[Retros] linguistic hole

[Nicolas.Dupont at math.univ-lille1.fr]

Hi Andy,


> I think that for the general term for surviving promoted pawns, Guus'

> suggestion of "parvenu" is better than either of the other suggestions I

> made. Parvenu is a word in English, but obviously derives from French.

> Sometimes these borrowed words have different meanings. What is the sense

> in French?


The same as it was defined in english.


> As far as the specific term for non-Phoenix survivor there are a number of

> good suggestions, I am awestruck by the appositeness of Otto's "Horcrux".

> I am far too old to know Harry Potter well, but I enjoyed the movies. Key

> things that Wikipedia pointed out to me is that the Horcrux creation

> precedes the death of the original, that it can be a person (SPOILER

> WARNING heh), and that it involves a sacrifice (just as a promotion

> implies a capture). It's a 7 letter word ending in "x" referring to a

> fictional object and I don't think we could ask for more. Also would be

> recognizable to younger newcomers who we ought to be interested in

> introducing to our little hobby.


"Horcrux" is my favorite. I don't remember if it has been mentionned
before (too obvious ?) but "Phoenix" is also important in Harry Potter's
world : this is the favorite magic bird of Dumbledore, and it helped Harry
to survive against the Basilic. So we stay in the same context, nice
thing.

And what about Pronkin ? Do we need to call it an Horcrux-Pronkin in case
this is not a Phoenix ?


> It also occurs to me that in some proof games it may be difficult to

> determine which pieces are Phoenix, and which are "Horcrux".

> Suppose:

> - a rook is captured

> - two pawns promote to rook

> - another original rook is captured


Then, in my opinion, the first promoted pawn is a Phoenix, and the second
one an Horcrux.

Best,

Nicolas.