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  • aeronmelon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    16 hours ago

    One, “nearly life-size” means two short people. Because if it’s smaller than that it’s not “nearly.”

    Two, isn’t a statue carved into a wall called a relief?

    Was this written by AI?

    • Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      5·
      14 hours ago

      I feel like “nearly life-sized” means they were scaled down, and not just short. They don’t have the remains, but they know the average heights of people from the same time and place.

      Also, per Wikipedia:

      … relief carving is a type in which figures or patterns are carved in a flat panel of wood… The figures project only slightly from the background rather than standing freely

      Based on these being slightly more three dimensional, I probably would also have called them statues. I am not an archeologist though, so you may be on to something.

      • aeronmelon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        12 hours ago

        If someone made a table and said it was “nearly life-size,” every rational person would say, “So, a smaller table then?” No human is the same size, even within tightly-controlled groups.

        If there’s a noticeable difference in scale it’s not “nearly” life-size then.

        And the Wikipedia article you reference is about woodcarving. Try this:

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_relief

        There are pictures of what look like statues, but they are considered reliefs because they were carved out of the unmoved rock, rather than built out of displaced stones as a statue would be.

        Guys, don’t be in such a rush to defend bad grammar. AI or human, it’s poorly written.

        • Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.caOPEnglish
          1·
          8 hours ago

          Saying “short people” is waaaaay different than “nearly life-sized”. There is more to size than height. Proportions matter too. Shorter people aren’t also narrower, for example. It makes sense to me, but if they said they found statues of short people I wouldn’t get the same vibe.

          I agree that people aren’t all the same height, but there are averages to go off. That’s why things like chairs and doorways work for most people.

          The more I look at the photos the more I think they are indeed statues. There is a big ol’ void beneath the dude that suggests he’s standing on dirt, and not carved from a stone that was originally there. They also seem to be two different statues that were placed side by side. You can see a seam in between them. I suspect that they were carved separately, but with the “wall” structures around them with the intent to be put in an alcove or something.

          At the end of the day though, this is all kind of petty and overly semantic. I don’t think this was written by AI, and you do but you have doubts. A sample size of 2 isn’t all that great. I just wanted to share some neat stone carving things that were found in Pompeii, not debate about the grammar of the article.

          Edit: Changed some needlessly accusatory language.

          • aeronmelon@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            10 hours ago

            I just wanted to share some neat stone carving things that were found in Pompeii, not debate about the grammar of the article.

            Then. Don’t.

            Those walls of text are all you, buddy.

            While you’re at it, don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say the title was written by AI, I asked if it was or not. It has a “forrest for the trees” style to it commonly attributed to AI-generated writing.

            Also, stop framing my saying “short people” as a pejorative instead of the descriptor I clearly used it as.

            I clicked on this post because, as a child, I was infatuated with Pompeii for some reason. I had a giant color picture book detailing the history of the people and the culture leading up to the disaster. The title here made me “What?” In my head so many times I thought I’d see if anyone else had the same reaction. Doing so stepped on a lot of toes, apparently.

            • Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.caOPEnglish
              1·
              8 hours ago

              I feel like I’m coming off poorly. I thought we were just chatting, but you seem upset. For clarity, in case this is what offended, I felt like I was being petty and semantic here.

              Those walls of text are all you, buddy.

              Yeah, I have a bad habit of being verbose in these.

              I did not say the title was written by AI, I asked if it was or not.

              My bad. It was not my intention to sound accusatory. I’ll change the wording.

              stop framing my saying “short people” as a pejorative instead of the descriptor I clearly used it as.

              I’m confused here. I’m in no way framing it that way. How else would you like me to say it? My argument was that “nearly life-sized” could mean a scaled replica vs a 1:1 carving of a shorter person. I wasn’t saying that it was socially incorrect to call them short.

              as a child, I was infatuated with Pompeii for some reason. I had a giant color picture book detailing the history of the people and the culture leading up to the disaster.

              That’s pretty neat. We were really big on Egypt in my household for some reason. I did see some TV specials about Pompeii, but as a kid it always spooked me.

              Doing so stepped on a lot of toes, apparently.

              I thought we were just chatting. My toes are fine. You did make a pretty bold assertion out of the gate, and that does sometimes invite discussion. Sorry if you felt attacked or anything.

              I didn’t say this earlier, but thanks for the article about the rock relief carving. I figured carving is carving, and the medium wouldn’t matter. That’s what madee take a second look at the photos and see the maybe seam and stuff.