But didn't the "B" in "B'dikkat" stand for "Bovine"?

[mdlbear]

This is just plain wrong.

... unless you're familiar with "A Planet Named Shayol". In which case it is very, very wrong.

Comments

[ravan.livejournal.com]

OMG!! It's an honest to gods Mandel Bear!! Cute as hell. It would make a great MandelBear icon...

[jeffreycornish.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I am rereading that very story and hadn't connected the two.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

A Mandelbear for the Mandelbear? :D Sweet
The person is even thinking about making them. Don't let Colleen know about it. She'll want one for the house.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Yes, it did, but that's not all. Smith, an incredibly skilled polyglot meant "B'dikkat" to mean (approximately) "search".

In Jewish households, the search for proscribed leaven (chametz) on the day before Passover is called "b'dikkat chametz", "the search for leaven". I'm pretty sure "B'dikkat" is in what's called the construct form, so it means not just "(the) search" but "(the) search for...".

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

Gary showed me this at the filk, and I broke completely. It's all your fault. And I want one. :)

I only have one question...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Does Jon Coulton know about this? (cf. "Mandelbrot Set") :-)

Re: I only have one question...

[mdlbear]

Wouldn't know - I'd be surprised if somebody hasn't sent him a link, though.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

I think it's adorable, in a weird kind of way... Everytime I read Cordwainer Smith, I want to cut off my hands and give up trying to write. I will never be able to write like that man.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

That's actually kind of ... cool. (Hadn't remembered Shayol -- thanks for the reminder.)