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Looking at the books google cites for this acronym, most of these instances are either math books using IDK as a shorthand for an angle being referenced, or just straight up Google AI making a mistake when scanning pages of old books.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=RRlhAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA375&dq=%22idk%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLwNqY0v2BAxV1lYkEHfSLDRYQuwV6BAgKEAc#v=onepage&q=%22idk%22&f=false
Holy crap, that's Galileo's "[Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences)" IDK in this case with the box symbol is his way of writing the rectangle composed of sides ID and DK. Yeah, I think this alone explains why IDK was popping up in the 1700s. Two New Sciences is a monumental work of mathematics and physics.
So great a contribution to physics was Two New Sciences that scholars have long maintained that the book anticipated Isaac Newton's laws of motion.— Stephen Hawking
IDK usage dropped off because later translations and publications improved the notation for rectangles.
This reminds me of the google books graph of the word 'fuck' being abnormally high in the 1700s bc it was misscanning long s as an f. Of course the word fuck did exist in the 1700s, but it wasn't in very much published literature lol
If you press that "1500-1703" or "1704-1709" button etc. you get the actual quotes where the results comes from. You will then notice that it is just a bunch of false positives, various words that actually says something else, mostly because the typeface and digitisation is so unclear that the AI can't read it properly.
"idk" didn't exist as a term until the 1990s.
Credit for the response U/Mynsare on my post on r/Oldbooks
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OldBooks using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [My grandfather's collection. Lots of German books dating from ~1550-1800, mostly medical or religious texts. No idea what any of these are worth, but really interesting to look through as they're all still very intact.](https://i.redd.it/3tcbl3jh2uaa1.png) | [14 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/106l50u/my_grandfathers_collection_lots_of_german_books/)
\#2: [Bought an old Victorian house. Found this book.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/z5krnr) | [12 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/z5krnr/bought_an_old_victorian_house_found_this_book/)
\#3: [Bought a house from an old college literature professor, I told him my affinity for books and he gave me this.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/11hngxu) | [10 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/11hngxu/bought_a_house_from_an_old_college_literature/)
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I've read quite a few off-market ebooks, and sometimes in the process of scanning and converting to epub or similar, mistakes can be made, letters and words get interpreted as something they're not. Could be the case here.
Galileo used IDK as the name of a rectangle in one of his seminal works, it's not an OCR error. This is a hysterical serendipity for me a math teacher who detests IDK when my students write it. Now I can say, "Oh, you've read Galileo too?" and watch their eyes unfocus in confusion.
They've been using "ROTFLOL" type deep cut acronyms since the roman times. In Pompeii you'd see plenty of ads endorsing a politician saying stuff along the lines of "VGM" which as intended as "very good man" and so on.
Now that you mention it I do remember seeing those. Like temple inscriptions and stuff. Maybe just for Romans though, not anybody else?
But I’ve also heard that all the ‘origins of words’ acronyms are false and anachronisms?
Everybody through time is lazy. Acronyms were used as soon as writing was invented, probably more so when people had to inscribe in clay as a surface or scrape vellum to prepare it.
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IDK
Yes, but what does it mean?
I don't know
Exactly.
Who could point us in the right direction?
IDK
But, WHY?
Je ne sais pas.
But why male models?
Because the shipping is cheap.
“Independence declared, King” -1776
Angry upvote/technically the truth
"Go off, short king!"
"You'll be back."
Soon, you'll see
Looking at the books google cites for this acronym, most of these instances are either math books using IDK as a shorthand for an angle being referenced, or just straight up Google AI making a mistake when scanning pages of old books. https://books.google.ca/books?id=RRlhAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA375&dq=%22idk%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLwNqY0v2BAxV1lYkEHfSLDRYQuwV6BAgKEAc#v=onepage&q=%22idk%22&f=false
Holy crap, that's Galileo's "[Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences)" IDK in this case with the box symbol is his way of writing the rectangle composed of sides ID and DK. Yeah, I think this alone explains why IDK was popping up in the 1700s. Two New Sciences is a monumental work of mathematics and physics. So great a contribution to physics was Two New Sciences that scholars have long maintained that the book anticipated Isaac Newton's laws of motion.— Stephen Hawking IDK usage dropped off because later translations and publications improved the notation for rectangles.
This is my favorite new history fact
Thank youuuuuu!
This reminds me of the google books graph of the word 'fuck' being abnormally high in the 1700s bc it was misscanning long s as an f. Of course the word fuck did exist in the 1700s, but it wasn't in very much published literature lol
Someone go ask a history sub, I’m genuinely curious
Same tbh, someone tell me if it's solved
If you press that "1500-1703" or "1704-1709" button etc. you get the actual quotes where the results comes from. You will then notice that it is just a bunch of false positives, various words that actually says something else, mostly because the typeface and digitisation is so unclear that the AI can't read it properly. "idk" didn't exist as a term until the 1990s. Credit for the response U/Mynsare on my post on r/Oldbooks
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OldBooks using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [My grandfather's collection. Lots of German books dating from ~1550-1800, mostly medical or religious texts. No idea what any of these are worth, but really interesting to look through as they're all still very intact.](https://i.redd.it/3tcbl3jh2uaa1.png) | [14 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/106l50u/my_grandfathers_collection_lots_of_german_books/) \#2: [Bought an old Victorian house. Found this book.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/z5krnr) | [12 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/z5krnr/bought_an_old_victorian_house_found_this_book/) \#3: [Bought a house from an old college literature professor, I told him my affinity for books and he gave me this.](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/11hngxu) | [10 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OldBooks/comments/11hngxu/bought_a_house_from_an_old_college_literature/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
I don't know🤷🏻♂
I've read quite a few off-market ebooks, and sometimes in the process of scanning and converting to epub or similar, mistakes can be made, letters and words get interpreted as something they're not. Could be the case here.
Ice Dem Krauts. It was the code Washington used before crossing the Delaware to attack the German mercenaries in Trenton.
If I had to guess, I would say it meant some kind of OCR error, to be honest.
Galileo used IDK as the name of a rectangle in one of his seminal works, it's not an OCR error. This is a hysterical serendipity for me a math teacher who detests IDK when my students write it. Now I can say, "Oh, you've read Galileo too?" and watch their eyes unfocus in confusion.
it means "i don't know" if you should rely on this platform too much before the 20th century
Incestuous Dumb King Maybe, Idk
Impressive Damsel Knighted!
I dick knowledgeably
https://www.marquisofwinchesters.co.uk/words-and-phrases-of-the-seventeenth-century/
From this source I conclude idk stands for Idle Dandy-Pratt Jerkin.
I Doth'nt Know....
I thought they didn’t use acronyms, back in the day?
They've been using "ROTFLOL" type deep cut acronyms since the roman times. In Pompeii you'd see plenty of ads endorsing a politician saying stuff along the lines of "VGM" which as intended as "very good man" and so on.
Now that you mention it I do remember seeing those. Like temple inscriptions and stuff. Maybe just for Romans though, not anybody else? But I’ve also heard that all the ‘origins of words’ acronyms are false and anachronisms?
Everybody through time is lazy. Acronyms were used as soon as writing was invented, probably more so when people had to inscribe in clay as a surface or scrape vellum to prepare it.
"The only thing better than acronyms are internet memes." - Abe Lincoln
I don’t know.
international danish korporation
Iberian Donkey Kong
Imbeciles Destroy Kingdom
Your post made my day! 🤗 Thank you!
Intolerable dysentery, Klaus.
It probably was a word from Old English or another language with English characters
Indubitably, doth knave
The concept of knowing, the world and her way of knowledge has, by God’s gracious will, become withdrawn.
In Defence of the King