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[[File:Poiuyt--opaque.svg|thumb|right|A blivet with backgrounds, to enhance the illusion]]
[[File:Poiuyt--opaque.svg|thumb|right|An impossible trident with backgrounds, to enhance the illusion]]
[[File:RogerHaywardUndecidable Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Hayward's "undecidable monument"]]
[[File:RogerHaywardUndecidable Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Hayward's "undecidable monument"]]
An '''impossible trident''',<ref>Andrew M. Colman, ''A Dictionary of Psychology'', Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0199534063, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XxGbsjKjPZsC&pg=PA369 p. 369]</ref> also known as an '''impossible fork''',<ref>[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ImpossibleFork.html Article "Impossible Fork"] at MathWorld</ref> a '''blivet''',<ref>''[[The Hacker's Dictionary]]'', article "Blivet"; It lists the impossible fork among numerous meanings of the term</ref> '''poiuyt''', or '''devil's fork'''{{cn|date=March 2016}} is a drawing of an [[impossible object]] (undecipherable figure), a kind of an [[optical illusion]]. It appears to have three cylindrical prongs at one end which then mysteriously transform into two rectangular prongs at the other end.
An '''impossible trident''',<ref>Andrew M. Colman, ''A Dictionary of Psychology'', Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0199534063, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XxGbsjKjPZsC&pg=PA369 p. 369]</ref> also known as an '''impossible fork''',<ref>[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ImpossibleFork.html Article "Impossible Fork"] at MathWorld</ref> a '''blivet''',<ref>''[[The Hacker's Dictionary]]'', article "Blivet"; It lists the impossible fork among numerous meanings of the term</ref> '''poiuyt''', or '''devil's fork'''{{cn|date=March 2016}} is a drawing of an [[impossible object]] (undecipherable figure), a kind of an [[optical illusion]]. It appears to have three cylindrical prongs at one end which then mysteriously transform into two rectangular prongs at the other end.
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The word "poiuyt" appeared on the March 1965 cover<ref>{{cite web |url=http://madcoversite.com/mad093.html |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - Mad #93 |publisher=Madcoversite.com |date= |accessdate=2010-10-22}}</ref> of ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' magazine bearing the four-eyed [[Alfred E. Neuman]] balancing the impossible fork on his finger with caption "Introducing 'The Mad Poiuyt' " (the last six letters on the top row of many Latin-script [[typewriter]] keyboards, right to left). An anonymously-contributed version described as a "hole location gauge" was printed in the June 1964 issue of ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]'', with the comment that "this outrageous piece of draftsmanship evidently escaped from the Finagle & Diddle Engineering Works" (although something else called a "hole location gauge" had already been patented in 1961<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2998656.html |title=Hole location gauge - Patent 2998656 |publisher=Freepatentsonline.com |date=1961-09-05 |accessdate=2010-10-22}}</ref>).
The word "poiuyt" appeared on the March 1965 cover<ref>{{cite web |url=http://madcoversite.com/mad093.html |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - Mad #93 |publisher=Madcoversite.com |date= |accessdate=2010-10-22}}</ref> of ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' magazine bearing the four-eyed [[Alfred E. Neuman]] balancing the impossible fork on his finger with caption "Introducing 'The Mad Poiuyt' " (the last six letters on the top row of many Latin-script [[typewriter]] keyboards, right to left). An anonymously-contributed version described as a "hole location gauge" was printed in the June 1964 issue of ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]'', with the comment that "this outrageous piece of draftsmanship evidently escaped from the Finagle & Diddle Engineering Works" (although something else called a "hole location gauge" had already been patented in 1961<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2998656.html |title=Hole location gauge - Patent 2998656 |publisher=Freepatentsonline.com |date=1961-09-05 |accessdate=2010-10-22}}</ref>).


In December 1968 American optical designer and artist [[Roger Hayward]] wrote "Blivets: Research and Development" for ''[[The Worm Runner's Digest]]'' in which he presented interpretations of the blivet.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mathematical Circus |last=Gardner |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Gardner |publisher=[[Pelican Books]] |year=1981 |page=5}}</ref>
In December 1968 American optical designer and artist [[Roger Hayward]] wrote a humorous submission "Blivets: Research and Development" for ''[[The Worm Runner's Digest]]'' in which he presented various drawings based of the impossible fork he called the blivet. <ref>{{cite book |title=Mathematical Circus |last=Gardner |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Gardner |publisher=[[Pelican Books]] |year=1981 |page=5}}</ref> He explained the term as follows: "The blivet was first discovered in 1892 in Pfulingen, Germany, by a cross-eyed dwarf named Erasmus Wolfgang Blivet."<ref>''Science, Sex, and Sacred Cows: Spoofs on Science from the Worm Runner's Digest'', 1971, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ItFfAAAAMAAJ&q=hayward+blivets&dq=hayward+blivets&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFvsqz_cDLAhVB9GMKHZf6BK4Q6AEINDAC pp. 91-93]</ref> He also published there a sequel, '' Blivets — the Makings''.


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 18:22, 15 March 2016

An impossible trident with backgrounds, to enhance the illusion
Hayward's "undecidable monument"

An impossible trident,[1] also known as an impossible fork,[2] a blivet,[3] poiuyt, or devil's fork[citation needed] is a drawing of an impossible object (undecipherable figure), a kind of an optical illusion. It appears to have three cylindrical prongs at one end which then mysteriously transform into two rectangular prongs at the other end.

The graphic artist M. C. Escher used these types of figures as the basis for impossible three-dimensional compositions in many of his woodcut prints.[citation needed]

The word "poiuyt" appeared on the March 1965 cover[4] of Mad magazine bearing the four-eyed Alfred E. Neuman balancing the impossible fork on his finger with caption "Introducing 'The Mad Poiuyt' " (the last six letters on the top row of many Latin-script typewriter keyboards, right to left). An anonymously-contributed version described as a "hole location gauge" was printed in the June 1964 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, with the comment that "this outrageous piece of draftsmanship evidently escaped from the Finagle & Diddle Engineering Works" (although something else called a "hole location gauge" had already been patented in 1961[5]).

In December 1968 American optical designer and artist Roger Hayward wrote a humorous submission "Blivets: Research and Development" for The Worm Runner's Digest in which he presented various drawings based of the impossible fork he called the blivet. [6] He explained the term as follows: "The blivet was first discovered in 1892 in Pfulingen, Germany, by a cross-eyed dwarf named Erasmus Wolfgang Blivet."[7] He also published there a sequel, Blivets — the Makings.

Notes

  1. ^ Andrew M. Colman, A Dictionary of Psychology, Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0199534063, p. 369
  2. ^ Article "Impossible Fork" at MathWorld
  3. ^ The Hacker's Dictionary, article "Blivet"; It lists the impossible fork among numerous meanings of the term
  4. ^ "Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - Mad #93". Madcoversite.com. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  5. ^ "Hole location gauge - Patent 2998656". Freepatentsonline.com. 1961-09-05. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  6. ^ Gardner, Martin (1981). Mathematical Circus. Pelican Books. p. 5.
  7. ^ Science, Sex, and Sacred Cows: Spoofs on Science from the Worm Runner's Digest, 1971, pp. 91-93
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