe Teller already came up with an X-ray laser that destroys itself after going off.”; “However, it is a good point.”; “However, I already know you won’t pay any attention or believe me because we’ve already been through it on this worldline.”; “However, there are a great many “non lethal” weapon systems in development that turn out to be quite lethal.”
Buzz: “However, now that I understand what's going on, some of you are very scary.”; “However, I do have a copy of the book and can answer basic questions about the copyright issues.”; “However, there is a loophole called fair use.”; “However, the category of Internet distributed digital media is so new, SAG is just now coming to grips with payment schedules.”
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#24667 - 03/08/04 02:48 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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DrainBamaged
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quote:
Originally posted by Feadhel:
I'm truly sorry but it's only going to get worse in the next post..
*** Continues to listen with jaw slowly dropping down... ***
DB
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#24668 - 03/08/04 02:48 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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(You may notice that JT has many more examples than Buzz of each item, but of course, JT wrote 40,000 words and Buzz only 2145. Someone good with statistics might run an analysis..)
-----------------------------
**Use of the word “familiar”:
Titor: “Anyone who is familiar with this feature and was told to keep their mouth shut about it will be able to tell you what it is.”; “Yes, being familiar with firearms (along with the other responsibilities of the Constitution) becomes an important part of people’s lives in thirty years.”; “As individuals, almost everyone in 2036 is very familiar with death.”; “I’m not familiar with the term Psionics.”; “I am not familiar with the Fatima Prophesies but I am aware of the term.”; “Although I am familiar with the general manufacture of the unit, I am not a physicist or a scientist.”; “Hmmm…are you familiar with the Russian partisan movement in WWII?”; “The idea is to become familiar with the possibility of meeting yourself which can be rather difficult.”; “I am aware the concept of the Rapture is related to Christian Prophecy but I am not familiar with the details.”; “I am not familiar with pop culture in 2001.”; “ I recommend become familiar with firearms.”; “Unfortunately, they were unfamiliar with the equipment and figured it wasn’t working correctly.”; “I’m not very familiar with reverse speech but what I saw on the web leads me to conclude it’s a bit objective.”
Buzz: “ I’m not familiar enough with the original posts to comment on any changes in the book.”
**Use of the phrase “a bit”:
Titor: “Although the documents posted were printed from a computer printer, is it really that hard to believe that manual typing is just a bit more common in thirty years?”; “I realize my claims are a bit ridiculous but my intent is not really to be believed.”; “Another fellow who posted earlier was a bit upset over what I was saying because he thought I was soon going to ask for money by selling something.”; “Current fallout estimates are accurate but a bit exaggerated.”; “I’ve been in your time a bit longer than I had expected.”; “I believed I wrote about Australia a bit earlier.”; “This is an excellent point and one I thought I went over a bit earlier.”; “Suggesting there is a war coming is a bit different than saying avoid Washington DC at 3:45 AM on March 12, 2015.”; “The vertical distance is quite a bit shorter and is determined by sensors in the unit.”; “ He seems a bit stunned and excited, hangs up the phone and runs off.”; “Thanks again, I’ll follow up on the rest in a bit.”; “I must preface the following with a bit of melodrama.”; “ I feel a bit unqualified to answer the next few questions for the following reason.”; “Earlier in the thread I did go into this in a bit more detail.”; “However, I don’t think we have the right to force criminals on unsuspecting worldlines and sending them to the Stone Age might be a bit much.”; “I’m not very familiar with reverse speech but what I saw on the web leads me to conclude it’s a bit objective.”; “I have been quite busy lately so I apologize for being a bit slow.”; “After going over my flight plan home, I have discovered my VGL holdover period is a bit longer than I expected.”; “The cut-a-way is also a bit different from the unit I have as it shows the interior of the prototype.”; “
Buzz: “All of us here working on the program are a bit spooked by the torch and
pitch-fork crowd looking for anyone related to the show.”
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#24669 - 03/08/04 02:49 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Feadhel
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That's all I have time for at the moment, but trust me, the best is yet to come.
And it will be just as booooooooooring. 
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#24670 - 03/08/04 02:57 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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mystic_kitten
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quote:
Originally posted by Feadhel:
That's all I have time for at the moment, but trust me, the best is yet to come.
And it will be just as booooooooooring.
Great job so far! One question, though... for any sort of experiment, you need a control set to test the veracity of your results. Would it be too much work to use a control file (say, the posts of somebody else who's made a lot of contributions to this board - with their permission of course) and analyze their writing alongside? I'd be willing to help with this - I love linguistics (I'm an Anthro major) and I have a lot of time on my hands.
kitten
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#24671 - 03/08/04 03:13 PM
Re: Who was John Titor: the linguistic evidence
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Seven
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**Eagerly awaits next post...**
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