Struggling with English

Holdontoyourhat

Former Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Messages
5,299
Reaction score
12
IMO, The author of the ransom note was struggling to write in English, because the correctness of the form of each letter is inversely proportional to the degree of difficulty of writing that letter.

Check the ransom note against this idea, and you will find that the letters with rounded, curved, or diagonal forms are frequently malformed, while the letters with straight and perpendicular lines are rarely malformed.


Letters with curves or rounded sections difficulty (for a novice): moderate to high



BCDGJOPQRSU

abcdefghjmnopqrsu



Letters with diagonal lines: easy to moderate



AKMNRVWXYZ

kvwxyz





Letters with only straight lines: easy



EFHILT

ilt



Ransom note grossly malformed letters:



W (We are a group…)

b (…attache to the bank.)

d (…group of individuals…)





In fact, the W, b, and d examples listed above avoid the more difficult curve and diagonal, replacing them with an easier straight and perpendicular form.



Even in the last sentence, where the author seems most relaxed, and the writing seems to be smooth (and not disguised) , the ‘J’ in “John” is malformed. Squared off, as are many curves and diagonals in the note.



The squaring off of letters that pervades the ransom note lowers the degree of difficulty for someone who is not adept at writing in English.
 
There are two important things to remember with regards to your analysis...(1) The author was trying to disguise their handwriting, and may deliberately mess up letters or word usage. (2) Many other languages use the same alphabet as English.

If your assessment is correct, then we must assume the author is either so young that he or she has not learned how to write properly or speaks a language which does not use the English alphabet. Some that come to mind...Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic. Feel free to add.
 
Holdontoyourhat said:
IMO, The author of the ransom note was struggling to write in English, because the correctness of the form of each letter is inversely proportional to the degree of difficulty of writing that letter.
.

:dance: BC, any thoughts? ;)
 
Voice of Reason said:
...speaks a language which does not use the English alphabet. Some that come to mind...Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic. Feel free to add.
Now you're talking.


IMO, the writing is not disguised at all. It just started out jittery as the author struggled to remember what English characters look like and how to write them, and gradually improved toward the end.
 
Holdontoyourhat said:
Now you're talking.


IMO, the writing is not disguised at all. It just started out jittery as the author struggled to remember what English characters look like and how to write them, and gradually improved toward the end.

The author may also be struggling with the fact that he/she just murdered a 6-year old girl...
 
If you write the note with your non-dominant hand you'll find many similarities in the letter formations.
 
tipper said:
If you write the note with your non-dominant hand you'll find many similarities in the letter formations.
Check the letter 'b' in 'attache to the bank' and the 'd' in 'individuals' and you'll see the lower, rounded part is neatly squared off on all four sides. You're not going to do that by simply writing with your non-dominant hand. IOW, the non-dominant hand theory doesn't explain the anomalies found in the ransom note.
 
WHat about any punctuation marks? Were there the same "problems" with punc? How about past, present & future tense? It didn't seem to me this writer had difficulties with those things------
 
Baloney. The fake ransom note was written by a panicked crime scene stager who was obsessivley focused during this time on answering the question, "HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS CHILD'S DEATH"?????
Simple as that.
It is why one page did not suffice.
Two pages did not suffice.
But finally after three exhausting pages of disguised handwriting and deceptive words - the author was satisfied she/he had "convinced" enough to divert attention away from what really happened - at least for a time.

It was overdone, over the top and while written, as the FBI has stated, by an educated woman or "genteel" man - it was what this educated panicked woman or genteel man THOUGHT a ransom note should sound like.
Amateur that she/he was.

Problem is - with SO much written, the author inadvertently gives herself away. Too much of "HER" seeps through. Style, linguistics and purpose.
No stranger/intruder committed this crime nor wrote that ridiculous note.

For me, the question isn't whether or not Patsy wrote it - I believe she did.
The question is whether or not John HELPED her.
Patsy once wrote that in the past she had typed while John DICTATED to her.
Might have been in their book.
 
tipper said:
If you write the note with your non-dominant hand you'll find many similarities in the letter formations.
If you study the last few sentences of the note, you will realize it was not written by the non-dominant hand, nor was the author disguising their handwriting.
 
K777angel said:
Baloney. The fake ransom note was written by a panicked crime scene stager who was obsessivley focused during this time on answering the question, "HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS CHILD'S DEATH"?????
Simple as that.
It is why one page did not suffice.
Two pages did not suffice.
But finally after three exhausting pages of disguised handwriting and deceptive words - the author was satisfied she/he had "convinced" enough to divert attention away from what really happened - at least for a time.
well expressed.

that's a very, very important point. You've got me thinking again.. The reason for the note's length IS inexperience on the part of the writer, but like you say, it arises from a need to somehow EXPLAIN what happened to the child.

one thing is glaringly obvious:

it's not the work of a small foreign faction

If you couldn't speak english well, why write for 2 1/2 pages?
 
K777angel said:
Baloney. The fake ransom note was written by a panicked crime scene stager who was obsessivley focused during this time on answering the question, "HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS CHILD'S DEATH"?????
Simple as that.
It is why one page did not suffice.
Two pages did not suffice.
But finally after three exhausting pages of disguised handwriting and deceptive words - the author was satisfied she/he had "convinced" enough to divert attention away from what really happened - at least for a time.

It was overdone, over the top and while written, as the FBI has stated, by an educated woman or "genteel" man - it was what this educated panicked woman or genteel man THOUGHT a ransom note should sound like.
Amateur that she/he was.

Problem is - with SO much written, the author inadvertently gives herself away. Too much of "HER" seeps through. Style, linguistics and purpose.
No stranger/intruder committed this crime nor wrote that ridiculous note.

For me, the question isn't whether or not Patsy wrote it - I believe she did.
The question is whether or not John HELPED her.
Patsy once wrote that in the past she had typed while John DICTATED to her.
Might have been in their book.

K777angel

My answer to your question about whether John helped Patsy write the note is a most definite NO.

I think you are absolutely correct YES YES YES in your belief that Patsy wrote the note and I find your reasoning very credible (since it agrees with mine of course).

However I do not agree with you when you say that no stranger/intruder committed this crime. I believe there were anything up to five stranger/intruders involved in this crime, although at least one of them was known to the Ramseys and was actually a friend-neighbour/invitee (invited by Patsy that is, after John was sound asleep).

I think that Patsy probably had help from someone in writing the note and if so, it was most likely this person.

This is all just my opinion.
 
K777angel said:
Baloney. The fake ransom note was written by a panicked crime scene stager who was obsessivley focused during this time on answering the question, "HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS CHILD'S DEATH"?????
Your post is a riot. First of all, the ransom note never explained, as you claim it did, this child's death. Instead, the ransom note delivered a barrage of advisories, commands, and threats squarely at Mr. Ramsey. Almost every statement concerned itself with how John was going to spend his morning upon finding the note. That means the author was concerned about how John was going to spend the morning. Its that simple.

K777angel said:
But finally after three exhausting pages of disguised handwriting and deceptive words - the author was satisfied she/he had "convinced" enough to divert attention away from what really happened - at least for a time.
The last sentence of the ransom note reads "Its up to you now, John". Anyone who bothers to look at this sentence for more that a few seconds will know it's not disguised in any way. Neither are the rest of the sentences.


K777angel said:
It was overdone, over the top and while written, as the FBI has stated, by an educated woman or "genteel" man - it was what this educated panicked woman or genteel man THOUGHT a ransom note should sound like.
Amateur that she/he was.

Problem is - with SO much written, the author inadvertently gives herself away. Too much of "HER" seeps through. Style, linguistics and purpose.
No stranger/intruder committed this crime nor wrote that ridiculous note.

For me, the question isn't whether or not Patsy wrote it - I believe she did.
The question is whether or not John HELPED her.
Patsy once wrote that in the past she had typed while John DICTATED to her.
Might have been in their book.
You're way off. Ransom note was not written by a Ramsey. Experts would have pinned that one right away. The ransom note was a diversionary tactic to stall LE in finding the perp(s) during a getaway.
 
Voice of Reason said:
If your assessment is correct, then we must assume the author is either so young that he or she has not learned how to write properly or speaks a language which does not use the English alphabet.


Voice of Reason,

In my opinion it is the former, "the author is so young he has not learned how to write properly". The naive three-page fake ransom note has juvenile written all over it.

At least one of the three known people to be in the house that night likely wrote the fake note or was in attendance while it was being written. There was no intruder. What would be the motive for an intruder write a fake ransom note? There is none.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation could not eliminate Burke as the writer. The CBI eliminated John, and came close to eliminating Patsy, but failed to eliminate Burke. Therefore, I think Burke was the scribe, but not necessarily the author.

IMO John and Patsy came late upon the scene -- the coverup damage was done to the body and the note was already written. The parents did their best to re-stage and coverup a terrible scene they inherited from kids.

BlueCrab
 
BlueCrab said:
Voice of Reason,

In my opinion it is the former, "the author is so young he has not learned how to write properly". The naive three-page fake ransom note has juvenile written all over it.

At least one of the three known people to be in the house that night likely wrote the fake note or was in attendance while it was being written. There was no intruder. What would be the motive for an intruder write a fake ransom note? There is none.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation could not eliminate Burke as the writer. The CBI eliminated John, and came close to eliminating Patsy, but failed to eliminate Burke. Therefore, I think Burke was the scribe, but not necessarily the author.

IMO John and Patsy came late upon the scene -- the coverup damage was done to the body and the note was already written. The parents did their best to re-stage and coverup a terrible scene they inherited from kids.
IMO, your viewpoint is unrealistic. Attache, immediate execution, beheading, $118,000, 100,000 in $100's, Victory!, foreign faction, group of individuals, and many other terms not realistically origniating with a child. Neither is a garroted 6 year old girl. Realistically speaking.
 
I think viewing differing ideas on the note is useful. When the truth is known, the pieces will fit, and that defines the problem...a plan by someone involving a note that is counter to the apparent interests of an intruder but a family that seemed devastated. I have previously suggested a scenario that explained the note as part of a staged abduction to give JonBenet a psychological "event" to overcome as part of a dossier for future beauty pageants. That staged abduction falling apart and her injury/death being contended with in a panic. What I see as most compelling in that scenario is that it explains the ransom note as already prepared for the event, but used in the alternative staging when disaster struck. It does not at all look like a note written in panic to me. I have seen other explanations of the note and cannot reconcile them with the content, style, and diverse issues raised in the note. (I don't see it at all as childlike, but if I'm wrong, that would give a different scenario credence.) But the "plan" I mention creates a different purpose for the note entirely...It originally would have been the "ticket" out of Colorado for a family who "rescued" an abducted child (who may have slept through the whole thing), and, with no victim and the family gone back where they really preferred to be, the note is left behind as a bizarre puzzler for the BPD.
 
Holdontoyourhat said:
IMO, your viewpoint is unrealistic. Attache, immediate execution, beheading, $118,000, 100,000 in $100's, Victory!, foreign faction, group of individuals, and many other terms not realistically origniating with a child. Neither is a garroted 6 year old girl. Realistically speaking.


Holdontoyourhat,

I suggested BR was merely the scribe, not the author of the note. As BR wrote, what if a nine-year-old and a 21-year-old assisted with the wording of the text?

There is no evidence of an uninvited intruder. Zero. But there is evidence of one and perhaps two young guests invited in for a sleepover.

There is no way an intruder could have broken in, snacked on pineapple and tea downstairs with JonBenet, spent hours in the Ramsey's house molesting and murdering JonBenet, staging the crime scene, writing a three-page fake ransom note, and then disappearing without a trace.

And then enjoy the protection of the Ramseys covering up his identity. YOUR viewpoint is unrealistic.

BlueCrab
 
BlueCrab said:
Holdontoyourhat,
But there is evidence of one and perhaps two young guests invited in for a sleepover.

How likely is it for parents who plan to depart their home at 6:30 AM would invite another child and his babysitter to a sleepover? Or allow their child to do so?

Rainsong
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
176
Guests online
2,321
Total visitors
2,497

Forum statistics

Threads
589,975
Messages
17,928,583
Members
228,029
Latest member
MichaelKeell
Back
Top