Linguistics

[madeleine]

Here's my take on it:

You are not the only fat cat around [there are other fat cats besides you] so don't think that killing [other fat cats] will be difficult.

This sentence actually tells me that the writer respects JR.(we're both fat cats)And if we were to believe his own words,he respects JR's business.So he has a problem with a certain country and needs a bit of money.
Poor JB doesn't fit anywhere in his crazy little world .

 

[Holdontoyourhat]

This sentence actually tells me that the writer respects JR.(we're both fat cats)And if we were to believe his own words,he respects JR's business.So he has a problem with a certain country and needs a bit of money.
Poor JB doesn't fit anywhere in his crazy little world .

But 'fat cats' aren't known for killing. Only for being the boss and making money.

The whole ransom note is anti-capitalist. Naturally then having a problem with this country, dislikes fat cat capitalists, considers himself nothing more than an 'individual' in a 'group', and closes his letter with the revolutionary term 'Victory!'

 

[DeeDee249]

Of course, the two different "tones" in the RN that you detect could be because two different people (JR & Patsy) had input. This was a joint effort.

 

[MurriFlower]

Of course, the two different "tones" in the RN that you detect could be because two different people (JR & Patsy) had input. This was a joint effort.

Or two different IDIs.

Or one IDI with two personalities.

 

[ziggy]

Hey Tapu: good to have your input here...when you get a chance...we've crossed paths on so many forums.

Personally I've never seen Patsy being able to cite lines from dude movies or make those references. I agree there are some very anti-capitalist sentiments here and that's not surprising considering if this is an IDI perp, he/they lived in Boulder. I've never thought of the possiblity that the practice note and "the" note were meant originally to be a script, but that sounds plausible. I also think punctuation gives people away and (mine would be my... three dots pause) and the lack thereof is important as well.

The "so I advise you" is also interesting. Not a separate sentence and then, " I advise you" and not "so I would advise you". I think the whole thing sounds like an immature male with problems who might actually think this note sounds tough and like he's got back-up, that there are more than one. I think there was only one. And I don't think it was a Ramsey.

 

[MurriFlower]

Hey Tapu: good to have your input here...when you get a chance...we've crossed paths on so many forums.

Personally I've never seen Patsy being able to cite lines from dude movies or make those references. I agree there are some very anti-capitalist sentiments here and that's not surprising considering if this is an IDI perp, he/they lived in Boulder. I've never thought of the possiblity that the practice note and "the" note were meant originally to be a script, but that sounds plausible. I also think punctuation gives people away and (mine would be my... three dots pause) and the lack thereof is important as well.

The "so I advise you" is also interesting. Not a separate sentence and then, " I advise you" and not "so I would advise you". I think the whole thing sounds like an immature male with problems who might actually think this note sounds tough and like he's got back-up, that there are more than one. I think there was only one. And I don't think it was a Ramsey.

If I'm right and it was a script not a ransom note, (and I think I am), that opens up a whole lot of issues that no one has considered before.

For a start, the writer wouldn't have needed to disguise their writing, because the note wasn't meant to have been found and analysed. However, the writing is decidedly 'shakey'.

Naturally it points to an IDI and also that the note was written before the murder. BUT why would it have been left on the stairs? PR said I think that it was spread out, just like JR did when he read it. Were they going to try to get the ransom anyway? Did the family wake up before they were expecting and they had to scarper? Surely they weren't thinking of making the call and reading out the RN right there in the house?

 

[DeeDee249]

Patsy left the note on the stairs because that is where she was accustomed to leave things. Her housekeeper said that Patsy always left notes for her or things she wanted attended to on those same stairs. A real kidnapper would have left the note on the victim's bed.

 

[Patriciao]

This note sounds like something an 11 year old boy would come up after watching some old James Cagney or Al Capone movies. My son and his friends will write short stories like this based on something he has seen and heard. I wonder if it's just coincidental. Did a group of Burke's friends write it? S.B.T.C were these initials of 4 boys? B may have been Burke who might STC be? Could Burke have been too fearful to share how the note came about so he let it go along with the investigation. Is it possible one of STC decided to come back later and continue the daughter abduction to keep on playing and it got out of hand. A boy who Jon Benet know so she allowed him to take her to the basement. Thoughts?

 

[Holdontoyourhat]

For a start, the writer wouldn't have needed to disguise their writing, because the note wasn't meant to have been found and analysed. However, the writing is decidedly 'shakey'.

I believe the writer didn't need to disguise their writing, not worried about 1500 handwritten characters, because they don't live in the US. The writing appears shaky to the casual observer, but on closer examination its clear the characters are made up of short horizontal and vertical strokes. The 'b' in 'bank' is actually neatly squared off, not shakey. Some believe that is disguising but I believe it is a remnant of learning to write in another language. A language that uses short horizontal and vertical strokes. Think of any?

 

[Holdontoyourhat]

This note sounds like something an 11 year old boy would come up after watching some old James Cagney or Al Capone movies. My son and his friends will write short stories like this based on something he has seen and heard. I wonder if it's just coincidental. Did a group of Burke's friends write it? S.B.T.C were these initials of 4 boys? B may have been Burke who might STC be? Could Burke have been too fearful to share how the note came about so he let it go along with the investigation. Is it possible one of STC decided to come back later and continue the daughter abduction to keep on playing and it got out of hand. A boy who Jon Benet know so she allowed him to take her to the basement. Thoughts?

Or a ransom note a foreign author would come up with after reading Leopold & Loeb's?

"However should you carefully follow out our instructions to the letter, we can assure you that your son will be safely returned to you within six hours of our receipt of the money."
http://www.leopoldandloeb.com/ranlet.jpg

vs.

"She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter."

RDI will please explain how PR was lucky, knows how RN authors write because all RN authors write 'to the letter', or had just read L & L's ransom note?

 

[tapu]

Hi there! I did some work on this at the office yesterday. (don't tell, ok?)

I am looking up some stuff now, and this morning I'll post at least part of what I think I see in the note.

fyi: I'm not doing anything more than skimming everyone's ideas above (which it's hard--i want to read them), but I think that's better, to preserve my complete ignorance over whatever has been discussed before.

Okay, back soon. tap

 

[claudicici]

tapu !!!!! ziggy!!!!! I' m so glad to see you guys here !....sorry ot
....anyways like I said in another thread the language used in the ransom note reminds me very much of "gamer talk"....so I would say young male adult or PR trying to sound like a young,male adult....

 

[DeeDee249]

I can't imagine an 11-year old boy would watch old James Cagney or Al Capone movies. And BR seems even less likely to have done so. (He was just under 10 at the time). Kids just don't watch those kids of movies.
NOTHING about that note sounds like a foreigner wrote it. As most foreigners wouldn't describe themselves as an SFF action anyway, the note could just as easily have said "We are a group of extra-terrestrials". They wouldn't describe themselves as such either, probably. It makes the note no less a fake, whether it says they are SFF or men from Mars.
Interesting that MOST REAL kidnappings for ransom (which are reported in the news) and most FICTIONAL ones as well (as in movies) are very different from this one. For one, the victim is actually taken away. And the RN is short and succinct. "We got your kid. Call police and she dies. We'll call you" The end. Three sentences at most. NOT three pages. In this computer age, NO need to hand print anything. If the note was written in advance, it'd be typed.
Everything about that note sounds like they are trying to point blame in as many directions as possible. Foreigners with a grudge against the US (but NOT JR's company?? Seems odd to say you respect a man's bussiness (sic) yet kill his little girl while asking for ransom for a LIVE little girl). A disgruntled employee with knowledge of JR's bonus. And then, the first suspect the Rs mentioned was housekeeper LHP. So the suspicion was all over the place. The part where the note says "deny her body for proper burial" indicates to me that she was already dead when it was written. NO intruder would stick around for such a lengthy period, poking about the kitchen, after JB's scream and quickly following death. At that scream, they'd have been outta there FAST, taking her with them, dead or alive.

 

[tapu]

Well, hell, if I don't just start writing something up, I'll keep studying this thing for weeks....

First I want to make a disclaimer: While I am a linguist, I specialize in theoretical syntax. Nonetheless, in the course of undergrad studies, and even in grad school, I had many opportunities to look at a range of more general linguistic research. I feel like, for this endeavor of studying out the RN, I have some informed opinions to express, but that in other details, I could be as way off as the next person. Of course, language is arguably the most complex feature of the most complex being, so anything we think we know is just what we know now.

Oh, yeah, and: Sorry if I point out things that have been pointed out a 1000 times before. I really am not familiar with much of what's been said already.

A few basic traits of the writer stand out: female, native English-speaker, over 30-early 40s, Southern. Here's what I'm basing that on:

female use of pronouns instead of direct references--research shows that females use pronouns far more than men. I ran the text through a gender analysis tool (not perfectly reliable, but still useful), and it came back 3-4 times as likely to be a female writer than a male. In places it seemed to me that there was a male writer involved, too, and that may be; however, I think it is just as likely that the female writer had some more aggressive traits (which are usually characteristic of male writing).

native Eng-speaker certain idiomatic phrasings indicate this: "if you want her to see 1997"; "brown paper bag"; "hence." This is a somewhat shaky conclusion, though, because I see some phrases that smack of being a very, very fluent Eng speaker, but not native, e.g., the incorrect particle in "deviation of." (s/b "from")

i'm going to send this post this now, and then continue in another--afraid i'll have to type too much again if I lose it!

 

[DeeDee249]

Keep in mind the female writer may have had some input from a male as well. It was written by one hand, but there may have been a co-author as to content.

 

[tapu]

older 30s-over 40 I'm positing this theory based on what I judge to be the phrasing of an older person rather than a younger one, for example: "attache," "remains," "fat cat," "do not particularly like you," "good, Southern common sense." I could even see the age range extending upward, but if I'm right about the Southern characteristic, it could explain why this outmoded phrasing appears--some Southern dialects have fixed phrasing that is older than in other cultures in the country.

Southern To me, this one seems easy. Pretty much no one but Southerners capitalize "Southern" routinely. There may be other cues to a Southern dialect/culture, such as the phrases suggested above for evidence of age, but I wouldn't pick up on those readily--I've never studied a Southern dialect.

All right, I've covered some basic traits I perceive to be about the writer. HoldHat is asking for something a little different, I think. Some of the following, more derivative characteristics I propose are based at least in part on the specific language features of this particular individual.

---dog needs to go out---

 

[tapu]

Keep in mind the female writer may have had some input from a male as well. It was written by one hand, but there may have been a co-author as to content.

Certainly. I think I covered that, but maybe I should have stated it more clearly as a possibility. The reason I weighed in more heavily on the aggressive female explanation is that this really doesn't sound like two different writers to me. In parts, the person is trying to sound one way, but then lapses into their natural speech.

jmo, imoo, imo,... etc.

 

[tapu]

Keep in mind the female writer may have had some input from a male as well. It was written by one hand, but there may have been a co-author as to content.

I've reread and rethought what you're saying here.

The writer's style is the same, despite switching from an imposed or artificially adopted agenda to more naturally expressed intentions given the circumstances; i.e., from the first paragraph to the part that follows.

So, keeping the writer (as in the person who formulates the phrasing and sentence structure) as the same person throughout, I can definitely see the anomalies (the more masculine expressions and odd phrasing--"foreign faction") being due to masculine influence. Could be a male that's present, or could be male phrasing familiar to the writer, say from a book. Someone who reads books about foreign intrigue, for example?


Hey, everyone! Q I've been meaning to ask: What do people mean when they suggest that this is a "script"? I don't mean what makes you think that; but rather, how do you describe a "script" in the way you're using it? Thanks. (I really didn't read all the stuff above, but I did see that come up several times when scrolling down--and peeking a lil bit...) :blush:

 

[BBB167893]

HOTYH, you are a genius!

No one ends a letter with the salutation "Victory!".
No one begins a letter with "Listen carefully".

This is because this is not a ransom note.

It is a script.

:clap: :clap: :clap: MF, my hat's off to you.

 

[Holdontoyourhat]

Here's the main question I have: What specific expressions or linguistic profile traits apparent in the ransom note could be expected to be found in other writings by the same person?

Tapu, can you help me on this or not?