Sylvain Gelly wrote:
my favorite line:
"In Go all marbles are identical..."
My English prevent me to understand the subtlety here.
Is there any relation to "the type of stone" meaning of marble?
No, not really.
Here the meaning of "marbles" is that of children's toys, small
spherical objects propelled at one another by means of the thumb.
Children -- usually just the boys -- attempt to hit each other's
marbles, or to knock them out of a circle drawn in the dirt.
Sometimes the kids "play for keeps" and acquire the marbles they hit.
Metaphorically, someone engage in large-stakes gambling is sometimes
said to be "playing for all the marbles".
And "to lose one's marbles" is a humorous way of saying "to go insane".
Actually, America's founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, were avid marbles-players,
even as "grown-ups" (adults).
[I have conjectured that this was because billiards tables were
difficult to obtain in eighteenth-century America.]
--
Rich
p.s. the "find out more" link at the bottom of your page
http://www.inria.fr/futurs/ressources-1/computer-culture/mogo-champion-program-for-go-games
is pointing to the wrong place, isn't it?
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