Thursday, June 23, 2005

Profiling a subject with the pangram trigger

The pangram trigger can be used to help profile a subject.

The pangram trigger is used to suggest random words that can be used as triggers to help list facts/associations about a chosen subject. It is primarily used to suggest short words (or two, three or four letters) but longer words can also be considered and used in profiling the subject.

As discussed in the pangram trigger post, I use the pangram:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

(A listing of A to Z can be used, but I prefer the pangram above as it leads to a more random choice of letter selection)

and pick a couple of random letters. For example, D and E.

If the two letters form a word I will select that as the word to use for profiling. If not then I add another letter. For example, W. Which obviously forms a usuable word, 'dew'.

This word is then used to list facts in answer to the directive:

"What facts/associations are suggested about Wimbledon tournament by the word 'dew'?"

Wimbledon dew
1) The dew that falls onto the courts/site over night.
2) The moisture (humidity) in the air
3) Sweat

As described in the profiling subjects post, I will allow some interpretation but I also attempt to interpret the word literally.

A number of three letter words would have been possible withe the D and E such as:

Deb, def, del, den, der, des

but the D and E could also have been used to trigger longer words, such as:

Dean, deacon, debutante, debut, declaration, deceased, dealt, decision, deport, depot, demure etc ad infinitum

All of these can be used to find facts/associations with the subject.

So with 'Wimbledon tournament' as the subject and various words formed using the pangram trigger, here are some examples of associations/facts I reached:

Wimbledon tournament: trigger word = bed

1) Officials who stay there over night
2) The foundations of the courts/site
3) The end of the tournament

(As described in the profiling subjects post I try to make three associations although a quota of ten could be set.)

Trigger word = pan

1) The pans used to cook food
2) The panning (criticism) of players
3) 'panning for gold' - looking for the stars of the future (a lot of interpretation there!)

Trigger word = wise

1) People in crowd who are very knowledgeable
2) The players' coaches
3) The umpires

Trigger word = soak

1) Baths/showers used by players
2) Rain
3) Saturation media coverage

Trigger word = ex

1) Ex stars
2) Past tournaments
3) Players past relationships

Trigger word = to

1) How people get to the site
2) Where the tournament is going (long term plans etc)
3) The journey of the players from their hotels etc

Trigger word = run

1) Players running during games (I wonder what distance a player actually runs during an average game?)
2) Unbeaten runs
3) The longevity of the tournament

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