ohyesrobot.ordoliberal.com

Sylph

Original: Sylph on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Transcript

A line graph drawn in hand-lettered style.

Y-axis label: "ENGLISH WORDS THAT RHYME WITH \"SYLPH\"". The y-axis is marked with values 1 and 2.

X-axis is a timeline marked: "500 AD", "1000 AD", "1500 AD", "2000 AD".

Vertical colored bands label eras of the language across the top:
"ENGLISC (OLD ENGLISH)", "MIDDLE ENGLISH", "EARLY MODERN ENGLISH", "MODERN ENGLISH", "POST-2008 ENGLISH".

The purple plotted line sits at value 1 during the Old English period, then drops to 0 around the Middle English period and stays at 0 through Modern English, then jumps back up to 1 in the Post-2008 era, ending in an arrowhead pointing right.

Text annotation under the first plateau (Old English): "\"ILF\" IS USED AS AN ALTERNATE FORM OF \"ELF\"".

Text annotation under the final rise (Post-2008): "\"MILF\" ADDED TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY".

Caption below the graph: "The long age of darkness is over."

Votey:
OED HAS NOT YET ADDED DILF.

TEAR DOWN THIS WALL, LANGUAGE SCHOLARS.

LET US DANCE TOGETHER IN A DILVEN GLADE!

Alt text

A hand-drawn line graph titled (on the y-axis) "English words that rhyme with 'sylph'", with values marked 1 and 2. The x-axis is a timeline from 500 AD to 2000 AD, divided into colored vertical bands labeled Englisc (Old English), Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English, and Post-2008 English. The purple line is at 1 during Old English, when "ilf" was used as an alternate form of "elf", then drops to zero for the long stretch through Modern English, then jumps back up to 1 in the Post-2008 era when "MILF" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, the line ending in a forward arrow. Caption: "The long age of darkness is over." The joke: a word finally rhymes with "sylph" again only because "MILF" entered the dictionary. Votey (aftercomic), plain text in a box: "OED has not yet added DILF. Tear down this wall, language scholars. Let us dance together in a dilven glade!"

Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.