is there really an acute mark on "attache" in the note?

GuruJosh

Inactive
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
156
Reaction score
18
i was just looking at the note from the ACR site. Obviously it is not a brilliant scan but I couldn't find a better resolution one with better contrast control.

Is this the scan from which people were claiming that the ransom note author wrote a french acute punctuation symbol over the final "e"?

because of the style of the author's Y's, as can be seen numerous times below the word "attache" on the first page of the note (e.g. in the phrase "I advise you" also on the first page), it appears that there is an accent over the word attache; but if we go by the scan on the ACR site alone, it appears there is no such accent at all. It's simply the trailing stroke of the "Y" in the word "you" above the letter "e" in attache.

Unless of course the accent in the original note was too faint to be picked up in the scan on the ACR site. But notice that the dots on all the "i"'s come out just fine.
 
Here are some other thoughts from looking at the note, most of which have been noted elsewhere..

The spelling and grammatical errors:

- bussiness rather than business
- posession
- un harmed rather than unharmed or un-harmed
- "From your account" rather than "from your account" as a continuation of the sentence (not a new sentence in itself)
- "adequate size" instead of "adequate sized" or "adequate-sized"
- "deviation of my instructions" instead of FROM my instructions
- "and hence a earlier" rather than AN earlier
- "out smart" rather than out-smart or outsmart
- scutiny rather than scrutiny. There may be an attempted spelling correction in the note, it's hard to read.

Also you can see that the writer becomes more "relaxed" at the end of the note in their handwriting style. It is very hard to imagine that the last paragraph was written by a non-ambidextrous person with their opposite hand. I tried and could not come close.

Rather, it looks like the handwriting at the beginning of the note has been disguised somehow, but not by writing it with the opposite hand.

I actually showed the note to my wife for the first time tonight. I swear this is true: I said, "you know most people think Patsy wrote this note - Patsy was the mother". My wife, who knows nothing of the case, said "funny it looks like a kid's writing"
 
GuruJosh said:
I actually showed the note to my wife for the first time tonight. I swear this is true: I said, "you know most people think Patsy wrote this note - Patsy was the mother". My wife, who knows nothing of the case, said "funny it looks like a kid's writing"


A kid, or an adult with a low level of eductaion, or an individual that doesn't speak english as their first language.
 
Another thing - the silly sentence on the last page, "you are not the only fat cat around so don't think killing will be difficult"

this is a non-sequitor. How does it follow that because there are OTHER "fat cats around", that killing is easier than if John was the only fat cat?

Or is the writer saying that because HE (the writer) is also a "fat cat", therefore killing is easier than if he wasn't a fat cat?

The whole sentence just appears like an excuse to use the phrase "fat cat".

Sort of like when you're 9 or 10, and you learn a new word or phrase, and put it in a sentence, almost in context but not quite.

Why would a foreigner not realize the illogic of this sentence, just the same as a native english speaker recognizes it?

It is more consistent with someone who didn't quite realize that the sentence didn't make sense, but wanted to seem clever.
 
The supposed accent mark over the "e" in "attache" is an internet myth perpetrated by those who want the note to appear to be written by an adult. IMO the note was written by children. The tail of the "y's" printed by the writer bend to the right on other written words. It was NOT an accent mark over the letter e in the word attache. The accent mark was simply the tail end of the y from the line above.

Patsy Ramsey graduated with honors with a degree in journalism from West Virginia. She knows how to write. Patsy did not write that ransom note, unless of course she was trying to frame Burke. The note was obviously written by kids. Even John Ramsey said it reads like it was written by children.
 
GuruJosh said:
i was just looking at the note from the ACR site. Obviously it is not a brilliant scan but I couldn't find a better resolution one with better contrast control.

Is this the scan from which people were claiming that the ransom note author wrote a french acute punctuation symbol over the final "e"?

because of the style of the author's Y's, as can be seen numerous times below the word "attache" on the first page of the note (e.g. in the phrase "I advise you" also on the first page), it appears that there is an accent over the word attache; but if we go by the scan on the ACR site alone, it appears there is no such accent at all. It's simply the trailing stroke of the "Y" in the word "you" above the letter "e" in attache.

Unless of course the accent in the original note was too faint to be picked up in the scan on the ACR site. But notice that the dots on all the "i"'s come out just fine.
I have a scan copy that I just checked. It seems to me there is a line that is angled upward, starting between the h and the e, but closer to the 'h'. It looks like a separate stroke than the y's tail because it seems to intersect it.
 
Don't you all think it is fair to say that whoever wrote that note was trying to disguise their writing whether in form or substance? I mean, look at how well the tracks were covered...it's been 8+years and not one arrest!! This note could be a smoking gun, but it's not. To me, the author clearly tried to disguise his/her handwriting and his/her style. Whether that means dumbing down what would otherwise be well-written, or trying to make it sound adult, but not being capable, it is not going to sound like the author. To say that Patsy has a journalism degree so she wouldn't misspell business is ignoring this fact. You must read the note as though the person tried to disguise their true identity.

To me, the real question should be, was this an adult trying to sound like a kid, or a kid doing a bad job of trying to sound like an adult?
 
Voice of Reason said:
To me, the real question should be, was this an adult trying to sound like a kid, or a kid doing a bad job of trying to sound like an adult?


Voice of Reason,

That's a concise way of putting it. Since the note was naively trying to cover up the sexual aspects of the crime and turn it into a kidnapping for ransom, and failed miserably to do so, I'll put my money on the latter: A KID DOING A BAD JOB OF TRYING TO SOUND LIKE AN ADULT.

BlueCrab
 
But 'familier' is French - as is attaché. And so is JonBenét.

Must be some kid with French pretentions - eh, BC...chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...

GuruJosh... if you are going to argue that 'from your account' begins a sentence, you will have to make that argument with all the 'f' words in the note. This is not a capital. See 'f' in 'Follow our instructions' which is a capital. See all other 'f's' which are the same as the one you sited.

You did make one good point however that I haven't seen before and that is the 'an adequate size' error. However, I think this is just pretty American.

_____________________

Once again to the 'child as author people' - the syntax is way, way too complex for a child. And as for handwriting, most of us continue to print like children unless we are printing all the time because once we learn to write, we cease to print.

Back to that syntax.

We are a group (of individuals) [that represent a small foreign faction].

You have a pronoun subject without anticedent followed by a copula linking verb as predicate assigning identity in a noun group dative compliment qualified by a prepositional phrase at the primary level with an imbedded clause at the secondary level with a mental process of perception predicate complimented by an objective noun group containing alliteration.

And that's an easy one.

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

This is a compound complex syntactic structure. At the primary level you have a pronoun subject with no antecedent, followed by a relational copula linking verb predicate assigning attributes as objective compliments which are compounded, followed by an alpha-beta clause constrution with a simple conjunction followed by an alpha-beta conjunction followed by a pronoun subject with a mental process of reaction predicate with an objective compliment of pronoun and non-finite verbal as predicate at the secondary level with objective compliment interdependent on the alpha clause again at primary level of a pronoun as subject with a action process of transfer verb predicate with a modal of necessity and with an objective compliment noun group qualified with a prepositional group.

Constructing multi-level text with interdependent clauses is not the work of children. It's not even the work of most of the posters to this forum. Now, journalism majors - Yup! Probably even American ones...(that's parody)

Now the point of the letter is to suggest - like in Ruthless People, or Christmas Vacation, that the letter writer has something against the boss. The boss would be John. So, this imaginary individual thinks that John is a pretty heartless guy, right? So, go back to 'fat cat,' and suddenly the sentence has whole new semantic meaning. You are talking angrily to the boss. Where would a kid have got this expression?

It belongs, I'm afraid, to a much older generation. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it comes from about a 1940's movie. {{Maybe even Shirley Temple??}} I know it's been around about as long as I can remember. It gets '5 million +' hits on google. :cool:
 
twilight said:
So, go back to 'fat cat,' and suddenly the sentence has whole new semantic meaning. You are talking angrily to the boss. Where would a kid have got this expression? It belongs, I'm afraid, to a much older generation.


Twilight,

I agree the term "fat cat" belongs to an older generation, so why would an intelligent 40-year-old journalism major use an American term in a ransom note in which she was trying to cast suspicion away from herself and toward a small FOREIGN faction? "Fat cat" is a derogatory term from Patsy's All-American generation. Wouldn't she have known better?

Kids could have easily picked up the term from their parents or from the movies. But IMO kids wouldn't have realized that "fat cat" would be considered more of an American expression than a foreign expression.

Besides, "fat cat" doesn't even make sense in the ransom note. An adult would know that one doesn't have to be a fat cat to come up with a $118,000 ransom demand.

BlueCrab
 
I'm a firm believer in an older author where English is 2nd language. The Dr. Jekyl and boy Hyde thing just isn't working for me.

From posts on this thread:

"...an individual that doesn't speak english as their first language."

"It is more consistent with someone who didn't quite realize that the sentence didn't make sense, but wanted to seem clever."

"It belongs, I'm afraid, to a much older generation. "

"I agree the term "fat cat" belongs to an older generation"
 
JonBenet? I know that her name does not appear in the note, but was her name spelled with that acute mark on the final e in Benet?
 
BlueCrab said:
Besides, "fat cat" doesn't even make sense in the ransom note. An adult would know that one doesn't have to be a fat cat to come up with a $118,000 ransom demand.

BlueCrab

Actually Twilight and BC i stick by my original complaint about the use of "fat cat" - the LOGIC of its use in the note makes no sense.

Again:

- Is the writer saying that because John is not the only fat cat around, killing his daughter wouldnt be as difficult as if John WERE the only fat cat around? :waitasec:

- Is the writer saying that he himself, the ransom note writer, is ALSO a fat cat, and so killing John's daughter would be easy for the ransom note writer because he and John are BOTH fat cats? Again, :waitasec:

I can't see how this sentence has any meaning, in any context, apart from the desire of the ransom note author to throw the phrase "fat cat" at John. Again, sounds like a kid's heard the phrase (maybe his dad called John a fat cat or something), and he's tried to use it himself in the note, to sound grown up and clever. But his attempt fails: the way it is used in the note makes no sense.
 
GuruJosh said:
Actually Twilight and BC i stick by my original complaint about the use of "fat cat" - the LOGIC of its use in the note makes no sense.

Again:

- Is the writer saying that because John is not the only fat cat around, killing his daughter wouldnt be as difficult as if John WERE the only fat cat around? :waitasec:

- Is the writer saying that he himself, the ransom note writer, is ALSO a fat cat, and so killing John's daughter would be easy for the ransom note writer because he and John are BOTH fat cats? Again, :waitasec:

I can't see how this sentence has any meaning, in any context, apart from the desire of the ransom note author to throw the phrase "fat cat" at John. Again, sounds like a kid's heard the phrase (maybe his dad called John a fat cat or something), and he's tried to use it himself in the note, to sound grown up and clever. But his attempt fails: the way it is used in the note makes no sense.



GuruJosh,

I fully agree.
 
twilight said:
It belongs, I'm afraid, to a much older generation. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it comes from about a 1940's movie. {{Maybe even Shirley Temple??}} I know it's been around about as long as I can remember. It gets '5 million +' hits on google. :cool:
You could be the only professional here in this thread, and I'm in total agreement on your age estimation.

When you combine the expression in the note with the crime, IMO its a middle-aged violently psychotic male, who had no problem threatening and acting out extreme violence aimed at children.

I think the beheading remark in the ransom note is significant, as the idea of beheading a child probably never occurred to about 99.99999% of us. Thus, it tends to subtract somewhat from the 'sexual predator' component being the only motivation, and adds to a 'display of violence' component of the crime.
 
Morag said:
JonBenet? I know that her name does not appear in the note, but was her name spelled with that acute mark on the final e in Benet?
yes, the acute mark is over the last e.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
107
Guests online
2,508
Total visitors
2,615

Forum statistics

Threads
590,014
Messages
17,929,004
Members
228,038
Latest member
shmoozie
Back
Top