From: "Kevin J. Maroney" <kmaroney@crossover.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Mind the Doors, Please
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 14:29:29 

At 07:05 PM 11/18/98 +0000, Spectacled Bear wrote:
>"that Mamillian
>is a cross between an elephant and a tower means that it is a Rook,
>which in some chess sets is represented as an elephant with a small
>wooden tower on its back." 

The Elephant is a piece in the Chinese member of the _Chess_ family, _Xiang
Qi_. It is the direct ancestor of the Bishop; it moves two spaces
diagonally. This piece was probably present in the ur-game from which all
modern _Chess_ games derive. In fact, if I understand correctly, _Xiang Qi_
means "The Elephant Game". 

(Note on orthography: I italicize the names of all games, including sports
and traditional or folk games. This is an idiosyncracy.)

>So near, O mantis, and yet so far!
>A Rook is also called a Castle. So, not elephant and tower, but ...
>... Elephant and Castle. Is the London Underground sufficiently
>suggestive of subterranean engines for you?

<rolling on the floor, clutching abdomen in odd mixture of laughter,
surprise, and pain.>

Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney@crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

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