Well, I don't think its a real obsession but i found it really funny to see al the nations and capitals in Randland (also the Aiel waste and Seanchan) include an "A". And also a lot of other names and places have an A.

Please elaborate.

I think he is saying that the names of all the nations include an "A", and the same for the names of all of the capitals of those nations.

Which is patently false and easy to see with just a cursory glance at the map.

 

Countries that don't start with the letter "A":

Kandor

Malkier

Saldaea

Shienar

Cairhien

Ghealdan

Illian

Murandy

Tarabon

Tear

 

So, I'm pretty sure he means countries and cities that merely contain the letter "A."

 

Which is ridiculous. A is one of most common letters in the English language.

 

Look at real world countries:

China

India

United States of America

Indonesia

Brazil

Pakistan

Nigeria

Bangladesh

Russia

etc.

 

All contain the letter "A."

 

So...I'm still confused. Haha.

Which is patently false and easy to see with just a cursory glance at the map.

 

Countries that don't start with the letter "A":

Kandor

Malkier

Saldaea

Shienar

Cairhien

Ghealdan

Illian

Murandy

Tarabon

Tear

 

So, I'm pretty sure he means countries and cities that merely contain the letter "A."

 

Which is ridiculous. A is one of most common letters in the English language.

 

Look at real world countries:

China

India

United States of America

Indonesia

Brazil

Pakistan

Nigeria

Bangladesh

Russia

etc.

 

All contain the letter "A."

 

So...I'm still confused. Haha.

 

 

How is what I wrote "patently false?"

 

I wrote: "I think he is saying that the names of all the nations include an "A", and the same for the names of all of the capitals of those nations."

 

Note the bold.

 

While I suspect this is coincidence, not obsession, it is a good observation, not "ridiculous."

 

Many real world country names and capital names do NOT include "A". Is that true of any in the WoT? Maybe, but I can't think of any off-hand.

Well reading it I thought he meant that they begin with an A.

 

Altara, Arad Domon, Andor.. But that's all I can think of atleast :/

 

Aiel Waste?

Amadicia and Arafel too. Almoth Plain... About a third of the nations start with A. I never really thought about it but there it is.

I just looked, and it seems the OP is right. Every national name and capital city in Randland includes the letter "A".

This is why Irenvelle and Oburun fell. They were throwing off the style.

How is what I wrote "patently false?"

 

I admit to misreading what you typed. However, as I was responding to two possible ways to read the OP's nigh incomprehensible post, I think you're being a bit upset over nothing. ;)

 

While I suspect this is coincidence, not obsession, it is a good observation, not "ridiculous."

 

I find pointing out coincidence and labeling it "obsession" quite ridiculous, thank you very much.

 

I just looked, and it seems the OP is right. Every national name and capital city in Randland includes the letter "A".

 

Which is not that surprising considering in even the real world, only 18 out of the top 100 countries by population have names which exclude the letter "A."

 

*shrug* I'm not meaning to pick on you or anything. I'm just pointing out how ridiculous this whole idea is. Sorry if I said something to offend you, or you took my original post in a bad way. Edit: By the way, I'm backing out of this thread really fast. No reason for me to be here. I'll probably just get someone mad at me. Sorry for my interruption.

Which is not that surprising considering in even the real world, only 18 out of the top 100 countries by population have names which exclude the letter "A."

If you have objections on basis of the letter A being commonplace in the English alphabet, it should be noted that 36 out of 257 counties in the list I found (no reason to look to large countries alone) don't contain an A. Assuming independence in countries' names, the chance of not one of Jordan's containing an A (if the naming process was similar to that in use in our world, i.e. when basing the probability on this observation, which isn't too exact to begin with but gives us a rough idea) given that he had to name 22 countries (I'm counting current-day countries, I don't want to go too far back) is 3.6%. It goes down bellow that number if we consider countries that no longer exist.

 

Now does that sound "not surprising" to you?

 

EDIT: Not to mess up that (laughable) probabilistic argument, but we saw in Aviendha's vision that the Two Rivers becomes a sovereign state. No A's there

but they rename it Faileria

I always get a smile out of the fact that all of our modern continents begin and end with the letter A...except for Europe which begins and ends with an E and is only a quasi-continent anyway. =)

don't you mean eurasia?

Which is not that surprising considering in even the real world, only 18 out of the top 100 countries by population have names which exclude the letter "A."

If you have objections on basis of the letter A being commonplace in the English alphabet, it should be noted that 36 out of 257 counties in the list I found (no reason to look to large countries alone) don't contain an A. Assuming independence in countries' names, the chance of not one of Jordan's containing an A (if the naming process was similar to that in use in our world, i.e. when basing the probability on this observation, which isn't too exact to begin with but gives us a rough idea) given that he had to name 22 countries (I'm counting current-day countries, I don't want to go too far back) is 3.6%. It goes down bellow that number if we consider countries that no longer exist.

 

Now does that sound "not surprising" to you?

 

EDIT: Not to mess up that (laughable) probabilistic argument, but we saw in Aviendha's vision that the Two Rivers becomes a sovereign state. No A's there

 

What does adding the 257 capitals do to the probability?

 

22 countries containing the letter A, each with a capital containing the letter A, is quite a coincidence. The probability calculation is complicated a bit by the fact that in some places, the name of the country is also the same of the city (or I suppose more likely vice versa).

"a" in places also applies to other things in this series.

Exceptions on that::

-Reisendrelle

-Cordese Hills

-Doirlon Hills

-Tower of Ghenjei

-The Blight

-Windbiter's Finger

-World's End

and of course "Two Rivers"

excluding "Road" from name:

-Gold Road

-River Road

-Silver Road

OBSESSION OF RJ, FOR MEN *starts spraying trolloc cologne all over himself and heads to the club* *everyone runs out screaming*

don't you mean eurasia?

 

Let's gloss over that.

OBSESSION OF RJ, FOR MEN *starts spraying trolloc cologne all over himself and heads to the club* *everyone runs out screaming*

 

win

Well, it is ofcourse not a real obsession, i just mentioned it :)

I always get a smile out of the fact that all of our modern continents begin and end with the letter A...except for Europe which begins and ends with an E and is only a quasi-continent anyway. =)

 

Well, that depends on your definition of a continent.

Why should Europe not be a Continent?

 

+I edited post

Which is patently false and easy to see with just a cursory glance at the map.

 

Countries that don't start with the letter "A":

Kandor

Malkier

Saldaea

Shienar

Cairhien

Ghealdan

Illian

Murandy

Tarabon

Tear

 

So, I'm pretty sure he means countries and cities that merely contain the letter "A."

 

Which is ridiculous. A is one of most common letters in the English language.

 

Look at real world countries:

China

India

United States of America

Indonesia

Brazil

Pakistan

Nigeria

Bangladesh

Russia

etc.

 

All contain the letter "A."

 

So...I'm still confused. Haha.

 

I meant including, not starting with ;)

Why should Europe not be a Continent?

 

+I edited post

 

That's exactly what I was saying. Sorry I wasn't clear.

haha no problem =)