non-6-sided dice > number cubes

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:43 PM -0500 10/24/07, Gordon, Matthew J. wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Laurence Horn
>Sent: Wed 10/24/2007 9:34 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject:      Re: non-6-sided dice > number cubes
>
>>I learned today from a fellow editor that in some school texbooks,
>>dice are called "number cubes" even when they have pips rather than
>>digits. Not so surprising, I suppose, given the kind of influences
>>school texts tend to suffer under (referring to a "disabled car" can
>>be a no-no, as can be talking about tranquillizing a bear -- because
>>that refers to drugs). But non-cubic dice are also being called
>>"number cubes," even in math textbooks. After one editor mentioned
>>she was faced with "four-sided number cube" in a teacher's guide for
>>a math course and was not allowed to change it, I found the following
>>at http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2004/5/04.05.10.x.html :
>>
>>"John was tossing a 4-sided number cube numbered 1-4 and a 7-sided
>>number cube numbered 1-7."
>>
>>Note that this is a sample problem for teaching math. The page in
>>question begins with the following sentence: "Words and their
>>meanings may present the greatest obstacle to mathematical problem
>>solving for students." However, the reference to 4-side and 7-sided
>>number cubes is not being used as an illustration of problematic word
>>usage.
>>
>Maybe it's not necessarily the apparent endorsement of gambling
>that's being avoided but rather the problem of figuring out whether
>the singular of "dice" is really "die".  Well, as Caesar used to say,
>the number cube is cast.
>
>LH
>
>
>Oh, and here I was thinking this was just another example of the bad
>influence of Dungeons and Dragons on America's youth. Who else but
>RPGers needs to talk about dice of more (or less) than 6 sides?
>
>-Matt
>------------------------------------------------------------
Backgammonists?

LH

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