What does KZ stand for. I have a really weird guess, but maybe it isn't KZ that means something. Maybe it is what the letters sound/look like.
KinkyZach
;)
I think KZ's name is Kyrylo Konstantinevich Kozlov, a name with lots of "K"s.
Ks was later adulterated to KZ.
Quote from: Ertxiem on March 14, 2010, 06:44:03 AM
I think KZ's name is Kyrylo Konstantinevich Kozlov, a name with lots of "K"s.
Ks was later adulterated to KZ.
I don't think KZ is Russian. That seriously looks like Russian to me.
hmm. You don't? I do. I think KZ stands for a very Russian name.
Killer Zombie
Quote from: Ertxiem on March 14, 2010, 06:44:03 AM
Kyrylo Konstantinevich Kozlov
Hilarious!
Zhampir: pray do tell where that certainty comes from? :P (Or maybe not- realizing what you're alluding to, I can say that the two may not necessarily be connected a all).
Allow me to add another interesting point: those who saw in-game screenshots form me, know that I play as "Kolko". Go figure :P
Frosty: what nationality do you think I am? (Just curious, this question is not an indicator w.r.t. the guesses about nationality put forth.)
on that note, maybe KZ is a Kleptomaniac Zebra?
Why, oh why is Zebra coming up so often?! :P
Why not Zorro? Or Zealot? ;)
so, just to clarify, your problem is with the species, not the kleptomania? :D
Ah yes, that bit! You got me there. :P
Errr, kleptomania is a long enough word to look something like I'd typically say... so... yes... that makes a lot of sense!
Really though, it was the fact that the zebra appears for the umptieth time- this completely distracted me from any other words!
Perhaps "Kolko" is an abbreviation of "the Kolourful Konquistador". Due to KZ usually surprising the partner with colourful presents.
Kniving Zealot is mine
Lovely association that, do I really give off such an impression? :P
Quote from: KZ on March 14, 2010, 05:20:53 PM
Frosty: what nationality do you think I am? (Just curious, this question is not an indicator w.r.t. the guesses about nationality put forth.)
I don't know, you just don't seem Russian (I might be wrong, I really don't know).
Quote from: KZ on March 14, 2010, 05:20:53 PM
Zhampir: pray do tell where that certainty comes from? :P (Or maybe not- realizing what you're alluding to, I can say that the two may not necessarily be connected a all).
Just goes to show you how my laziness in explaining is a good thing, huh? Let's just say that I have my sources. ^^
how about Killer Zebra? (now that you mentioned your dislike for zebra I feel like I must tease you lol)
I believe someone has suggested killer zebra before, in the old forums.
I have to admit that back in the day folks were a tad more imaginative in their interpretations. :P
Karl the Zit
Lovely!
What of theories? There were a few on the old forums! (You know, rather than random name addition, some wacky theory as to how those two letters cropped up.)
well you already know my theory ;)
If I didn't aleady have that idea I'd say the Ks theory is likely.
Then Please, Tell Us KZ, what does your KZ stand for
That would be ruining part of the fun of this thread now, wouldn't it? ;)
Let's keep on guessing, for now, at least!
I think it is K's.
Ku Klux Klan
Lovely!
What about the Z's then?
Nope, what Ertxiem suggested before.
Because Z sounds fonetikalie similar tu s
I was thinking Kazakhstan, or this (http://www.kz-rv.com/).
You know, Kazakhstan also pops to my mind every time I see kz, but I like the recreational vehicles much better, very creative!
Or this (http://www.kazunderworld.com/).
Without the 'a'.
I will stick with my idea of many Ks in the name turned into KZ.
I was thinking that KZ might be a fan of Seinfeld, namely the Cosmo Kramer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Kramer), based on the real-life Kenny Kramer.
I Still Go with Kniving Zealot. Kniving: because he likes to use assassins and Knives and Zealot because he follows only one god: Craig Stern :P
Now we're talking, theory-wise! :)
Any more thoughts and ideas folks, do share!
I now think 'KZ' stands for 'Craig Stern', seeing as 'k' and 'c' can sound phonetically similar depending on their usage, as well as 'z' and 's'.
Quote from: Presentiment on March 21, 2010, 12:45:44 PM
I now think 'KZ' stands for 'Craig Stern', seeing as 'k' and 'c' can sound phonetically similar depending on their usage.
CraigStern: he's onto us!
Seriously, what does KZ mean. My guess is that the K stands for your character. Also, Z may be just sleeping e.t.c. zzzzzz because the character is in a trance for ages.
Quote from: Presentiment on March 21, 2010, 12:45:44 PM
I now think 'KZ' stands for 'Craig Stern', seeing as 'k' and 'c' can sound phonetically similar depending on their usage, as well as 'z' and 's'.
hunh, not likely. Good theory, if I had never talked to them. I suggest if you want to find the most probable source of KZ you do a little more research in how to support Sinister Design (i.o.w., be as much of a "fan" as you can be lol) Or would that be giving too much away. Though he's all ready stated that the two may not be connected. If they're not it's a pretty big coincidence. Though we're talking about telepathy here, and that seems to be turning into the force (besides the elemental powers), so I wouldn't be surprised if Yawah fell out of the sky. (KotoR reference)
Kiddie Zoo!
Karlie the Zygophyte (yes KZ is now a girl ^^ )
Kynureninase Zygotene (now try to figure out what that means lol)[spoiler]a twitching of the muscles in the second stage of the prophase in meiosis [spoiler=fyi]there is no such thing[/spoiler][/spoiler]
KZ is a fan of Sting (the singer). Hence, he chose to use Kolko as an alias, because it's a diminutive of Kol, that means sting. The Z comes from zoloto meaning gold, because KZ's favourite song is Fields of Gold (by Sting, of course).
In fact, Kolka is the diminutive of sting, but KZ choose Kolko due to a spelling error.
Brilliant, irrefutable logic there! :)
This might sound ridiculous but does KZ have anything to do with WWII
The answer is suprisingly simple. It's the name of a team on Telepath psy arena 2.
no, that's where this question came from.
Oh, boy do I feel stupid...
Don't worry, Ersatz Man, everyone makes mistakes ;)
WWII you say? Pray do tell your theory!
Ersatz Man: do you have any ideas or theories you'd like to share with us?
Hmm... the description of the team said it might be a reference to the name. So, I'm definetly gonna say that the K is KZ character's name. The Z is the letter that confuses me.
I'll tell you if you tell me what KZ means, and im surprised no one else did what I did to get this answer.
It's been easier to figure it out in the last half-a-year or so, but hey, it's all here for a bit of fun- the theories are much more interesting to hear about, then everyone knowing the truth from the outset ;)
I've got it!It's an abbreviation of the word Khanzada which is persain for son of the king. Like KZ is the right-hand man for Craig Stern. Type KZ into google and a wikipedia thing will come up. (Click on the capital KZ not the lower case and you can find it from there.)
Good research there, I applaud you on that! :)
Any more interesting theories, folks? Keep 'em coming!
(Ok, if this thread reaches 10 pages, I'll let you folks know- but if anyone does know the real answer, please don't be a spoil sport- let your imaginations run rampant for a bit here :) )
.kz is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Kazakhstan.
Like you're the top level of authority in this forum except for Craig Stern.
I believe that KZ is filthy rich, since he is surely the owner of the Nippon Cargo Airlines (with IATA code: KZ).
So, I kindly ask him if he can donate me some Sinister Cash from the old forums, so that I can buy a Somnus mansion.
Oh, I clearly didn't understand what that meant.
I know what KZ stands for................
KZ!!! :P
i know the true meaning of KZ. but of course i won't share it here. or my method of finding it. but if you take the time to look through everything you can find it :) and KZ if you really want proof of me knowing it then just PM me and i'll tell you how i figured it out :)
now for the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories. the K when turned onto it's side can be viewed as a table. the Z is commonly associated to a lightning bolt. what does this mean? at a table, you usually have family. the lightning bolt is associated with ZEUS. using this information, you can gather that KZ is related to ZEUS. the only solid family that ZEUS has is his son, Hercules. sooo... KZ IS HERCULES
Wow, I am really split here- some very good research, Ertxiem; and some very sound logic, rainen! :)
i have yet another crackpot theory.
the lowercase "k" can have the look of a halberd. a "Z" is a common cut used for doing maximum damage with a heavy weapon in the fastest way possible. there for KZ is simply a Halberd wielding madman who kills hundreds of people... or a very honorable samurai who has slain many a foe.
After years of research, I found it!
KZ is an abbreviation of Zamolodchikova. In fact, KZ's true name is Elena Zamolodchikova, that won two gold medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 in gymnastics: Floor Exercise and Vault. Apart from the reversal of the letters of KZ's last name, there were some other clues that made me sure of my theory:
Elena Zamolodchikova is from Russia, which has a flag with the colours white, blue and red: the main colours of KZ's picture.
KZ is still a big supporter of gymnastics. You can verify that by the position of the letters of KZ's picture. It is evidentily inspired in the only Greek €10 commemorative coin that has a gymnastics image:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/2003_Greece_10_Euro_OS_Gymnastics_front.jpg)
Rotate the image 90º clockwise and you'll see a "K" (the gymnast) and a "Z" (the ribbon).
I have been bested... Kudos my friend...
Wow, Ertxiem- that is highly-highly impressive! How on Earth did you come up with that? You should be doing detective work... or writing crime novels! :)
The rest folks, by all means keep trying! I see many-a-great theory around!
ya know what... i need to get better ideas! i'll work on something amazing and use Aztech hieroglyphics!
I wonder KZ has anyone in history ever had figured out what KZ stands for?
KZ or kz may stand for
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code and Internet TLD for Kazakhstan
the IATA code for Nippon Cargo Airlines
abbreviation of the German word Konzentrationslager (which is a literal translation of the English term concentration camp)
abbreviation for concentration camp used by Nazi Germany, e.g. KZ Dachau
Kramme & Zeuthen, Danish aeroplane builders (see Skandinavisk Aero Industri)
Kuhns Zeitschrift, the former name of Historische Sprachforschung, a journal of historical linguistics
K-Z, a 1972 Italian documentary film
KidZania, a Mexican chain of family entertainment centers
KZ is abbreviation of Khanzada
I wont take credit for others work this is all wiki and i'm sure a lot of people used it to figure this conundrum out. But the highlighted blue is not how I got it because of my fascination in history and my ability to speak multiple languages initially helped me.
The blue is my theory.
How about super star KZ
SuperStar KZ was a reality television show based on the popular British show Pop Idol, which aired from 2003 to 2007 on Perviy Kanal Evrasia. The talent contest determined the best young singers in Kazakhstan by allowing voting by viewers through phone or SMS. A supplement show SuperStar KZ Dnevnik (SuperStar KZ Diary), shown twice weekly, provided a recap of the previous show and week's events for the contestants.
SuperStar KZ was presented entirely in Russian, though Russian, Kazakh and English songs are performed on the show. Some contestants spoke Kazakh on the show such as Ainur Nazarbekova, Altynay & Zhanara. A mix of ethnic groups, typical of the diversity in Kazakhstan, was usually represented, including Kazakhs, Russians, Koreans, Uyghurs, and Tatars.
SuperStar KZ used 16 audition cities to find the best talent in all of Kazakhstan, including: Astana, Taraz, Aktau, Semey, Pavlodar, Atyrau, Shymkent, Kyzylorda, Taldykorgan, Ekibastuz, Aralsk, Oskemen, Karaganda, Kokshetau, Aktobe finally finishing in Almaty.
Tell me KZ are you any of these people Alan Cherkasov, Irina Kotlyarova, Rinat Malzagov, Perviy Potseluy (Person's name sounds like privy which is middle ages for toilet since there are no plumbing in these times they are built over the moat and yes that is its purpose. Since the moat is far from the bedroom they have a chamber pot {something of a modern day cooking pot.), Nikolai Pokotylo, Igor Sirtsov, Asem Tasbulatova, Anastasiya Usova, or Asem Zhaketayeva.
Quote from: Tastidian on March 30, 2010, 01:09:35 AM
KZ or kz may stand for
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code and Internet TLD for Kazakhstan
the IATA code for Nippon Cargo Airlines
abbreviation of the German word Konzentrationslager (which is a literal translation of the English term concentration camp)
abbreviation for concentration camp used by Nazi Germany, e.g. KZ Dachau
Kramme & Zeuthen, Danish aeroplane builders (see Skandinavisk Aero Industri)
Kuhns Zeitschrift, the former name of Historische Sprachforschung, a journal of historical linguistics
K-Z, a 1972 Italian documentary film
KidZania, a Mexican chain of family entertainment centers
KZ is abbreviation of Khanzada
I wont take credit for others work this is all wiki and i'm sure a lot of people used it to figure this conundrum out. But the highlighted blue is not how I got it because of my fascination in history and my ability to speak multiple languages initially helped me.
The blue is my theory.
Oy! That's what I said! Khanzada. And, I told people to look it up on wiki. NO COPYING!
Ersatz Man, read carefully-he only claims the blue theory to be his. ;)
But the concentration camp idea has come up before!
Anyhow, impressive, impressive number of ideas being generated here!
5 more pages to go, folks! :)
Quote from: KZ on March 29, 2010, 08:06:23 PM
Wow, Ertxiem- that is highly-highly impressive! How on Earth did you come up with that?[...]
I started from the truly hypothetical theory that KZ was related to your name, the colours of you picture might be related to your country of birth and that you can speak Russian. Then, I added it together with the certainty that you must have a connection to gymnastics (some may claim that I made just a random choice, but don't believe in them, the facts sustain my theory). After that, I just added some google and wikipedia to it to find the facts that sustain my theory. The Greek coin was truly a bonus that just allowed me to have the final proof that what I was saying was the complete truth about the meaning of KZ.
[spoiler]
For the ones that didn't understood, I'm kidding.
And for the ones that already knew that, let me remind you that a good lie must have some truth in it. ;)
After all, this bit may not be a total waste of these nice spoiler tags. :P
[/spoiler]
Usually the trick to magic is misdirection. I wounder if the same rule applies
Kz is from the new iphone app, Cor.kz, which tracks wine across the country, ergo, i believe that kz must be a heavy drinker, and while under the influence, he had a vision of this app coming out, and made his name accordingly.
I'm going to dismiss that last suggestion on the grounds that it's boring and not entertaining. lol
Notice that when KZ plays the games he used the name Kolko. It's obvious to me that he must be Gabriel Kolko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Kolko). This explains the K.
After some serious investigation, I discovered that although Kolko is an American, he comes almost daily to the UK to post on these forums and to buy fish'n'chips for his lunch. The main fact that supports my theory is that the (Winter) time zone on the UK is GMT, that is also called Zulu, thus giving the Z.
QED.
Raaaaarrrrrrrkkkkkk I'm drifting! (http://sagenocidemonitor.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/zulu-chief.jpg)
^Not off topic.
KZ stands for Kazakhstan Zionists. Its clearly obvious that he comes from the Russian area and if you look at the clues you can tell he supports Judaism.
Ertexiem you cant possibly think this was him.
Kolko received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1962. Following graduation he taught at the University of Pennsylvania and at SUNY-Buffalo. He joined the York University History Department in 1970 and is now an emeritus professor of history there.
Kolko's research interests include American political history, the Progressive Era, and foreign policy in the twentieth century.
Kolko was considered a leading historian of the early New Left, joining William Appleman Williams and James Weinstein in advancing the corporate liberalism idea whereby the old Progressive historiography of the "interests" versus the "people" was reinterpreted as a collaboration of interests aiming towards stabilizing competition [Novick, 439]. According to Grob and Billias, "Kolko believed that large-scale units turned to government regulation precisely because of their inefficiency" and that the "Progressive movement - far from being antibusiness - was actually a movement that defined the general welfare in terms of the well-being of business" [Grob and Billias, 38]. Kolko, in particular, broke new ground with his critical history of the Progressive Era. He discovered that free enterprise and competition were vibrant and expanding during the first two decades of the twentieth century; meanwhile, corporations reacted to the free market by turning to government to protect their inherent inefficiency from the discipline of market conditions. This behavior is known as corporatism, but Kolko dubbed it "political capitalism." Kolko's thesis "that businessmen favored government regulation because they feared competition and desired to forge a government-business coalition" is one that is echoed by many observers today [Grob and Billias, 39]. Former Harvard professor Paul H. Weaver uncovered the same inefficient and bureaucratic behavior from corporations during his stint at Ford Motor Corporation (see Weaver's The Suicidal Corporation [1988]).
Gabriel Kolko is also an important contributor to the historiography of the Vietnam War. In The Roots of American Foreign Policy (1969), Kolko contended that the American failure to 'win' the war demonstrated the inapplicability of the US policy of containment. Later, in The Anatomy of a War (1985), Kolko became, along with writers such as George Kahin, a leading writer of the postrevisionist, or synthesis, school, which suggested, among other things, that the revisionist school was wrong in speculating that the United States could have won the war.
"If a man truly wants to be in war he has never been in war before"
Oh! I see. Well, I forgot that Gabriel Kolko was born in 1932, so he might be too young to be KZ... perhaps KZ is the father of Gabriel Kolko. :P I think that he was the one that invented the expression: No, I am your father, when he predicted that I would make this mistake shortly after his son (Gabriel) was born.
That expression was later misquoted by George Lucas to: Luke, I am your father, in a feeble attempt to keep his name everywhere on the movie. James Earl Jones opposed that and ended up saying (purely by accident) the original expression: No, I am your father.
[spoiler]
Why should we really try to guess what KZ means when making up theories is much funnier?
[spoiler]
And yet, when I'm making up theories, I always include things that I think are true. ;)
[spoiler]
Well, this post might be an exception... I don't really think any of this is true... except this last sentence... no, not that one, I'm talking about the sentence before that one. Oh, well, just close this spoiler tags, will you. I'm feeling cold. Thank you.
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
LoL
I have a new theory KZ is Albert Einstein. Because you think he was 78 years old or over 100
I thought he was over 9000?
i will stab you for that reference pylon. In other news, a man named Krazy Zackary just murdered his 10th person this month. that is who KZ is, that is why KZ has not been online
nice try rainen. 1 there is no serial killer named krazy zachery. However there is a poker player who has the same name and won FTOPS main event . keep in mind that everyone here has internet that is a bottomless source of information always being stored in it and no one would ignore something like a serial killer being mentioned. I look into it right after i read about it and there is no such thing.
2. this topic is not to find out who kz is. this topic was made to find out what kz means.
Quote from: torugo on April 30, 2010, 09:06:52 PM
2. this topic is not to find out who kz is. this topic was made to find out what kz means.
And most of us appear to believe that KZ is an abbreviation for his name
Quote from: mikew781 on May 01, 2010, 07:43:51 AM
Quote from: torugo on April 30, 2010, 09:06:52 PM
2. this topic is not to find out who kz is. this topic was made to find out what kz means.
And most of us appear to believe that KZ is an abbreviation for his name
I don't
though, you must admit, the evidence for this is difficult to ignore.
By now, I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about.
Quote from: mikew781 on May 01, 2010, 07:43:51 AM
Quote from: torugo on April 30, 2010, 09:06:52 PM
2. this topic is not to find out who kz is. this topic was made to find out what kz means.
And most of us appear to believe that KZ is an abbreviation for his name
not about the kkz who is a member of these forums. the name of the team that you fight in telepath psy arena 2 that also has the name kz.
Or an abbreviation of his ("real life") nickname.
Or (lets go crazy) an abbreviation of his favourite animals: the koala and the zybollica spider. I heard he likes them with roasted potatoes and onions. :)
or maby the information can be found on his facebook page :O
Zybollica spiders? Really? Everybody knows they taste AWFUL with onions. Besides KZ is clearly a reference to KZ's favorite bar, the Karaoke Zucchini.
Quote from: im2smart4u on May 01, 2010, 08:49:43 AM
Quote from: mikew781 on May 01, 2010, 07:43:51 AM
Quote from: torugo on April 30, 2010, 09:06:52 PM
2. this topic is not to find out who kz is. this topic was made to find out what kz means.
And most of us appear to believe that KZ is an abbreviation for his name
I don't
I don't either I think it would be stupid if he did so.
KZ
Get Babylon's Translation Software
I don't remember if this was posted already there are so many
KZ
KZ or kz may stand forISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code and Internet TLD for Kazakhstanthe IATA code for Nippon Cargo Airlinesabbreviation of the German word Konzentrationslager (which is a literal translation of the English term concentration camp) Kramme & Zeuthen, Danish aeroplane builders (see Skandinavisk Aero Industri)Kuhns Zeitschrift, the former name of Historische Sprachforschung, a journal of historical linguistics.
See more at Wikipedia.org...
kz
.kz is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Kazakhstan.Registrations can be made directly at the second level (with no requirement of Kazakhstan presence) or at the third level beneath categories which have specific restrictions, and are generally limited to Kazakhstan-related entities. The categories are:ORG.KZ - nonprofit organizationsEDU.KZ - licensed educational organizationsNET.KZ - Licensed networks of data communicationsGOV.KZ - Governmental organizationsMIL.KZ - Ministry of DefenseCOM.KZ - Commercial organizations; registered trademark protection
See more at Wikipedia.org...
You know at this point i would just start guessing the most randomness thing
My Source: http://www.babylon.com/definition/KZ/English
-Assuming that KZ is, indeed, Russian, I believe his name is a combination of Konstantin Chernenko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko) and Grigory Zinoviev (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigory_Zinoviev), both being famous Russians, one being a politician and a general, the other a politician and a revolutionary, probably the reason that he might have chosen this name, which is Konstantin Zinoviev: KZ, for short. Am I close?
P.S. Be careful, CraigStern, if KZ really is a revolutionary, then you might have a problem... :D
-Another assumption that KZ is Russian: Kremlin's Zealot. Am I in the dark here?
-King (of) Zealand? (He may like Zea/eland and wants to be its king)
-Kolko Zero? (He uses Kolko as his profile name in TSoG, and zero is a number that sounds cool)
-King Zilch? (He's the king of nothing :P)
-Kinetic Zealousy? (He may be zealous everywhere he goes, or he feels zealousy is upon him everywhere he goes)
-Kiosk Zero? (He may run a kiosk which is codenamed: kiosk zero)
-Khaki Zipper? (He may like khakis and maybe even more so playing with their zippers)
-Kenels' Zorro? (Since Zorro is kind of like Robin Hood, I think, he saves kenels from the evil government and whatnot)
-King Zack (his name maybe Zack and he may think himself the king of something)
-Kiev's Zealousy? (A random guess, courtesy of your's truly!)
-Ke'gyce (Mando'a for "command" or "order") Завтра (Russian for "tomorrow") (the letter that looks like a 3 is the Russian "Z")
This is pretty likely, since when/if CraigStern leaves/dies KZ will be there to take his place, plus it can also refer to him keeping these forums from falling apart as in "He will keep tomorrow in order."
If not, then: Команда (Russian for "command") Завтра (as previously stated, Russian for "tomorrow")
-Kandosii (Mando'a for "indomitable") Zealot
-Kangaroo Zero (he may be a secret agent with the codename "kangaroo zero")
-King's (as in CraigStern's) Zealot
-Kills Zebras (Probably because he hates the "zebra" assumptions of the "Z" in "KZ"(oh, the irony!))
-Kolko Zulu (He uses the name "Kolko" and he may like the Rainbow Six series, as in "the Zulu code")
-An abbreviation for Kamikaze?
-Killer Zorro (Well... he may like to kill things, and I saw that he mentioned Zorro previously)
-Knows Zero (He may be very modest)
Duskling you post to often you took up one whole page
I found something that interest me in this enigma. If you look at the letters K Z in Russian it looks like this K 3 (Standard English Keyboard) or К З (Standard Russian Key Board) Looks exactly like a three and a k. But the letters name in Russian, K(К) is kah and the Z(З) is zeh. Pronounced in English is, for the Z(З) z in zoo for the K(К) is k in kitten.
Here is a crash course on Russian so its easy to understand.
http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/atheneum/russianalphabet.html
Or you can look at this. Most of what is written here is from the website but i deleted a few unnecessary and added a little. Also all the things I added is in quotes
Guide to the Russian Alphabet
Newcomers often think the Russian alphabet is a major obstacle to learning the language, but it is the least of your worries! In fact, you can learn the alphabet—meaning you can recognize the English equivalents of all the Russian letters—inside one hour. It takes much longer, of course, to learn how to pronounce Russian letters correctly, whether in isolation or grouped together in words and phrases.
A much more expensive way of improving your pronunciation is to visit Russia. If you take that step, get all the essential shots (Russia and Eastern Europe are medical danger zones at the moment) and be very careful while walking around because, sadly, Moscow and other major Russian cities now resemble most American cities as centers of violence and (organized) crime.
But to return to our project, which is merely to learn how to recognize the letters of the Russian alphabet within one hour. Being able to read words would be a great help if you were visiting Russia as a tourist, not as a student.
Here is the Russian alphabet, which consists of 32 letters instead of our 26, so we have to do some maneuvering in order to provide English equivalents to all the Russian letters (and of course the sounds). Rough pronunciation equivalents are given only as a guide. One advantage you will notice at once: the Russian alphabet is a much more reliable guide to pronunciation than our English alphabet (as you can tell from some multiple English equivalent sounds to one Russian consonant).
At this point we are focusing only on printed letters. Reading Russian handwriting—as in any language—is a different matter entirely. It is a skill that comes with practice.
Russian Letters
English Equivalents
[spoiler]
А, а
A [as first 'a' in 'marmelade' never as 'a' in 'mat']
Б, б
B
В, в
V [this is one of the trick letters!]
Г, г
G [as in 'good' never 'ginger']
Д, д
D
Е, е
YEH [no 'h' sound; the 'y' sound is more noticeable after a vowel or when it is the first letter in a word]*
Ж, ж
ZH [harsher than 'j' in 'jejune'
З, з
Z
И, и
I [closer to the vowel sound in 'feet' than in 'fit']
Й, й
Y [as in 'boy' or 'bay']
К, к
K
Л, л
L
М, м
M
Н, н
N
О, о
O [as in 'tot' never as in 'tote']**
П, п
P
Р, р
R [must be trilled; get a Russian to show you]
С, с
S
Т, т
T
У, у
U [like 'oo' in 'book' never like 'u' in 'hut' or like 'you'—Russian has another letter for the 'you' sound]
Ф, ф
F
Х, х
KH [like 'ch' in German 'Buch' or Scottish 'Loch']
Ц, ц
TS [as in 'tsetse fly']
Ч, ч
CH [as in 'church'
Ш, ш
SH
Щ, щ
SHCH [as in 'fresh cheese']
Ъ, ъ
'Hard sign' [ignore it]
Ы, ы
I [as in 'bit' or 'dim']
Ь, ь
'Soft sign' [ignore it]
Э, э
E [as in 'bet' never as in 'beet']
Ю, ю
YU
Я, я
YA |
[/spoiler]
* Think of the name Yeltsin. The Russian letter Е is sometimes pronounced YO when it is the stressed syllable in a word. Strictly speaking, in such cases the letter should have two dots over it; for example, ёлка ['yolka' = Christmas tree]. However, Russians are supposed to know when to say 'yo' and so the two dots are omitted, except in rare cases. So it is not really thought of as the 33rd letter in the alphabet.
** When it is not in the stressed syllable the letter 'о' is pronounced more like 'а'. So, for example, the word for 'water' is 'вода'—pronounced 'vada' not 'voda'. In other words, an unstressed 'o' in Russian is not given its full value. We do something similar with certain vowels in English.
A Few Hints on Remembering Russian Letters
Speaking now in terms of recognition (not pronunciation), we can divide Russian letters into four groups. These are arbitrary, just a way of helping you memorize the Russian alphabet.
Those letters that look like our Latin letters and are in fact the same. This group, regrettably quite small, includes: А / Е / З / К / М / О / Т . We have included Е here, but remember the 'y' sound that precedes it, most particularly at the beginning of words and when it follows a vowel (as in Dostoyevsky).
Those letters that look like our Latin letters, but are not the same at all. This group includes: В / Н / Р / С / У / Х . As a test try to remember at this early stage what the English equivalents are: V / N / R / S / U ['oo' not 'yu'] / KH .
Those letters that look like Greek letters and were in fact borrowed from the Greek—see note at the end of this Guide on the origins of the Russian alphabet. This group includes: Б / Г / Д / И / Л / П / Ф . Again, as a test, try to remember the English equivalents of these letters (some should be very easy for 'Greeks'): B / G / D / I / L / P / F or PH .
And finally, those letters that look like nothing you have ever seen. This group includes: Ж / Ц / Ч / Ш / Щ / Ы / Э / Ю / Я . In fact, most of these were invented or changed over the years into their present form; some are also of Greek origin. In a few cases, they were based on letters in the Semitic languages (Arabic and Hebrew). For example, the letter Ш (SH) looks very much as though it was borrowed from the Arabic letter designating the same sound. The letter Ж is perhaps the strangest of the Russian letters; for generations beginning students have called it 'the spider'.
QuoteThat letter in English is a z or a h depending on how its used
A Brief Test
Now to test your newly acquired skills in recognizing Russian letters not just isolation but in groups of words, in both capitals and lower case. See how many of the following words you can make out.
РЕСТОРАН
Борис Ельцин
ВОДКА
QuoteMy russian is a little rusty i use to be able to identify it quite easily
Here are the answers in correct capitalization.
RESTAURANT Boris Yeltsin Vodka
No i didn't cheat I actually translated it
Now confess, that was not as difficult as you thought it might be. Of course, we cheated a little by using a lot of proper names and words that are similar to words in English (because they borrowed from us, we borrowed from them, or we both borrowed from a common source). But soon you should have little difficulty in reading the first word in the list above as a place to eat ['restoran'] and not some meaningless word or name ['pectopah']!
If you want to check your first effort at reading Russian words, here is the list in English: RESTORAN; Boris Yeltsin; VODKA; SPUTNIK; Arizona Vaildkats [Russians do not have a 'w' and usually substitute a 'v']; Rossiya; Amerika; EKZAMEN; SAITY [you guessed it—this means 'sites', as in Web]; KOMPYUTER; FILOSOFIYA; Dostoyevskiy; Gollivud [=Hollywood; Russians do not have an 'h' and traditionally have substituted a 'g', but you see more often now a 'kh', that is their letter Х because Russians today know it sounds closer to the English original]; TENNIS; TUALET [like us, the Russians borrowed the French word 'toilette']; BALET [another French word but the Russians dropped one 'L']; Janet Reno [Russians use 'ДЖ' for our letter 'J'; most would probably spell Reno as Рино because they know how the name is pronounced.
You might it useful to test yourself in the other direction; that is, to try to put English words and names in Russian. You can easily check your efforts by referring to the columns of letters above.
A Few Words on Stress
No, we don't expect you to get depressed. We are talking about the fact that every Russian word longer than one syllable has to have the correct stress placed when you say it (even silently to yourself). We have exactly the same rule in English. For example, when saying the word 'philosophy' we stress or place more emphasis on the first 'o'. Try pronouncing it stressing the second 'o' and you will quickly hear how strange it sounds, making it hard for people to understand us. It so happens that the Russian word 'filosofiya' is stressed on the second syllable. What is more, as a general rule, the Russian stress is more dynamic and more heavily emphasized than in English. So if you get the stress wrong, you can really cause even the best-intentioned Russian serious problems; he or she will have a hard time understanding you.
What all this means is that, as you progress in learning to recognize words in Russian, it is a great idea to note the correct stress and practice saying the word properly. It will help you remember it. You might try putting a dot or a French acute accent over the stressed syllable. Once you graduate to using a Russian dictionary, you will probably find the correct stress indicated.
Origins of the Russian Alphabet
The Russian alphabet is known as the Cyrillic alphabet in honor of Cyril (a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church), who is credited with creating it. In fact, Cyril (Kirill in Russian) did create an alphabet in the 9th century when he and his brother Methodius (also canonized) were asked by the Byzantine Emperor to help proselytize the people of Moravia (roughly an area covering parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia today), who spoke a Slavic language. On the Slavic peoples and languages, see Part I of the Guide to Russian History in the ATHENEUM.
The two brothers were well equipped for this assignment because they came from Salonika (Thessaloniki) in northern Greece, which still contained many people of Slav origin. In fact, some suggest that the brothers had a Slavic mother, and that is why they themselves spoke a Slavic language so well. In any case, the brothers completed their task; the Moravian kingdom became Eastern Orthodox; and the liturgical texts could be translated into the local language with the new alphabet.
However, a series of wars led by rival Catholic states ended Moravia's independence and the local church, as the schism between Eastern and Western Christianity widened. The Orthodox Church and its Slavic liturgical language revived in the next century chiefly in Bulgaria. And it was at this point that the original Slavic alphabet (known as Glagolitic) was modified, chiefly with the inclusion of many more letters borrowed from the Greek. But St. Cyril was still honored as the original creator and so his name is still associated with the modified and more Greek alphabet that came to be used by a number of Slavic peoples, including the Russians.
I guess so maybe just half but still a lot of posts. About this one large post it might be just the same huh?
talk about some insane multiposting...
Kitty Zebras
It has NOTHING to do with zebras, rainen.
Korean Zaboomafoo
Quote from: Duskling on June 12, 2010, 07:07:50 PM
What's a Zaboomafoo?
King Zack
It's that lemur that's a TV show for little kids, I probably misspelled it.
Kraken's Zoom (He may like the Kraken and speed)
-Kraken Zoo (Perhaps so much that he would have a zoo of Krakens (after breeding them, or course))
-Keebler's Zeal (He may like the job of the Keebler)
-King Zodiac (Perhaps he has watched the film about the Zodiac, and thinks him a king?)
-Killer Zodiac (This may be an homage to the movie about the Zodiac)
-Kidding Zackirus (Maybe he likes messing with Zackirus, but doesn't show it?)
-KKK (As in КЗ, which is KZ in Russian)
-Keep (the forums) Zesty (He adds new games and other discussions, why not?)
-Keep (the forums) Zingy (Again, he adds new games and fun discussions)
-Kansas' Zealot (He may favor Kansas, or maybe The Wizard of Oz)
-Kranky Zem (http://telepath.wikia.com/wiki/Zem_the_Reaper) (He may get like Zem the Reaper when he's kranky)
-Khaki Zest (Just a random guess)
-Keeps Zingers (He might like his own sense of humor)
Asssuming KZ is in a clan on WoW or some other online game, these would be the results:
-Karazhan: A WoW clan,
or -Knights (of) Zeratul: An internet gaming guild
-Also, he may like the T.V. show: Kaput (and) Zösky
-Perhaps he prefers the piano to all other musical instruments: Krystian Zimmerman, a classical pianist.
-Maybe it's just: Killing Zone?
-Or he just likes math: Korkine-Zolotarev, a lattice reduction algorithm.
-Or maybe he knows this person/place/thing from NASA: Komisja Zakladowa?
-Don't know who/what this is, but it's possible: Kol Zimrah.
-And the last theory: Kampero Zuzendarza, no idea who/what this is.
Wow. Watch the double posting. Its a little rude, and posts here actually count.
Or Casey could be his name lol
Hope we get to 10th page soon not to many people post.
We need KZ to pop up and give some incredibly cryptic clue, like 'it's not about zebras.'
Koala with Zits
his first name is Kevin and he likes Zhiguli. (According to wikipedia, it's a notable brand of Russian beer, that didn't sell in Britain because the ending sounds like an Australian slang term for testicles. Yummy.)
Yet more theories (I won't give up until we know what KZ stands for, no matter what I said earliers!)
-Kuhns Zeitschrift
-Kappa Zeta
-Kombat Zone
-Kader Zebede
-Kathleen Zbacknik
-Kevin Zegers
-Kickoff Zone
-Kid Zone
-Kill Zone
-Kirna Zabete
-Kite Zombies
-Kramme & Zeuthen
(Take note, I have no idea who/what most of this/these things/people are.)
-Assuming that KZ is African/African-American, KZ could stand for Kwanza.
-Assuming that KZ is Russian again, his name could be derived from the Kazan Cathedral in Red Square.
-And now, my final theory: Konstantin Zhukov.
Konstantin Chernenko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko) was a military leader, as was Georgy Zhukov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Zhukov). Zhukov was a Soviet Commander and had a very big part in the Soviet victory of World War 2. The reasons for combining these names are obvious.
-I apologize, but I have one last theory: KZ could be an abrevation for kolkhoz. The reason for this is that Meliton Kantaria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meliton_Kantaria), the Russian soldier to raise the Banner of Victory at the end of the Battle of Berlin, worked there until being mobilized in the Red Army in 1940. End to my theories, besides, all we have to do is wait for KZ now...
Quote from: KZ on March 29, 2010, 09:06:35 AM
[...]
(Ok, if this thread reaches 10 pages, I'll let you folks know- but if anyone does know the real answer, please don't be a spoil sport- let your imaginations run rampant for a bit here :) )
Let's hope KZ holds to his promise, now that this thread has reached the 10 pages!
Nevertheless, I hope that more theories keep on coming, with the explanations about it (let's use our imagination).
And Duskling, you've multiple posted a few times... please edit your message the next time you need to add something shortly after you posted (say, in the next hour, if nobody else posted in between). This way the answer that KZ might give us is just to add a couple more pages of suggestions with a (wacky) theory for every suggestion. Furthermore, you've increased your post count the easy way.
His point is that you should use the Modify button instead of re-posting, not that random guesses are bad. Half my guesses are about zebras and we KNOW it's not about them.
Didn't he create Kolko by typing random letters on the keyboard? (If I'm wrong correct me.) Could he have typed KZ like that?
Quote from: Duskling on June 17, 2010, 06:38:49 PM
Quote from: Ertxiem on June 17, 2010, 02:55:55 PM
Furthermore, you've increased your post count the easy way.
I apologize, but Crusader Tastidian (Now just Tastidian) I believe stated at some point that it is more fun just to make random guesses, or, someone did, but, if you'd like, I'll add a theory to every post that I can, execpt the ones with theories already, or the ones I don't have a clue about. Sound good?
You know to post a random guess doesn't have do anything with how many you make.
Quote from: Ertxiem on June 17, 2010, 02:55:55 PM
Quote from: KZ on March 29, 2010, 09:06:35 AM
[...]
(Ok, if this thread reaches 10 pages, I'll let you folks know- but if anyone does know the real answer, please don't be a spoil sport- let your imaginations run rampant for a bit here :) )
Let's hope KZ holds to his promise, now that this thread has reached the 10 pages!
Well, the thread will get taken back once Duskling decides to edit his posts. So I would keep adding. I think its just his name, with Kolko (the name on his TRPG2 files) as his first, and his last initial being Z.
since he isn't here to tell you himself i'll tell you what KZ means (with about 99% sureness) KZ is [spoiler]the initials of his name. His name is really Konstantin Zhurov.[/spoiler]
what makes you so certain?
because it fits and its using 100% non stretched facts?
i was wondering which facts............
these facts [spoiler]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=363827816061#!/konstantin.zhurov[/spoiler]
i got that link by going to the facebook group then going through the list of admins
Quote from: rainen on June 19, 2010, 08:15:46 PM
these facts [spoiler]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=363827816061#!/konstantin.zhurov[/spoiler]
i got that link by going to the facebook group then going through the list of admins
Oh my god... it must be true... K.Z. ... Oxford... Russian name... I think we have a winner... *passes out*
*Opens eyes* So close... *passes out again*
Bah, rainen did rain on the great revelation, eh? :P
Nevertheless, Duskling here made massive miltiple-post that practically increased the length of this thread by two pages. Thus, the limit has not been achieved yet!
But still, one can keep going for fun, seeing whether that is the link, or just pure coincidence between persona and forum name? Doesn't initials strike you as... trivial ;)
Is that really the ultimate meaning of KZ? After all, the identity behind the username doesn't disclose the meaning or necessarily make it clear!
You could tell us the truth, or you can let us go back to guessing and be called a Knifing Zealot again. And there could be more than one reason why he chose the name KZ.
You know if Duskling just used the modify button it would still make a big difference. Probably add 1 less page but still has quiet the affect.
Ehh, given how it artificially got boosted by Duskling, methinks I'll leave you guessing for more- it is, after all, quite amusing to read some of the theories posted in here, and it does allow you to flex your creativity ;)
And you have it spot on- KZ and initials can easily be a complete coincidence (and I have seen way too many of these). But after some time, if all are tired of guessing,I will give the real reasoning for choosing such a name in the first place.
KZ means Kitty-Zaur
killer zebra :-* :-\
Is that a joke? If it's a real suggestion/guess, KZ has noted that it has nothing to do with zebras.
Quote from: Bromtaghon on June 29, 2010, 08:27:37 PM
Is that a joke? If it's a real suggestion/guess, KZ has noted that it has nothing to do with zebras.
I think about 99% of the suggestions are jokes.....
Aye, Bromtaghon, I think people stopped seriously guessing by about mid-first page. But the creativity shown and the elaborate theories do impress me (and some are pretty amusing too).
Keep on going folks, even if just for the sake of keeping this good and amusing tradition, there are plenty of ideas out there ;)
If we get to 10 pages, will you actually tell us why you use KZ as your name?
Make that 11, so as to compensate for bulk generated by Duskling. Yep, I will.
I probably should have said nothing on how much his massive posts helped us to the 10th page.
76 kz400 S2
Its a motorcycle from the 70s.
KZ does it have to do anything with your avatar.
The problem is if he tells us, it ruins the tradition of coming up with acronyms for KZ.
K = 11
Z = 26
KZ = (11)(26) = 286
Which shows us that KZ was born on February 8th (or August 2nd), 2006.
So even so maybe we can continue the tradition of guessing for new forum members. You know I've been playing the on Sinister Design for a while but was never in the forums till now well a few months ago.
QuoteThe problem is if he tells us, it ruins the tradition of coming up with acronyms for KZ.
K = 11
Z = 26
KZ = (11)(26) = 286
Which shows us that KZ was born on February 8th (or August 2nd), 2006.
Now how did you come up with that
Quote from: Tastidian on July 01, 2010, 04:59:47 PM
QuoteThe problem is if he tells us, it ruins the tradition of coming up with acronyms for KZ.
K = 11
Z = 26
KZ = (11)(26) = 286
Which shows us that KZ was born on February 8th (or August 2nd), 2006.
Now how did you come up with that
K=11th letter
Z= 26th
11*26=286. He then used the seperate digits as 2nd month, 8th day, 6th year (of this milllenium). I think it could be 1906 or 1966 more likely. I doubt your average 4 year old could fufill his duties. And, only old people say "methinks" every other word. :P.
Exactly! And a four-year-old child genius is quite possible. KZ, you're four, aren't you?
Quote from: mikew781 on July 01, 2010, 05:09:05 PM
Quote from: Tastidian on July 01, 2010, 04:59:47 PM
QuoteThe problem is if he tells us, it ruins the tradition of coming up with acronyms for KZ.
K = 11
Z = 26
KZ = (11)(26) = 286
Which shows us that KZ was born on February 8th (or August 2nd), 2006.
Now how did you come up with that
K=11th letter
Z= 26th
11*26=286. He then used the seperate digits as 2nd month, 8th day, 6th year (of this milllenium). I think it could be 1906 or 1966 more likely. I doubt your average 4 year old could fufill his duties. And, only old people say "methinks" every other word. :P.
Some people say that as their signature in there conversations or just to sound different. Unless you where joking then Ha Ha ... ha ... not that funny. You know as I said before K and Z in Russian is different one letter can mean 2 different letters in English.
KZ doesn't seem old to me. Unless you think I'm old? lol.
Quote from: Tastidian on July 02, 2010, 02:34:22 AM
Quote from: mikew781 on July 01, 2010, 05:09:05 PM
I doubt your average 4 year old could fufill his duties. And, only old people say "methinks" every other word. :P.
Some people say that as their signature in there conversations or just to sound different. Unless you where joking then Ha Ha ... ha ... not that funny.
Are you referring to the 'methinks' point? If you were, then I think the :P clearly indicateds it was a joke.
and methinks the "lol" says that I know.^^
Killer Zealot.
Well, folks, in order to keep the tradition going, I can give an answer in a spoiler, and you can keep on posting in any way- only those who are mighty curious or are hardcore forum participants will come across it that way, and the tradition will liev on. I almost feel like moving this to the "forum games" section!
you have the number thing all wrong. He used the principle of hexadecimal and extended the letter portion of it to confuse us all. 35 * 20 = 700.
the prime factors of 700 are 2,2,5,5,7 that makes his birthdate may 22 1957 meaning he is 54 years old.
Quote from: rainen on July 03, 2010, 03:26:30 PM
He used the principle of hexadecimal...meaning he is 54 years old.
O-O! ... well, one can hardly argue with that logic now, can one?!
Quote from: Bromtaghon on July 03, 2010, 12:12:18 AM
Quote from: Tastidian on July 02, 2010, 02:34:22 AM
Quote from: mikew781 on July 01, 2010, 05:09:05 PM
I doubt your average 4 year old could fufill his duties. And, only old people say "methinks" every other word. :P.
Some people say that as their signature in there conversations or just to sound different. Unless you where joking then Ha Ha ... ha ... not that funny.
Are you referring to the 'methinks' point? If you were, then I think the :P clearly indicateds it was a joke.
I know but in my post i'm saying its not very funny to me.
Has anyone thought about binary numbers KZ= 01001011 01011010. That would mean he is born yet. lol
...I know wonder if anyone tried taking all of those "brithday prediction" calculations and getting the mean value? Would be hilarious, though not impossible, if they get that right.
So far we had 54, 4 and unborn, I believe, plus a coule of others?
Tastidian, could you explain your binary theory? I don't get it.
Base 8:
K = 11 = 13
Z = 26 = 32
13 x 32 = 436
April 3rd, 2006 or March 4th, 2006
436 = 286 in Base 10
February 8th, 2006 or August 2nd, 2006
The average of these is 117.5 days into the year, putting KZ's birthday somewhere around April 27th or April 28th, 2006. Which would make him around 4.18754 years old.
Course I can its quite simple really ASCII to Binary ASCII = KZ the binary conversion of these two letters in the ASCII is 010010110010000001011010
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange which is the following
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890!~`@#$%^&*()[]{}\|:;"<'>/?*+-=-_
Yes it includes the space.
The third exponent of 26 (the 26th letter, Z) is 17,567. If you subtract the third exponent of 11 (the 11th letter, K), which is 1,331, four times (the total number of the letters of KZ's name squared) you are left with 12,252. Adding 37 (26+11, the letters of his name), you are left with 12,289, or 1/22/89. Leaving KZ to be 21 years old.
My first guess ever on this thread.
Congrats for joining a great tradition!
Wow that might be the most accurate one yet.
How about squaring his letters kk 11*11= 121 zz 26*26=676 kk+zz=x 121+676=796 July 9, 1906 so he is 103 years 361 days old or 1,013,243,042 seconds from when I wrote that.
If you square the sum of the two squared numbers its 796*796=633,616 so he's June 3rd, 3,616 Meaning it will take another 1,606 years for KZ to be born.
This seems redundant of my previous theory on KZ binary form. If KZ is in ASCII
Quote from: mikew781 on July 05, 2010, 10:51:21 AM
Congrats for joining a great tradition!
I second his congratulations!
Who will be the 3rd?
Congrats on making it to page 10.^^ KZ promised to give us the answer to this perplexing quandary
Erm... thanks to me... the quota has gone up to 11 pages... sorry. :-[
DIE FOR DOUBLE POSTING! DIE! DIE! DIE!
But K=11 and z=26. In binary, 11 is 0011000100110001, and 26 is 0011001000110110. The converting those numbers, placed one seperate lines, yields the code 00110000001100000011000100110001001100000011000000110000001100010011000000110000001100010011000100110000001100000011000000110001000011010000101000110000001100000011000100110001001100000011000000110001001100000011000000110000001100010011000100110000001100010011000100110000. If you seperate the zeros and the ones of this, placing the 1s first, you get ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÀ.
255 means he was born on the 2 month, 5th day, 5th year (2005). The 192 means he will live till he is 192.
Quote from: Barzul on July 05, 2010, 02:22:03 AM
you are left with 12,289, or 1/22/89.
Quite a bit of mathematics involved there! But I would like to point out a minor "flaw": I follow european and supremely more logical way of noting down dates, in an increasing progression of Day:month:year, so that bit of mathematics has another, "proper" (by me) solution: 12/2/89 :P
Anyhow, at least this guess gives the most reasonable age (4 and 54, c'mon :P), though I still don't think it fits the all-dates avergae.
In any way. I did promise to say the reason for choosing KZ, and here it comes, and it is quite simple:
[spoiler]How easy it is to create a "mystery" out of something very simple, and like in most cases the simple solution is indeed right- initials they were. But I have to add that I liked the sound of the two letter combination (otherwise I would've used something else). Some might argue that this is unimaginative (I believe someone a couple of pages back called me stupid 'cause of it), whilst my argument that, upon initially joining the forums, I had no desire to disclose my real-life identity, and KZ is a rather neutral, age-less term, that doesn't give away much about character or the change in thereof, allowing me the opportunity to shape my online projection into whatever suits me by my posts without people quickly jumping to conlcusions- it offers flexibility and it's also short and easy to remember, and doesn't take a lot of time to write, which also doesn't cause that much irritation (which some long or absurd usernames on some forums occaisonally do to people). So yeah, a universal, highly applicable username, sticks in memory, easy to make up.
Though, as I said before, if it didn't sound too good, I would've come up with something more imaginative, like Kolko. I like K.[/spoiler]
I still suggest we keep the good tradition going and bury this answer amongst many more pages of other guesses. See if you can find some other mathematical means to link up KZ to, say, Russia or obeying rules?
Quote from: mikew781 on June 30, 2010, 05:10:58 PM
If we get to 10 pages, will you actually tell us why you use KZ as your name?
Why its his name never said anything about what his name is. Darn loop holes. :P
see I was right :P but I find that 1/22/89 thing insane. What I don't understand is how you picked the numbers and equations that you did. Please do share your methods Barzul
Well I needed a number that had at least 4-6 digits for a correct date, so the squares of 11 and 26 wouldn't have cut it, so I went up to the third exponent. then I had to go back down so that the first number could be a 1, as there are no months above 12. And then I was at 52 for the year. So, while it is possible for him to be 58, I thought I would up it a bit closer, but not a lot, and I thought 11+26 is a small enough number.
But know that KZ mentions it, 12/2/89 does look better. I guess if it was 02 I would have seen it in there.
Anyways, its just a lot of number moving for a guess that doesn't leave KZ to be born in the future.
What's KZ's join date on the old forums?
Let see KZ's age in octagonal Number. First off an octagonal number is a figurate number that represents an octagon. The octagonal number for n is given by the formula 3n2 - 2n.
So lets start with K
3n2 - 2n
3*11*2 - 2*11
33*2 - 2*11
66-2*11
66-22
44
Now Z
3n2 - 2n
3*26*2 - 2*26
78*2 - 2*26
156 - 2*26
156 - 52
104
KZ's age formula K is 11 Z is 26 use these to replace n in any crazy formula. Than add the two. Than do the formula on the new number. At least thats the formula to me
104+44= 148
3n2 - 2n
3*148*2 - 2*148
444*2 - 2*148
888 - 2*148
888 - 296
592
5th September 2002, or 5th September, 1902 or May 9th and you get the two different years.
So he is either 8 years old or 108
Quote from: Presentiment on March 13, 2010, 08:44:59 PM
KinkyZach
;)
Now do you really think thats possible? ;)
Killer Zach
Quotekzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkzkz
He was sleeping, and someone shoved a whole bunch of k's up his nose.
This ones from brom in the old forums. You know I thought their would be more pages to the what does KZ mean in the old forums.
Quote from: Duskling on July 05, 2010, 11:57:59 PM
Erm... thanks to me... the quota has gone up to 11 pages... sorry. :-[
Lets hope I don't make it 12
His name has nothing to do with Zack/Zach. It's KittyZaur!
Or Killer Zinc
You're all wrong. I found the Truth and it's so obvious that I can't understand why I didn't find it earlier.
KZ's name comes from Koumbi Saleh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koumbi_Saleh) and Zarma people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djerma).
Obvious, isn't it? I don't even need to explain it. It's crystal clear.
Well, I'll explain it, because we might have some new forum members that may have missed some facts, but even by discarding most of the facts, it should be quite easy to figure out KZ's meaning.
Facts:
1. Nobody in the forums tells the truth about their identity in order to be protected from identity theft. However, some clues may be gathered because after a while, people get relaxed and unintentionally disclosure bits of their personal life.
2. KZ said that he is a Russian living in the UK. This is evidently false. Who could really believe in that!
3. If further facts were needed to prove that KZ isn't from Russia, notice that in TRPG, KZ names himself Kolko, a name of central European origin (more common from Hungary (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Kolko-places-origin.ashx)) that shows up in the USA (and not on the UK). This is inconsistent with 2. Hence, both assumptions are false.
4. In the forum game World Domination 3! (http://sinisterdesign.net/forum/index.php?topic=440.0) KZ placed in 1st place Ghana for no apparent reason. Notice that he didn't sorted alphabetically the country names. He placed Ghana in the 1st place. He didn't do it in the previous games because he was protecting his identity, but this time he slipped. Hence, KZ is from Ghana, which has English as its official language.
5. In order to obscure his origins, KZ chose to mention that he's living in some other country. Since we could be able to figure out his time zone by the time of day that he usually posts, he chose to say that he lives on the UK because it's on the same time zone than Ghana.
6. KZ is Zarma. Zarma are people that live in different places in the area of influence of the (ancient) Ghana empire, in particular in northern parts of the (current) Ghana Republic. So, that's where the Z comes from.
7. The capital of the (ancient) Ghana empire was Koumbi Saleh. In homage to that, KZ choose its first letter.
8. Koumbi Saleh is to the north of where Ghana currently is, but not far away from where KZ is from.
9. The Ghanaian culture gives great importance to textiles. The red and blue are often used, in conjunction with other colours. Hence, KZ chose an avatar with the letters KZ in those colours.
Hence, "KZ" clearly identifies where he is from and his cultural references. His name is hidden from us because he was careful enough in that aspect.
Quote from: Ertxiem on July 18, 2010, 05:16:54 AM
You're all wrong. I found the Truth and it's so obvious that I can't understand why I didn't find it earlier.
KZ's name comes from Koumbi Saleh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koumbi_Saleh) and Zarma people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djerma).
Obvious, isn't it? I don't even need to explain it. It's crystal clear.
Well, I'll explain it, because we might have some new forum members that may have missed some facts, but even by discarding most of the facts, it should be quite easy to figure out KZ's meaning.
Facts:
1. Nobody in the forums tells the truth about their identity in order to be protected from identity theft. However, some clues may be gathered because after a while, people get relaxed and unintentionally disclosure bits of their personal life.
2. KZ said that he is a Russian living in the UK. This is evidently false. Who could really believe in that!
3. If further facts were needed to prove that KZ isn't from Russia, notice that in TRPG, KZ names himself Kolko, a name of central European origin (more common from Hungary (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Kolko-places-origin.ashx)) that shows up in the USA (and not on the UK). This is inconsistent with 2. Hence, both assumptions are false.
4. In the forum game World Domination 3! (http://sinisterdesign.net/forum/index.php?topic=440.0) KZ placed in 1st place Ghana for no apparent reason. Notice that he didn't sorted alphabetically the country names. He placed Ghana in the 1st place. He didn't do it in the previous games because he was protecting his identity, but this time he slipped. Hence, KZ is from Ghana, which has English as its official language.
5. In order to obscure his origins, KZ chose to mention that he's living in some other country. Since we could be able to figure out his time zone by the time of day that he usually posts, he chose to say that he lives on the UK because it's on the same time zone than Ghana.
6. KZ is Zarma. Zarma are people that live in different places in the area of influence of the (ancient) Ghana empire, in particular in northern parts of the (current) Ghana Republic. So, that's where the Z comes from.
7. The capital of the (ancient) Ghana empire was Koumbi Saleh. In homage to that, KZ choose its first letter.
8. Koumbi Saleh is to the north of where Ghana currently is, but not far away from where KZ is from.
9. The Ghanaian culture gives great importance to textiles. The red and blue are often used, in conjunction with other colours. Hence, KZ chose an avatar with the letters KZ in those colours.
Hence, "KZ" clearly identifies where he is from and his cultural references. His name is hidden from us because he was careful enough in that aspect.
This one is the most well supported post yet.
Maybe it's just me but dont you think thats a little over the top, I mean seriously, if you stand back and look at that post dont you realize how outlandish that is? Theres a chance you might be right, but at the same time you out in that much effort to find out what somebody's acc. name stands for. It's most likely the initials to his name or something simple. But like I said... Maybe it's just me. ;)
Most of the posts in this thread (in particular my own posts) are jokes. In my opinion, that's the whole point of this thread: to have a laugh. ;)
I guess so but I do want to know what it means.
I'll second that, along with... probably everyone else.
he's already said what it really means and I'm the only one that figured out the true meaning :P
Quote from: rainen on July 21, 2010, 10:37:28 PM
he's already said what it really means and I'm the only one that figured out the true meaning :P
Quite a few people could, before. But in any case, I already gave an answer, rainen, so 'tis not an exclusive knowledge ;)
Ert... no words for that- impressive! How did you KNOW? :D
A couple of points to note:
Folks speak "proper" British English not just in UK, they can be taught it in other countries... in Ghana, for instance :)
Kolko is Hungarian??? O-O! So much for randomly typing in letters on the keyboard...
In any case, keep going folks!! And I totally agree with Ert, this is just for a good laugh with a bit of thought put into it!
Quote from: KZ on July 22, 2010, 07:26:47 AM
Quote from: rainen on July 21, 2010, 10:37:28 PM
he's already said what it really means and I'm the only one that figured out the true meaning :P
Quite a few people could, before. But in any case, I already gave an answer, rainen, so 'tis not an exclusive knowledge ;)
Ert... no words for that- impressive! How did you KNOW? :D
A couple of points to note:
Folks speak "proper" British English not just in UK, they can be taught it in other countries... in Ghana, for instance :)
Kolko is Hungarian??? O-O! So much for randomly typing in letters on the keyboard...
In any case, keep going folks!! And I totally agree with Ert, this is just for a good laugh with a bit of thought put into it!
I don't think we can go any further we are maxed out.
[spoiler]By we I mean me[spoiler]Yes i'm speaking for myself.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
Ert and some others seems to have still quite a few ideas up their sleeve ;)
In any case, PinkPanzer, thanks for all the input that you had to try and figure out the quite mysterious meaning of "KZ"...
We could also try to discuss KZ's old avatar, his new avatar and the "true" reason for changing!
Well, there is only a "Z" that looks like "Z" in the English language, but that "K" that he used is a Russian "К." I don't know where I'm going with this... at all, actually, but this may point some of you detectives (Ert ;)) to something, I guess.
You're onto something there, Ert! Do I see a new amazing theory coming up?
And Duskling - you're onto something there as well! Though I have to point out that 'twas not I who created the new avatar- a good friend of mine kindly did the honours.
Compared to all of these, my theory is pretty lame. I thought it meant Killer Zombie.
Quote from: KZ on July 25, 2010, 10:24:54 AM
You're onto something there, Ert! Do I see a new amazing theory coming up?
And Duskling - you're onto something there as well! Though I have to point out that 'twas not I who created the new avatar- a good friend of mine kindly did the honours.
My my someone overlooked something.
[spoiler]ME! I pretty much suggest all of those already.[/spoiler]
Alright. I know what KZ really is. But to do that, I'm going to need to tell a big long story that will take me several days to write and edit.
Probably not. :P
KZ is the original ERRTXIEM (http://sinisterdesign.net/forum/index.php?topic=647.msg34571#msg34571).
When Craig set up his first forums for Sinister Design, he knew for a fact that he'd need a presence on the forums when he wasn't. So, he, like he later did with ERRTXIEM, be went to the store and bought a simple website monitoring program with a basic AI. Feeling that this would not be enough, Craig modified a copy of said program and gave it a robust personality, which would develop with the AI. And so, KZ was born. Setting this new amazing peice of software loose upon the old forums, peace and prosperity flourished. KZ, having an AI learning from the Internet, soon became more than a monitoring program. He became a support for Sinister Design. He began formulating ideas of his own and posting them.
In fact, it was KZ's idea that new forums be set up to help Craig's image of being a serious developer.
So, when KZ vanished for a very long time, KZ was being completely redone to become more efficient. He would still retain his previous "knowlege" he'd just be smarter-er-ish. And when he was put back online, he was being tested by Craig to see how much better Craig had made him. But, seeing that the effects were small scale, Craig took him back offline in order to continue working with him, and bring him up to date. Meanwhile, when Craig realized that it would be a while before KZ was up and ready again and that he wouldn't be able to be online much, Craig reactivated ERRTXIEM or Ertxiem to fill in, Ert being more up to date on software than KZ.
So where does what KZ stands for come in on this? Well, KZ actually means
Konstantine Computer Zero
Or KCZ. But, like he later did with Ert, Craig shortened it to simply KZ to avoid rousing much suspicion.
I win!!! :-[ :P :)
Boy aren't I modest?
How can I deny the utterly truth...
Quite nice, indeed.
Don't you mean UDDER truth?
LOL!!! Good pun!
Sorry for going off topic, but I feel really punny today. That's like my fifth in a normal conversation. Note to self: lay off the Moiraine's Drug and Alchemical Supply brand focus pills. No use in being a dead cow.