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there is a number code in the phantom tollbooth which was sent to azaz the unabridged by the mathemagician which I could not decipher . can anyone help?
thanks, finally, another fan! I'm pretty sure its a real code because the second word was "1919" which I think says azaz.
I've been trying to decipher the code and I think you are right. well, that and the fact that it's so frustrating trying to crack it!
I believe you and I tried myself and I think the first line is "Dear Azaz," though I'm not sure that's right
If it's actual code, it's very complex, as the last string of numbers in the message is presumably the Mathemagician's name, and it has fewer numbers (11) than his name has letters (13). As already noted, most likely it' t semi-random gibberish, starting with something that -looks- like "Dear Azaz" and ending with something that -looks- like "Yours Truly, Mathemagician" - Geoduck
The only parts I found related to real words and numbers is the "Dear Azaz" part since it had something to do with 1 being the first letter of the alphabet and 9 being the last 1 digit number and the last letter in the alphabet.
Leave us not forget that we never actually find out what the Mathemagician's name is. Mathemagician is surely a title; just as Azaz is the King of Dictionopolis, so too is his brother the Mathemagician of Digitopolis. No doubt when they were children, Azaz didn't call his brother "Mathemagician". He must have a name. Why shouldn't it be eleven characters long? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.38.145.150 ( talk) 18:56, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
How do you know his name ISN'T Mathemagician? Azaz is just he first and last letters of the alphabet, A and Z. Maybe they were named like that to inspire a love of their respective kingdoms? 194.125.86.3 ( talk) 08:24, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
In class my teacher also had the same question, and that its an extremely compicated mathematical equation, The begining, Dear AzAz is correct, and the nd yours truly is also correct (according to her) I also figured, that the numbers relate to the word, let's say I'm saying hello, I would put e first so e would = let's say 3 then the next letter in the alphabet would be h so let's say h = 5 because it's later than e, and then the 2 ls, I would make them the same so they would be = 66 and then the last letter, o, I would represent as 9 so the total thing would be 35669, and it would follow up to the code, correct me if im wrong, I found a few scattered words that follow this one, numbers, and another, words and they each follower this code —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.16.65.99 ( talk) 03:06, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Perhaps the reference to 1919 bears similarity to AzAz? The code, as it appears to me, is simply a semi-gibberish code with a few references and similarities to Azaz. Perhaps mathagicians name is actually a number. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.79.186.105 ( talk) 07:05, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
Maybe the last word is Digitopolis? It has 11 letters. 98.180.50.81 ( talk) 01:26, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
It's interesting that on that page, the Annotated Phantom Tollbooth has nothing to say about code or decoding the letter. In fact, there is a distinct paucity of information on that letter. -- 00:40, 5 October 2013 User:Ll1324
I want to know whatpage the code is on. Maybe I can solve it, I loved the book very much and think I would enjoy helping to solve it. User:Molly8212345 — Preceding undated comment added 01:20, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
There's also a middle ground. Juster could've had a message written in English and then replaced the letters with numbers in an ad hoc or only vaguely systematic sort of way. There may be no invertible cypher to find, but it is still possible that there was in fact a message there and that it wasn't just random numbers arranged to look like a letter. 67.245.193.230 ( talk) 04:09, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
I removed the "time wasting" addition to the description of these folks not because it was wrong, but because it seemed unnecessary. But that's a judgement call, of course. - DavidWBrooks 22:14, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
The plot summary seems to have been lifted from the SparkNotes guide to the book (here: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tollbooth/ ) and only very slightly changed.
Just a note for a hypothetical future section on literary analysis/commentary on this book, there are striking parallels between this and The Pilgrim's Progress. Hopefully, reliable sources can back it up. I don't feel like slogging through 1330 g-hits on the subject at the moment though. Axem Titanium ( talk) 06:16, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
The list of "Main Characters" seems to also include many minor characters. -- 15lsoucy ( talk) 19:00, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
The Characters section currently has: "Milo, a boy aged about 15, the main character." Now, I don't have my copy of the book to hand (it's on loan to a niece), but in my head Milo has always been younger than that. Possibly that's because when I first read the book I was seven or eight; who can say? But is there any evidence in the book or anything published elsewhere (I checked the linked interviews and found nothing) that justifies the assertion that Milo is "about 15"? -- Kay Dekker ( talk) 22:19, 18 November 2009 (UTC)
The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth mentions that Milo's age is unstated, as Juster discovered it was "not only unnecessary to be that precise but probably more prudent not to do so, lest some readers decide they were too old to care" (Annotated Phantom Tollbooth p. xxiii). A very early draft has the protagonist named "Tony" instead of "Milo", being ten years old (p. xxxi). The final typed draft said, "There once was a little boy named Milo..." and Juster struck out the word "little" (p. xxxii). At any rate, Milo's age is unstated. Ll1324 ( talk) 00:32, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
Seems to me the article should contain something about the illustrations, which carry a good deal of the book's appeal. I can't think what to say, though, except unsourcible gushing of enthusiasm. SingingZombie ( talk) 10:05, 19 December 2009 (UTC)
No mention of the Elfen Lied writer here, although one of his works redirects here. 75.23.113.150 ( talk) 01:44, 25 June 2011 (UTC)
By the way, in early drafts, Digitopolis was called "Numeropolis" (mentioned in the Annotated Phantom Tollbooth) -- 00:40, 5 October 2013 User:Ll1324
The two princesses got banned in the Castle in the Air. The princesses are beautiful young ladies but their lives are not so pretty. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Quynh.nhu1026 ( talk • contribs) 05:37, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
These princesses, according to the Annotated Phantom Tollbooth were also supposed to have pets, the Seal of Approval and the Social Lion, both of which were dropped. Also the Annotated mentioned that the princesses sounded too much like young girls who would say things like that. Ll1324 ( talk) 00:40, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
Should there be a section for blunders or mishaps? For instance:
Since the list of editions is partial (e.g. see here) should it perhaps by titled "Selected editions"? Mike Christie ( talk - contribs - library) 19:30, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
I have found that the entire plot section is written in the in-universe style. I don't know if I am missing the point of the in-universe template, or if this was somehow missed during the review to make this a featured article. Thanks, Gluons12 ( talk) 17:44, 28 May 2016 (UTC).
Am I wrong about where you are supposed to put the in-universe tag? I put it on the article page and it was moved to the talk page. Is there any particular location where it is supposed to go? Thanks, Gluons12 ( talk) 19:42, 28 May 2016 (UTC).
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The Themes section of this article seems to be mostly an original research essay, filled with items written for a blog or a review but not an article. Examples: - "Like the Bee, the Humbug's insult to his fellow insect goes over Milo's head, but possibly not the reader's" - "Officer Shrift's investigation of the overturning of the Word Market contains the forms of law, without justice" - "Although Milo is bored with learning, that does not mean he knew nothing before his journey. He exhibits characteristics of a well-schooled child of his time; his speech is polite and peppered with "please" and "thank you", and when he unexpectedly encounters the partial child, he requests pardon for staring."
I would like to trim it way back, sticking to direct statements made by sources rather than our extrapolations, but it was pointed out that it went through Featured Article Candidate process in pretty much its current form so perhaps I'm mistaken. Any thoughts?
Incidentally, this may have been my favorite book as a kid and is still in the top 10, so this isn't a rant against the book but rather this not-always-encyclopedic article. - DavidWBrooks ( talk) 19:22, 28 October 2017 (UTC)
Do we have access to a more precise publication date? Google has shown August 12 and September 1 of 1961. MrArticleOne ( talk) 02:50, 19 January 2018 (UTC)
"Guilty, guilty, they're all guilty!" bellowed Officer Short Shrift as he strode across the talk page.
"Of what?" asked Milo, although he had come to realise that asking one question tended to lead in the direction of ten more.
"Of making unreferenced statements on Wikipedia, of course." thundered the Humbug, thumbing his way through Wikilawyering for Idiots.
"
Obviously!", exclaimed the Duke of Definition.
Quite! muttered the Minister of Meaning.
Truth will out! countered the Count of Connotation, hurriedly stuffing a
Black Diary into his pocket.
Exactly! opined the Earl of Essence, not to be outdone: and the Undersecretary of Understanding, almost unheard amid the general huubbub, standing next to a phrase stall in the market and grabbing a few choice incendiary slogans for future use, muttered a quiet
Indeed!.
MinorProphet (
talk)
02:51, 4 January 2021 (UTC)
In the second and third paragraphs of the lead section there are certain quotes and events mentioned that do not have citations. For example, the first sentence of the second paragraph "In 1958, Juster had received a Ford Foundation grant for a children's book about cities" and the last sentence of the lead section "Additionally Maurice Sendak, in his introductory "An Appreciation" included in editions of the book since 1996, quotes a critic as comparing The Phantom Tollbooth to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: 'As Pilgrim’s Progress is concerned with the awakening of the sluggardly spirit, The Phantom Tollbooth is concerned with the awakening of the lazy mind.'" Jis39 ( talk) 14:37, 30 March 2022 (UTC)