TIL labyrinths and mazes aren't the same. Labyrinths have a single path. Mazes have branching paths
TIL labyrinths and mazes aren't the same. Labyrinths have a single path. Mazes have branching paths
What's the difference between Labyrinth and Maze? Although both maze and labyrinth depict a complex and confusing series of pathways, the two are different. A maze is a complex, branching (multicursal) puzzle that includes choices of path and direction, while a labyrinth is unicursal, i.e., has only...
This isn't true. Go look up the definition for either word, and it doesn't comport with the usage rules claimed.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/labyrinth
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maze
If you do want to draw a sharp distinction in modern usage, you could posit that a labyrinth is a type of maze that was made intentionally and can be walked through.
The real TIL is always in the comments
That’s like an internet rule
This could just be due to usage change over time, similar to how "literally" can mean the same thing as "figuratively" now a days. But I'm not an etymologist.
I would guess that it's actually a jargonification of extant words.
Merriam Webster includes a neat etymology section on the definitions I linked, that traces both words to the Renaissance (ish). The entry for "maze" does note an alternate definition as a neurological test with at least one dead end, but (1) that doesn't match the claim OP's article headline makes and (2) scientific jargon is not common English.
(If jargon WERE common English, we'd have an entirely different argument about tomatoes being fruits or vegetables.)
Yeah I don't think this is true, certainly nothing else I've seen indicates that this is a defined difference. Hell the page itself seems to disprove the theory in multiple places. As does the origin of the word Labyrinth. After all if Theseus was in a labyrinth with one single path why did he need a string to find his way back?
Tell that to all the mazes on the back of cereal boxes!
Hell, some of them didn't even have one path!
The article links to a Wikipedia page for mazes. The first line of that page says this
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead unambiguously through a convoluted layout to a goal
Did anyone else always start at the end and head toward the start? (For mazes on paper)
It's almost always easier to complete when you go backwards.
That's because the design tends to split into choices when going in one direction, but less so the other direction.
Kind of like how it is essier to make the way from a leaf to the trunk of a tree than to start at a trunk and reach a specific leaf.
I've heard this before, but I never understood how people find this easier. It's still the exact same maze, you just swap the "start" and "goal" labels.
Paths tend to branch out into dead ends when going in one direction, which would feel more like doubling back when coming from the other direction.
It does depend on the size and overall layout of the maze though.
No.
A long time ago, I got a maze tattooed on my back. Very soon thereafter, people started telling me this exact thing. Apparently, I in fact got a labyrinth tattooed on my back.
So there was only one path, and it was always gonna lead to the Minotaur...
Talk about getting screwed.
Dance, magic dance.
Enough with the fucking labyrinths now. I'm doing the latest Tarkov event and that fucking final labyrinth task will be the death of me.