# Monkey Island Timeline Puzzle

**URL:** <https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/monkey-island-timeline-puzzle/3592>\
**Category:** Adventure/Lucasfilm Games\
**Created:** [March 4, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/monkey-island-timeline-puzzle/3592 "2019-03-04T18:51:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sushi](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/sushi/32/163_2.png) [@Sushi](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Sushi)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 8:01am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/monkey-island-timeline-puzzle/3592/21 "2019-03-06T08:01:28Z")

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> [@Frenzie](#):
>
> Is what I would say if I didn’t want to have fun by theorizing and overanalyzing

🤣

As long as we agree that the writer’s real intent was to purposefully use modern day references (or late ‘80s/early 90’s at least) for comic effect.

I never played Sid Meier’s Pirates!, but I bet there is a word or two to be said about historical inconsistencies in that game too.

> [@nihilquest](#):
>
> if you can go to army and vote at 18.

And drive a car at 16.  
Although that -in theory- excludes drunk driving at an early age.

> [@Frenzie](#):
>
> Guybrush being Dutch is also a definite possibility.

Especially with that weird last name of his!  
(Wow! This opens up translation perspectives… Guybrush Druipstok! Mancomb Zuipslok!.. although “Druipstok”?? Perhaps not)

> [@Frenzie](#):
>
> Guybroisse Tripevoute

Great origin story! Don’t tell Disney

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frenzie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/frenzie/32/4416_2.png) [@Frenzie](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Frenzie)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/monkey-island-timeline-puzzle/3592/22 "2019-03-06T10:46:02Z")

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> [@NinjaGamer13](#):
>
> “Ninetwenty” seems like a massive stretch, lol.

It’s just standard reduction. Whether it’s a stretch or not depends on Guybrush’s particular English accent.

The and is not pronounced like /ænd/ except in emphasis. Even in emphasis we’re talking mainly about the vowel. That /d/ is unlikely to show up. The word is normally pronounced /ən/ or /n/. In some contexts it could be reduced to /ə/ or /∅/ (nothing). Nine-and-twenty happens to be in a good position for both of the latter possibilities.

- /naɪnəntwɛn(t)i/ (nine-n-twenty) is the most obvious form, but people don’t like such repetition much. That’s why it could be easily and frequently reduced to /naɪntwen(t)i/, unlike eight-n-twenty or six-n-twenty. People might even genuinely believe they’re saying nine-n-twenty when they’re actually saying nine-twenty.
- /naɪnətwɛn(t)i/ (nine-uh-twenty) is less likely to be reduced further in principle, but any schwa is at risk of being easily lost in fast or nervous speech.

According to [this n-gram](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=nine+and+twenty%2Ctwenty-nine&year_start=1400&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnine%20and%20twenty%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ctwenty%20-%20nine%3B%2Cc0), it looks like by the mid-19th century you were probably being formal or even purposefully archaic if you used a phrase like nine-and-twenty, so unfortunately it’s unlikely that we’ll have any natural recordings of the phrase. (Some modern person reading the King James Bible doesn’t count.)

> [@Sushi](#):
>
> I never played Sid Meier’s Pirates!, but I bet there is a word or two to be said about historical inconsistencies in that game too.

Like MI it’s also movie pirates, but it forgoes on the more obvious anachronisms. 😉

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