Babel-17

by Samuel R. Delany

At zero Ron released the magnetic walls. Slowly the marbles began to drift, lining up slowly. “Guess you learn something every day,” Calli said. “If you’d asked me, I would have said we were stuck here forever. And knowing things like this is supposed to be my job. Where did you get the idea?” “From the word for ‘great circle’ in…another language.” “Language speaking tongue?” Mollya asked. “You mean?” “Well,” Rydra took out a metal tracing plate and a stylus. “I’m simplifying it a little, but let me show you.” She marked the plate. “Let’s say the word for circle is: O. This language has a melody system to illustrate comparatives. We’ll represent this by the diacritical marks: ˇ, ¯, and ˆ, respectively, means smallest, ordinary, and biggest. So what would Ô mean?” “Smallest possible circle?” said Calli. “That’s a single point.” Rydra nodded. “Now, when referring to a circle on a sphere, suppose the word for just an ordinary circle is O followed by either of two symbols, one of which means not touching anything else, the other of which means crossing—11 or X. What would ŌX mean?” “Ordinary circle that intersects,” said Ron. “And because all great circles intersect, in this language the word for great circle is always ŌX. It carries the information right in the word. Just like bus stop or foxhole carry information in English that la gare or le terrier—comparable words in French—lack. ‘Great Circle’ carries some information with it, but not the right information to get us out ...