Talk:2803: Geohydrotypography

100 words per minute seems… fast. 172.69.33.64 04:47, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Yes, has anyone done the maths on this claim?Thisfox (talk) 09:52, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

The claim is actually "per second"... and given the size of the Atlantic it's actually not thaaat much. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 11:02, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

The height of 12pt text is stated as approx(!) 4.233mm, which is possibly from the tops of the risers to the bottom of sub-line descenders but not sure if it includes the extra line_spacing that prevents them touching across. If the (quoted) 13,000km figure is accepted as close enough, that's over 3x10⁹ lines of text, each expanding by (up to) the "fingernail growth" rate often described. That's a lot of compound extension going on.

The width is variable ('l' vs 'm'; then possible kerning of 'AV'- or 'rj'-like combinations vs 'AA' and 'rr', depending on font), so I don't really know where to start with the exact width-gain-per-line being mapped to characters (then to whole words that can be stocasticall inserted into the available new space). There are probably printers/publishers who have a good idea of how many pages some raw text (not yet actually suitably repaginated) actually might take up, at least to within the nearest quire. 172.70.91.89 11:41, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Is it accurate to say it's a portmaneau of geology, hydrology and typography? Surely the geo- and hydro- could also be considered here to have come from the root words (the same way they have in geology and hydrology) because they're just adding scope to the -ography from typography, or rather specifying that it's typography involving *geo* and *hydro*. 172.70.86.15 06:41, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

It may see obvious to most, but I'd like to suggest a bit more literal explanation of the mechanics involved. It took me far too many readings, both of the comic and the explanation, to realize that the comic's "expansion of the ocean basin due to plate tectonics" is independent from the characters being "written" on the ocean. The word-wrap effects are just due to the existing rate of expansion due to plate tectonics. I was looking for some kind of typically Randallian closed loop (as in 688: Self-Description). Der57 (talk) 07:25, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Why geology and hydrology when geography and hydrography are perfectly valid things? If it is a portmanteau, it could clearly be of three different "graphy" words.. 172.71.102.108 09:10, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Agree Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 11:02, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

There's a difference between geology and geography. The root "-logy" being of knowledge, "-graphy" that of measurement and recording.

Very roughly, the first I'd consider covers what we know of the underlying plate techtonics/etc, whilst the latter is how people understand/use the surface (not necessarily the land); I think geology applies to the comic more than geography (certainly far from many of its more prominant subfields, such as political geography). Yes, there's overlaps (where physical geography derives from/demonstrates various direct aspect of surface geology), but I think I'd say geology is the prime driver here.

Hydrology vs hydrography, I'd skew the other way as far as relevence to the comic. It's the measure of the extent of the ocean rather than the understood movements of water (which, significantly to the layperson, includes aquifers and rivers and other land-observed watery analyses even more irrelevent to the hypothetical than that of the actual ocean currents which presumably Randall has no problem 'writing' over).

..if only I could think of a reason to choose "typology" over "typography", then I could really go for a more awkward interpretation of what the composite word construction should be rooted in. ;) 141.101.98.119 11:12, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

I don't think it's a portmanteau at all - rather, it's a neologism: the measurement and recording of text on the water surfaces of the earth. So there is no -ology or -graphy applicable to the component parts of the word; just one -graphy applied to the whole thing. (Also, it doesn't necessarily mean that he himself enjoys typing on the water - just that he likes studying / measuring it.)141.101.98.4 16:14, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Imho, this is some of Randall's finest work. In a very large portfolio of very fine work. Boatster (talk) 00:01, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

It took me a bit to realize that the width of the Atlantic doesn't matter. ~ Megan ^she/_her ^talk/_contribs 01:02, 20 July 2023 (UTC)