tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post116034257071800842..comments2024-03-28T11:03:41.050-05:00Comments on Unlocked Wordhoard: Sand CastlesDr. Richard Scott Nokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-41262109591743223902009-08-19T11:43:02.805-05:002009-08-19T11:43:02.805-05:00The fun of a sand castle is trying to keep the tid...The fun of a sand castle is trying to keep the tide out. Sand walls, and moats, perform this function best.wrought iron furniturehttp://buyitnowfurniture.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1161226747918893162006-10-18T21:59:00.000-05:002006-10-18T21:59:00.000-05:00Once upon a time a little boy walked with his fath...Once upon a time a little boy walked with his father on a sandy beach looking for items the waves washed up that they could take to market and sell. After an hour or so of looking, the little boy grew tired. He sat in the sand and began to look around for something interesting to do. On a cliff, a good distance away but clearly visible from his location, a castle stood proud against the zephyr wind. The boy laid his chin on his knee as he lazily began to draw the castle in the sand. Then, he casually began to push the sand around. Before he had even realized he was doing it, he had begun to shape a castle from the sand. <BR/><BR/>His father called to him then carrying a broken wood crate. Inside was the luck that would get them dinner.<BR/><BR/>"Ho, my boy, up and 'elp your father." As the father drew closer he saw the sad immitation of the cliff dwelling and he shook his head. "Dreams in the sand get lost to sea. Let's get this to market before the merchants yearn for the hearth."<BR/><BR/>The boy jumped up and left his castle of sand to melt away. As they walked the boy asked, "Father, could you make a castle from sand."<BR/><BR/>The father replies, "Eh? A sand castle. Hmmm. Not one that would amount to anything I would imagine."<BR/><BR/>But, the boy dreamed anyway.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160472102976543662006-10-10T04:21:00.000-05:002006-10-10T04:21:00.000-05:00I think your student's just found a thesis that's ...I think your student's just found a thesis that's dying to be written. On the bucket question, my feeling is that those that have the turret-shapes were designed with sand castle construction in mind.<BR/><BR/>This post also reminded me of a Futurama episode where Fry builds a sand castle and announces proudly, "Voila! The greatest sand castle ever built. This is the kind of castle King Arthur would've lived in... if he were a fiddler crab." [<A HREF="http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/EpisodeSounds/1ACV12/06.mp3" REL="nofollow">sound sample</A>]bdhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04736787019772473395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160415313266823452006-10-09T12:35:00.000-05:002006-10-09T12:35:00.000-05:00Castle Architecture, being heaped stone, is easily...Castle Architecture, being heaped stone, is easily reproducible with sand. Sand builds in compression only; no tension. So: stone architecture. No wood architecture, no steel architecture. You ask, why not make a sand skyscraper or sand beachhouse? Well, try. I bet it comes out looking like a castle.<BR/><BR/>Other stone architectures? Pyramids, obviously. Manor Houses (modified castles). Why not those in sand on a thousand summer beaches?<BR/><BR/>Now we get to the fortress part. As others have noticed, the fun of a sand castle is trying to keep the tide out. Sand walls, and moats, perform this function best. If you build a big enough wall-and-moat complex, it begins looking like a castle whether you've ever seen one before or not. (So I'm not sure I understand your distinction between a sand castle and a sand fortress.)<BR/><BR/>Well, what about those turrets? Surely they make the difference? As you note, most plastic play buckets are round. They cast great turrets instantly. You just fill in the walls in between. Easy for kids, and fun, and it looks like something they've seen before, which kids like.<BR/><BR/>Finally, where have they seen castles? Oh, everywhere. There is a generic "castle" image (at least here in America) which everyone can identify, even though it resembles no one actual castle. It's part of our culture, although you'll look far and wide throughout American for an actual example. I suspect it comes from Victorian times - perhaps originally from illustrated children's editions of King Arthur, and Sir Walter Scott's books. <BR/><BR/>T. H. White, early into The Sword and the Stone, jokes about how everyone in England "knows" what a castle looks like. We Americans have inherited that through our common literary heritage.squirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14280609151416389163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160415182251133682006-10-09T12:33:00.000-05:002006-10-09T12:33:00.000-05:00I think castles couple grandeur with ease of creat...I think castles couple grandeur with ease of creation. You can build an impressive castle with simple building blocks - combined to form walls, a keep, towers, and battlements. The process is straightforward and the results are impressive.wilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07916774745613441512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160386892731716302006-10-09T04:41:00.000-05:002006-10-09T04:41:00.000-05:00@Brendan: Actually, a sand castle in German is cal...@Brendan: Actually, a sand castle in German is called a "Sandburg", since Schloss is more like a Palace or a House.<BR/><BR/>Regarding your hypothesis, "Sandburg" is actually a word that's easy to pronounce, so maybe for little kids, building a "Sandburg" is indeed easier than, say, a Sandkirche.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160353651565541592006-10-08T19:27:00.000-05:002006-10-08T19:27:00.000-05:00All the theories are good, but a further orientati...All the theories are good, but a further orientation is this:<BR/><BR/>Words that SOUND good together are easier to remember, more likely to be used and generally better.....<BR/><BR/>So, because "sand" and "castle" alliterate quite pleasantly, they dominate the naming of small sandy structures discourse!<BR/><BR/>Does anyone know if other Indo-European languages have sand-castle-like phrases? This might verify (or not) this particular sub-hypothesis?<BR/><BR/>Castillo d'arena? <BR/>Chateau de sable?<BR/>Sand-Schloss(dopple 'S')? - which is quite nice itselfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160348812585756092006-10-08T18:06:00.000-05:002006-10-08T18:06:00.000-05:00Speaking of the potential to sound like an idiot ....Speaking of the potential to sound like an idiot ... yes, of course, I meant the Socratic method.<BR/><BR/>Please excuse me; I have to go beat myself in the head with a ballpeen hammer in an effort to improve my brain.Dr. Richard Scott Nokeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160348260942046402006-10-08T17:57:00.000-05:002006-10-08T17:57:00.000-05:00I have always thought that they were "castles" bec...I have always thought that they were "castles" because they serve a defensive purpose: keeping at bay the...well, the bay. Or the ocean, or gulf, or whatever. We always build them as the tide comes in, and try (vainly, but valiantly) to keep the walls intact against the liquidy aqua hordes.<BR/><BR/>Moats are VERY important as part of the defense, because they break the linear flow of the water. We always build moats. Though, I grant you, a mental survey of past S.C.s does reveal that moats are but a mote, in terms of proportion. Most S.C.s have been demoated, or never had one.<BR/><BR/>But, sure, the drippy drips on the battlements, and cannon emplacements, add important atmosphere. So it may be that the look of the things makes thems castles.Mungowitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02340064320347875601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-1160348194553166572006-10-08T17:56:00.000-05:002006-10-08T17:56:00.000-05:00Aristotle? Don't you mean ...Oh, I get it. You're ...Aristotle? Don't you mean ...<BR/><BR/>Oh, I get it. You're testing us to see if we've actually <I>read</I> the material.<BR/><BR/>The rest is a dialectical digression through the Medievalism of sand castles to make us think of the Medieval synthesis of faith and reason in Christian scholasticism and its hermeneutic use of Aristotle (with an oblique glance at the Pope's recent lecture in Regensburg), but more importantly to lead us back to Western Philosophy's foundational figure himself:<BR/><BR/>Socrates.<BR/><BR/>Jeffery Hodges<BR/><BR/>* * *Horace Jeffery Hodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16684513618463766017noreply@blogger.com