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I can't believe that they named their protocol SPQR. It's the Latin abbreviation for Senatus Populusque Romanus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR https://en.w
by briandw 1y ago
I can't believe that they named their protocol SPQR. It's the Latin abbreviation for Senatus Populusque Romanus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR
Love it :)
- saurik 1y agoOr, maybe, it just sounds like "speaker", because they are a chat app? ;P... not everything has to be framed as a Roman conspiracy.
- drdaeman 1y agoIt’s not a conspiracy, it’s a pop culture reference. Very unlikely it’s unintentional, given that Thinking About Roman Empire was a fairly notable meme of ‘23/‘24 (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-often-do-you-think-about-...). Could be not a primary cause for the naming - only authors can tell - but I doubt they missed the reference entirely. It’s just way too obvious.
- dmesg 1y agoCaesar cipher anyone? Romans knew (bad) cryptography.
- saurik 1y agoI am struggling to believe that the Roman Empire reference for this acronym is "so obvious". I do know about the meme: in fact, what struck me so hard about this is how, for a protocol where you'd almost expect it to be hard for them to avoid the acronym "SPQR" (as, even if it were not Sparse, it is made by Signal; I could even see them having started with Signal and decided to remove their brand from the acronym), there are not one but two top-level posts on Hacker News where "speaker" seems to have wooshed over their head and somehow this extremely niche acronym from the Roman Empire is clearly the reason why this is called SPQR. Is the tech community on Hacker News really this stereotypical?
- verandaguy 1y agoI dunno, SPQR is fairly obvious for anyone who covered Rome in elementary or middle school history. Beyond that, if you’re from the part of the world where asterix comics were popular (mostly thr francosphere, but also europe more broadly), it really stands out. That’s all to say nothing of people who’ve got formal higher education in history or even the classics.
- dxdm 1y agoJust piling on to say it's super obvious to me, and I didn't even know of this meme before.
- nemo 1y agoIf you've learned even a little about the history of Rome then you'll quickly bump into SPQR, Mary Beard's recent popular, and very good book on the Romans it titled "SPQR", in the city of Rome you'll see SPQR used all over, in films when Romans are depicted, SPQR is always there. While not everyone will have a background where it's familiar, it's also not at all obscure. If you're not familiar with the Romans you won't know, but lots of people like to learn about the ancient past since it's really interesting to some types.
- snthpy 1y agoI'm in the opposite position: known about SPQR for decades but never heard of this meme and clearly missed it. Can you explain the meme please because I didn't understand the hits I got when I just googled it.
- devjab 1y agoI struggle to see how this could be a conspiracy in any form, but maybe you can make it more clear for me? As I see it, it would make perfect sense for a democracy driving app to focus on “Senate and People”, the fact that is sound like "speaker" simply makes it more brilliant.
- clarkmoody 1y agoStrength and Honor
- HelloUsername 1y agoScotch and soda
- andrepd 1y agoBefore, and way before.
- axiomdata316 1y agoLol. You would only see this comment on Hacker News. Reminds me of an old comic I read on how mathematicians memorize their locker numbers. "1975? Oh that's easy. It's just the square root of 3,900,625!"
- huflungdung 1y ago[dead]
- pdpi 1y agoFor this particular one, you could easily see that comment on any community with a sufficient number of Asterix fans. Banners and standards with "SPQR" written somewhere were common enough that they should produce a Pavlovian reaction.
- mananaysiempre 1y agoOr any community large enough to have people who have, y’know, visited Rome IRL?
- encrypted_bird 1y agoVisiting Rome IRL? That requires money... :')
- jbaber 1y agoI was delighted to see manhole covers with SPQR on them in Rome.
- sebastiennight 1y agoEver since I've heard of the meme that "modern men can't spend 24 hours without thinking of the Roman Empire", I haven't been able to escape it, even on days where my only contact with the outside world is HN. I guess it's like a curse, once you've heard about it you're doomed. And for anyone finding out about it just now, alea jacta est
- simpaticoder 1y agoYes, very clever. I am familiar with SPQR as a common tattoo on Roman legionnaires from the (excellent) BBC miniseries "Rome". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_(TV_series)
- losthobbies 1y agoIs that what Maximus tried to carve off in Gladiator?
- phrotoma 1y agoGood timing. My local cinema just ran Gladiator a couple nights ago and I popped by, it still rocks. And yes, that's what he scrapes off his arm right after being captured by slave traders.
- ricksunny 1y agoThere’s something very Ozymandian about their invoking SPQR for a future-proof protocol
- snthpy 1y agoTIL Ozymandian. Great word. Love it. Thanks!
- vasco 1y agoDidn't that empire last over a thousand years? Why is it ozymandian? More than we can say for the current one
- zeristor 1y agoDon’t forget the Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire. I’m not sure if they still SPQR’d though. Update: it appears to have fallen out of favour by 300 https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1jdrpz/did_the_byzantine_empire_use_the_phrase_spqr/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1jdrpz/did_t... From a comment from a 12 year old Reddit post, 12 years being 0.5% of the span of the Roman Empire.
- 0xDEAFBEAD 1y agoPre-dictatorship, the Roman Republic was one of history's longest-lasting democracies: https://www.broadstreet.blog/p/the-democratic-institutions-of-the https://www.broadstreet.blog/p/the-democratic-institutions-o...
- MarcelOlsz 1y agoCOOL
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]