unforum

[Sirichj]

Following on from my last point, what about something to do with colonisation or decolonisation as this involved many of the countries on the card such as eritrea which seem to be of little relevance otherwise.
I hope my ideas aren't too stupid !

[Hobbess]

Linking back to something I started earlier, I had originally posted these points to try and stop the discussion going down routes that probably don't fit.

I think the colonisation route probably sits as a non-starter given the lack of Australia and large chunks of Africa (not an expert mind you just based on school history) It's back to what would you expect to be there if it was the way to go. Hope that makes sense.

As much as I am doing wellish at spotting non-starters I have no clue on what it is that does link these countries, and no anagrams make any sense!

[Sirichj]

First of all sorry for all the posts just trying to help !

My last idea for today, how about something to do with penal colonies?
French guyana, new caledonia, russia etc were all used as penal colonies in the past.

I don't even have the card but want to try and help out with the remaining unsolved cards as a thank you to everyone who has helped me. I might be way off track with my suggestions but I suppose until the card is solved anything is possible as an answer. Hope I don't come across as thick even if I am lol.

[Hobbess]

OK trying to kick start some more thinking here is the list of 29 in some groupings mainly continents:

Americas:
America including Alaska
Brazil
Guatemala
Ecuador
French Guyana (although techincally part of France/Europe)

Europe:
Albania
Austria
Ireland
Netherlands/Holland
Spain
Great Britain

Africa:
Angola
Chad
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Liberia
Mauritania
Somalia

Old Soviet States:
Georgia
Russia
Uzbekistan

Middle East:
Israeli
Jordan
Oman

Asia:
Japan
South Korea
Laos

Middle of Nowhere...
New Caledonia (also technically part of France)

So nothing obvious jumping out other than my older discussion about obvious things missing as soon as you try putting any sort of theory together.

[Rand0m]

[the_fountain]

Went on a couple of different tangents, all to no avail:

Ignored the countries and looked at the cloud formation, thought cosmos Unviverse. Then thought A mother tongue could be

[Rifflesby]

[Reid_Malenfant]

what about why all these countries started? religious persecution or a penal colony like stated above?

[Hobbess]

In my humble opinino think the anagram route is still our best bet so if these are any use for people:

The list of native names in 29 letters is: ugebgiemlgaestmyaunossrustnkg
and the list of nationalities: aaabceeeeggiijjslmmnnorssbaug

Been working with
www.easypeasy.com as a pretty good anagram tool. Just too many options, as has been pointed out previously.

Reading the wikis on the less well known countries is telling me they have all had troubled histories (which country hasn't!) but not providing any links.

[Lilian]

Linguists Debating Deepest Roots of Language have come up with this

"The six language families shown as branches on this tree are believed to have originated in the Nostratic language (tree trunk), one of several major branches of a single hypothetical ancient "mother tongue" from which all languages are believed to be derived. "

so we are looking for something completely differnt than a languge as this has already been tried & subsequently !!failed!!
also i'm not convinced of the anagram theory but i will not dismiss the idea
altogether & may even have a stab at it

[Reid_Malenfant]

if the anagram is the best route, i think that the solution will directly relate to the background, as well as the commonalities of the countries listed.

[Rifflesby]

I'm pretty sure the background is just a background, for the sake of making the card look good.

I'll be happy to be proven wrong though, since it'll mean we've solved it. :)

[Reid_Malenfant]

if the background was just a background, it would be a solid color. it is obviously a picture of something. maybe it will help with the anagramming. seeing as how there is no instructions for this card, we cant rule anything out.

[Rifflesby]

[Austin]

If we are going to put the countries into some sort of sensible order, I would suggest going for local time zones. Therefore, this sort is based on the longitudes of the countries (according to the CIA web pages), with the first letters of their languages and the name of their countries in their own language.