Slog - Comments on Rock, Paper, Revolutionary

Comment by PA Native

PA Native — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:06:49 -0800

I never heard it called Rochambeau until I moved out here to Seattle from the east coast.

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:09:31 -0800

I thought Rochambeau was kicking each other in the balls. Last one standing wins.

Comment by motomotoyama

motomotoyama — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:20:24 -0800

I grew up in Hawaii, and we called it Jan Ken Po, which is what they call it in Japan. This site has just informed me that the same game is called Ra Sham Bo in Korean.

Comment by annie

annie — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:20:49 -0800

I actually think it might be a Southeastern thing. The Stranger's Floridian Jonathan Zwickel is familiar.

Comment by sniggles

sniggles — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:20:51 -0800

It's crazy how french-looking french people look.

Comment by Devo

Devo — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:30:29 -0800

from Wikipedia...

Rock, Paper, Scissors is a two-person hand game. It is often used as a selection method in a similar way to coin flipping or drawing straws to randomly select a person for some purpose. However, unlike truly random selections, it can be played with skill if the game extends over many sessions, as a player can often recognize and exploit the non-random behavior of an opponent.

The exact name of the game can vary, with the three components appearing in a different order, or with "stone" in place of "rock". Non-English speakers may know the game by their local words for "rock, paper, scissors", although it is also known as Jankenpon in Japan, and Rochambeau in France.

Comment by mmbb

mmbb — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:44:18 -0800

From Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vilmeur, Count of Rochambeau?

Comment by kinaidos

kinaidos — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:55:55 -0800

In France it's papier-caillou-cisaux or chifoumi, so *roshambo* isn't of french origin.
I've seen a few false etymologies of roshambo on the internet. One says it's a phonetic representation of the french name, which is clearly false.
Another says it's from the Japanese words used for rock-paper scissors, but these are gu-choki-paa.

This site however says it's the japanese name for the game and they obviously know what the japanese words used are, etc.
http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~tokyo3/e/janken_e.html

Comment by torrentprime

torrentprime — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:54:37 -0800

I first heard it in California, but it had been shortened (per California), to "rowsh." I didn't hear the full term until much later.

Comment by Bryan in the UK

Bryan in the UK — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:15:31 -0800

My sources tell me that in parts of Canada it's called "cowboy-ninja-bear". Try to guess which beats which and why!

Comment by Kate

Kate — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:20:55 -0800

@10 Ooooh! My guess: Ninja kills cowboy (obviously much more badass). Bear kills ninja (not easily stopped with ninja stars or slicey things). Cowboy kills bear (Davy Crockett style, although I'm not sure he qualifies as a cowboy).

Comment by meehoff

meehoff — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:34:28 -0800

wow, and usually only the smart ones leave washington to go to college...

Comment by Original Monique

Original Monique — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 23:28:11 -0800

Mr Poe has it right. We'll show it to you.

But we go first.

Comment by Stefan Sharkansky

Stefan Sharkansky — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:31:04 -0800

I never heard the game called Rochambeau until I lived in San Francisco. My friends who used that name lived near a city park called Rochambeau Playground
http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=33444
So I assumed the name was taken from the name of the park.

Comment by d

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:42:10 -0800

it isn't fucking Rochambeau. Have you ever seen it spelled out? It's the way lazy whiteys have bastardized (yet another) non-english phrase. way to go, assholes. and the reason you don't hear it on the east coast is because there isn't as large of an asian population.