Conference thebay::joyoflex

(cross-posted with the permission of the authors, or incognitoed by their
 request)            -< SOAPBOX: Not So Humble Opinions! >-
================================================================================
Note 1088.0                Word and Phrase Origins                  19 replies
ICS::LIOTTA                                        41 lines  24-SEP-1992 09:10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I find word origins and phrases fascinating.  Things like "Let the Cat out of
the Bag." or "The whole ball of wax." or "the rule of thumb," all came from
somewhere.

For example, I recently read, in the Smithsonian Magazine, sometime during
the winter months of this past year, about the origin of the song "Ring
around the Rosie."

The song goes something like this...

        RING AROUND THE ROSIE
        POCKET FULL OF POSIE
        HOP HOP
        HOP HOP
        WE ALL FALL DOWN.

The song originated during the great plague and it was explained as follows:

        RING AROUND THE ROSIE

was the rose colored ring that surrounded the flea bite of the victim.

        POCKET FULL OF POSIE

Poeple had to carry flowers in their pockets to offset the stench of all the
dead bodies litterally lying all around the place.

        HOP HOP
        HOP HOP
        WE ALL FALL DOWN

refered to the fleas that jumped from one person to another causing death.

Grusome as this is, the explaination was fascinating.


Does anyone have anyother phrase or word orgins that can be explained?

LIOTTA   
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Note 1088.4                  Word and Phrase Origins                    4 of 19
PEKING::UNKNOWN "wishing I was on an alcoholida" 12 lines     24-SEP-1992 09:33
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Okay, Treat this one as a sort of brain teaser. Post your answers here.
    A big pat on the back for the sender of the first correct reply.

    What is the origin of the expression;

    "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

    (Mod - do not delete - it's not as rude as it sounds)

    Jon

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Note 1088.5                  Word and Phrase Origins                    5 of 19
WAHOO::LEVESQUE "No room for second best"         3 lines     24-SEP-1992 09:38
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 A brass monkey was used to hold cannon balls. When it got cold enough, the
differing coefficients of expansion caused the cannon balls to fall off
the brass monkey (which was not a monkey but a frame).
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Note 1088.6                  Word and Phrase Origins                    6 of 19
ICS::LIOTTA                                         10 lines  24-SEP-1992 09:39
                           -< THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a story on the radio, a couple of weeks ago, about the orgins of the
phrase "THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX".

Apparently, goldsmiths of yesteryear used to give their apprentices a ball of
wax to pick up any gold shavings or dust that resulted from their learning
experiences.  When the ball reached a certian weight, the apprentice would
return THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX to the master for, I guess, recycling.


LIOTTA   
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Note 1088.7                  Word and Phrase Origins                    7 of 19
PEKING::UNKNOWN "wishing I was on an alcoholiday" 4 lines     24-SEP-1992 09:42
                            -< wow, clever person! >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .5
    Correct, and damn quick too, have a gold star!

    Jon
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Note 1088.8*                 Word and Phrase Origins                    8 of 19
COVERT::COVERT "John R. Covert"                       1 line  24-SEP-1992 09:49
                     -< But carry on... don't mind me... >-
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Isn't there a whole conference, already full of the answers to all of these?
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Note 1088.9                  Word and Phrase Origins                    9 of 19
ICS::LIOTTA                                          8 lines  24-SEP-1992 09:51
                           -< Please Post the name >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             <<< Note 1088.8 by COVERT::COVERT "John R. Covert" >>>
                     -< But carry on... don't mind me... >-

Isn't there a whole conference, already full of the answers to all of these?

If there is, would you mind posting the name, please?

LIOTTA   
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Note 1088.10                 Word and Phrase Origins                   10 of 19
ICS::LIOTTA                                          8 lines  24-SEP-1992 10:09
                               -< RULE OF THUMB >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also heard about the origin of the phrase "RULE OF THUMB".

Apparently, medieval men were allowed to beat their wifes with sticks
that had a diameter no thicker then the husbands' thumb.  IF a man did use a
stick with a diameter thicker then his thumb, and was convicted of this, he
was publicly flogged.

LIOTTA   
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Note 1088.13                 Word and Phrase Origins                   13 of 19
MAST::ANONYMOUS "No good deed goes unpunished"      10 lines  24-SEP-1992 16:28
                        -< From National Geographic... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Re. .0
        National Geographic had an article about the great plague in an
    issue about a year and a half ago. They listed the origin of the
    song as being the same and even the explanation of the first few lines
    were the same. They said that in "ashes, ashes, we all fall down" the
    ashes reffered to the ashes from burning all of a persons clothing and
    bedding once they had died.

    FWIW,
    Barry
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Note 1088.14*                Word and Phrase Origins                   14 of 19
RDVAX::KALIKOW "TFSO GHWB"                          10 lines  24-SEP-1992 20:55
                                -< re .9 re .8 >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "If there is, would you mind posting the name, please? "

    Notatall.

    THEBAY::JOYOFLEX

    C U Around...

    Dan
    (Press KP7 to add to your NOTES$NOTEBOOK...)
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Note 1088.16                 Word and Phrase Origins                   16 of 19
ICS::LIOTTA                                          4 lines  29-SEP-1992 14:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               <<< Note 1088.14 by RDVAX::KALIKOW "TFSO GHWB" >>>
                                -< re .9 re .8 >-

Thanks Dan.
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Note 1088.17                 Word and Phrase Origins                   17 of 19
BRADOR::HATASHITA "Hard wear engineer"                9 lines  1-OCT-1992 14:18
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    I really want to know why people pick on Dickens.  Why, for example, do
    people say things like "Scared the Dickens out of him"?  Or "That dog
    ran like the Dickens."

    Why not, "He frightened the Keats out her."?  Or "Gotta move like the
    Shakespeare just to stay ahead."  Or "He beat the Kipling out that
    dork."

    This has been bothering me for some time.
================================================================================
Note 1088.18                 Word and Phrase Origins                   18 of 19
RDVAX::KALIKOW "TFSO GHWB"                          19 lines   1-OCT-1992 14:42
                            -< See .14, Hat-san... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ... for it is sadly unlikely that any of the 'BoxRabble hereabouts will
    know the answer to thy queery.  They are prone (ooh er) to adduce
    plausible theories that suit their twisted notions of self-eelymosynary
    etymology, to wit:

    ''Simple, o Sensei des Canucks.  When the original ancestor of the
    present-day expression "scared the Dickens out of him" was first used
    in print -- in Elizabethan times -- it was wont to appear thus:
    "Scared the Spotted Dick offen him."  Through time, Spotted Dick became
    far less popularly consumed, having been supplanted at table by
    Toad-in-the-hole, and when Charles Dickens' 19th-century literary works
    appeared on the scene and achieved a well-deserved general literary
    apotheosis, this sounded the death knell for the, shall we say
    "maiden," form of the idiom.  What survives is but a foreshortened and     
    alas, Bowdlerized version of the original.  As are so many things in
    these truncated times.''

    As you should well know.

================================================================================
Note 1088.19                 Word and Phrase Origins                   19 of 19
BRADOR::HATASHITA "Hard wear engineer"              13 lines   1-OCT-1992 14:49
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    So the original saying were expressed thusly - "Ran like the spotted
    dick."?

    Now, I am not privy to the functions of a spotted dick, however, it
    would seem to me that the above expression would suit the form of the
    verb "to run" in the sense of flowing as in liquid.  So one would hear
    the saying "My leaky faucet runs like my spotted dick."

    Daily useage indicates that the term is used more in description of one
    whose locomotive capabilities are noteworthy as opposed to anything
    urological.

    But I may be wrong.
===== end exemplar notes from PEAR::SOAPBOX =====

1.  "Rounds" are begun by a Player PROPOSING a WORD or GROUP OF WORDS, most
likely an idiomatic or obscure phrase, or weird quotation, which posting
constitutes a request for NOT ONLY A DEFINITION, but ALSO a TRUE ACCOUNT OF HOW
IT CAME TO BE THUS SPOKEN.  The word(s) can be as short as a single ONE (If
allowed to be ONE, the situation reduces to something close to "Standard, or
Missionary, Fictionary") and No Longer Than ONE Complete Sentence.

2.  The PROPOSED word(s) should, at least ostensibly, be in English, either of
the British or American persuasion.  Well OK, if you want to use French or
Latin or Spanish I won't kick, but I draw the line at...  well maybe not.  You
want players to join in, you play on their field, is how I figure it.

3.  The PROPOSING PLAYER does not actually have to know the TRUE etymology
(Footnote:  by exercise of my Poetic License, I have obtained -- and at great
cost, from the Academie Anglais -- an Official Variance that allows me to
denote the "historical origins of a phrase" as its "etymology," so as to permit
me to describe this game in two words rather than the clumsier hash that is
required by absolute correctness) of the PROPOSED WORD OR PHRASE.  

4.  The PROPOSING PLAYER should eschew all expressions of ignorance or
knowledge of the true etymology, so as to preserve the suspense of the
Jury/Audience as to whether any subsequent etymology posted by the PROPOSING
PLAYER is the true one, or a red herring.

5.  After the PROPOSED WORD OR PHRASE has been posted, OTHER PLAYERS (not the
ORIGINAL PROPOSER) are immediately free to propose DEFINITIONS and ETYMOLOGIES
for said word or phrase.  Said PROPOSED ETYMOLOGIES may be accompanied by
references or (purported) quotations, of arbitrary length, from dictionaries,
learned texts, matchbook- or toilet-seat-covers, or other published source
materials.

6.  OTHER PLAYERS who arrive too late to propose what they feel is the CORRECT
etymology for a word or phrase are encouraged to post bogus, or red herring,
definitions and etymologies.  Try to keep only ONE actually correct answer in
the "pool" for the proposed phrase.

7.  More than one PROPOSED WORD or PHRASE can be "in play" at one time in this
string.

8.  Proposed definitions and etymologies can (for the most part) be assumed
either to actually BE correct or be INTENDED TO BE PERCEIVED AS SUCH by the
poster.

9.  Even if in fact the PROPOSING PLAYER actually DOES know this TRUE
DEFINITION or ETYMOLOGY, it well behooves them NOT to post such explanation
right off.  It is expected that the PROPOSING PLAYER actually SHOULD propose an
answer during the later stages of play.  This may be the real one, or a red
herring, at the PROPOSING PLAYER's discretion.

10.  I see no reason why any one person, even if they be the PROPOSING PLAYER,
should be proscribed from posting more than one proposed answer.

11.  It is permissible to post, as in .1, hypothetical answers which are
ostensibly correct but whose subtext purpose may simply be to cause the reader
to experience temporary loss of sphincter control through hysteria.  This is,
in fact, one of the principal causes of the breakdown of most games of
"Missionary Fictionary" in my family.  In such cases ESPECIALLY, PROPOSING
PLAYERS are cautioned against writing material that violates DEC P&P, as much
of my own misguided material in .1 might be considered regrettably close to
doing.

12.  At a time chosen at the general or individual discretion of the
Jury/Audience, the BALLOTING can commence.  Jury/Audience members can cast
their ballots (via the REPLY command) as to which of the preceding entries in a
sub-string (defined as all replies anent a given PROPOSED PHRASE) is, in their
view, the MOST PROBABLY CORRECT proposed definition and etymology.  This is
where the VERISIMILITUDE of the Red Herring responses is most salient.  There
is little Reward In Life more satisfying to a player of Etymological Fictionary
to receive a ballot from a gullible Jury/Audience member who has been snookered
fair and square.  Jury/Audience members should attempt to restrain themselves
from voting more than once per PROPOSED PHRASE.

13.  In the event of TIE VOTES, *I* will cast the deciding one, even if this
requires me to vote twice.  It's a dirty job, but somebody's ...  you know. 
Corollary:  Ratholing is NOT PERMITTED.  Disputes on the truth of a proposed
etymology should be conducted in different strings.  Violators will be
electronically and severely caned. :-)

14.  BALLOTING may also be done along the dimension of HUMOR, as in Rule 11
above.  Again, this is a likely outcome for those players who are
correctness-impaired and differently humored.  We value their differences and
welcome me (OOps, I mean _them_) to this string, too.  It is also a source of
great satisfaction for PROPOSING PLAYERS to have written an entry so ridiculous
or with such a high spittle-on-the-tube quotient as to be recognized as worthy
of special recognition, independ of its credibility.  Depending on the player,
some may actually go for this sort of distinction.  Probably including me,
judging from my deplorable performance in .1.  Jury/Audience members who have
voted once on a given PROPOSED PHRASE for VERISIMILITUDE, may (if they wish)
cast another ballot for HUMOR.  In the case where a given entry "wins" both on
VERISIMILITUDE and HUMOR, the Universe will come to an end.  Or the JOYOFLEX
file will become corrupted, whichever is the more serious calamity.

15.  BALLOTING may in many cases be dispensed with ENTIRELY, as more PLAYERS
realize that the joy is in the proposing rather than in the scoring.  And who's
got the time to count or actually gives a damn about YOUR opinion,
anyhow!!???:-)

16.  I leave it as an exercise in the further evolution of "Etymological
Fictionary" as to what conventions shall be adopted to differentiate the
various sub-strings in here, if in fact any organization is desired at all.  It
is entirely possible that this string will devolve as far and as fast as .1
did, but that we'll still have a helluva good time watching it go...

17.  These rules are probably wrong or in need of major rewrite or a good
ignoring.  Feel free to propose or dispose of this if the spirit moves ya.

Sooo, ... PLAY BALL!!

    You know, this is really _hard_!!:-)  So many phrases and unusual words
    have already been discussed here in JOYOFLEX over the years...  "Out of
    sorts"...  "Hoist with his own petard"... "noyade"... and all the
    hundreds of other strange idioms that I *know* I know seem to have
    vanished into CRS syndrome.
    
    After a weekend's musing, all I can come up with are the following...
    
    ->	hell-bent for leather
    
    ->	a yellow streak down his back
    
    ->	palindrome
    
    ->	coot
    
    ->	tyrosemiophily
    
    ->	qualtagh
    
    So, feel free to jump in and start defining and etymologizing, or
    (?preferably?) proposing your own...
    

    BTW
    
    I am that unknown Soapbax author (wishing I was on an alcoholiday), and
    I give my permission for the use of my entries!
    
    Jon

    Whoops Jon, I *thought* I'd mailed a cross-post request to all the
    authors in my excerpt, but I missed you.  Sorry...  Thanks for the
    belated permission, BLUSH...  
    
    Dan
    

    
    ->	fannish
    
    :-)
    

              A fondness for teaching sign language to the young
    
    (well, ANYTHING's better than Wilfred Brimley's spasmodic motorcycle,
           isn't it?  Well, ISN'T IT??!!!:-)
    

    An unexplained and dangerous tendency, known widely among long-distance
    drivers of semi-trucks, for their wheel-treads to partially separate
    within sight of the "City of Brotherly Love."
    

    A term recently added to the language from biotechnology:  Having
    sperm-cells with proportionally less of the amino acids Adenine,
    Guanine, and Cytosine than of the remaining one, Tyrosine.
    

    A fondness for a certain kind of collectible: the labels off of
    Camembert cheeses
    

A form of stygian tactile spasm originally exhibited by the peripatetic -- yet
imperceptibly hypo-cutaneous -- motorcycle troglodyte known as "Wilfred
Mbwangaru the Dead."

The fetish of collecting, and then inhaling, the mold that gradually encrusts
the ends of notesfile strings touched primarily by one person.  This condition
can be alleviated by cross-pollination, whereupon the mold (and the
embarrassment of the basenoter! :-) goes away...

=============
So.  

The correct definition lies before this point.  

The funniest definition, thus far, also lies before this point.

Votes or new definitions!  GentleFolk, I call for ACTION!

(PS -- It's still OK to pass over; at least *I*'m having fun here...  I'll
       think of another word... :-) :-)

    philotheoparoptesism, N.  The practice of looking at one's lovers as if
    through the eyes of God; hence, a way of proclaiming their goodness

    The process of slowly cooking those who have incurred the displeasure
    of the Church.
    

    A form of early Christian worship which began circa 700 AD in Macedonia
    and which by ~1100 was being practiced as far north as Vienna. 
    Congregants were expected to interrupt services with "spontaneous"
    testimonies to their love of God, which were recognized with the
    official label of philotheoparoptesisms.  This religious offshoot
    movement was finally extirpated by the first Austro-Hungarian Pontiff,
    Pope Walter I, who suppressed it as the "Philotheoparoptesistic
    Heresy."  philotheoparoptesistic, Adj.
    

    A shorthand expression for the sad effects of frustrated love.  It is a
    memorial planted in our language to signify the tragic relationship of
    Philomena and Theodore.  She, a princess of a minor medieval French
    duchy, was zealously guarded by her Father, the Duke.  Her would-be
    lover, Theodore (a mere commoner) was forbidden even to ask for her
    hand unless he were able to climb the highest, steepest hill in the
    realm -- while carrying the Princess Philomena.  The unfortunate lovers
    attempted the feat, but poor Theo died of a cerebral paroptesism as he
    reached the peak.  They are buried there still.
    
    Modern usage example (there has been a slight shift of meaning):  
    "He worked two shifts for years -- one at the Mill, the other at ZK --
    to provide a hearth & home for her, only to succumb to a philotheo-
    paroptesism just before he SERPed."
                                                            

    I love it!!  This is Balderdash!!!
    
    Do short words qualify?  Such as. . .
    
    knoller, n.
    
    Which is, of course, three consecutive points in the game of curling!
    
    

    (Amer. Slang) -- Disparaging characterization of a downhill skier who
    never attempts a really steep hill.  
    
    Curiously and conversely, in cross-country skiing, it is a term
    analogous to "hot-dogger" in downhill and is a term of slight
    derogation, meaning one who eschews the flats and attempts even
    moderate-sized hills.
    
    =====================
    (Editorial comment A:  One hopes -- nay, one assumes! that .19's "Which
    is, of course," is merely a slightly premature attempt to add face
    validity to the entry, and not Mr/Ms McGan's assurance that this is in
    fact the true definition. :-)
    
    (Editorial comment B:  Call for votes on postings up to .19 !!)
    

Knoller, n., one who is (or which is) differentiated from others in its
class by being geographically located on or near a knoll.  There have
been many assassins in history, only one, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a
knoller.

Dave C.

    Knoller, n., one who tolls a bell, especially for a funeral. The word
    is an arcahaic form of knell, to toll.  By extension, it now describes
    any person who is mournful in nature and commonly conveys that feeling
    to others.

    Knoller, n., one who plants canola.  Formerly known as rapeseeder until
    the name was changed in order to improve its image.

    Knoller, n., [welsh, origin obsc] A Dutchess' boobs.  
    
    
    dj

    [More Recent Correction to .21 from William Webster's "FBI Dictionary,"
    Washington DC 1989, Government Printing Office, 
                             EYES ONLY, DIRFBICIA ONLY
    page 1963:]  The conspiracy and coverup are complete and ongoing.  The
    only thing the public "knows" for certain is that Lee Harvey Oswald was
    NOT a knoller.
                             EYES ONLY, DIRFBICIA ONLY
    :-)
    
            

    Bulgarian sweet roll, variant of "cruller."
    

    An easy one for me, as it is at the root of my surname. A knoller
    is a Pictish form of blunt instrument, not unlike a shelalagh. There
    may be a connection with `knobkerry', though opinion is divided on this
    point. Hence or cognate, knoller v.
    
    b

    	The word "knoller" is of 19th. century origins.
    
    	Originally in England there were Irish labourers who dug the canals
    in the 18th. century. Because they were digging navigable waterways
    they became referred to as "navvies"
    
    	Part way through the 19th. century there started to be similar
    construction works for railway lines, and since the work was similar
    the word "navvy" passed across to refer to these people too.
    
    	Obviously the traditional canal diggers were still around digging
    canals, and they rather resented these new upstarts who earned higher
    wages, so they started to refer to themselves as "canalers". Since they
    were illiterate, and also had a strong accent, this was eventually
    rendered into writing as "knoller". A knoller is a person who digs
    inland waterways. Using the word "navvy" to such a person is still
    considered a dire insult. For the spelling and modern pronunciation of
    the word you should compare it with "knight" which was originally was
    two syllables, but where only the silent "k" remains to remind us of
    the almost forgotten first syllable.

    A combination moustache brush-and-comb, used in 19th-C. Holland and
    Boer South Africa, commonly fashioned of ivory or whale baleen.
    

    	The word "pistareen" is of modern origin, and only really common
    among the cocktail party set. It is a composite of "pistachio" and
    "tureen", and is hence a bowl for serving pistachio nuts in. The shape
    is often the form of a half-shell of a pistachio nut.

    pistareen, phrase:  the formula for the circumference of a circle,
    expressed in any of a number of pseudo-mathematically-oriented
    programming languages, where the diameter has been represented by "n".
    (Ant. "Multiply n by pi giving writer's cramp", note 1.0 in the
    conference "Sorrows of languages not scannable by the program 'lex'.)

    An ornamented porcelain chamber-pot, designed to appear like a serving-
    piece for stews and soups, but without a cover.  This similarity has
    nevertheless produced more than its share of embarrassing domestic
    accidents.
    

    A rack, similar to an umbrella rack, for holding pistols and rifles.
    They were commonly found near the extrances to western saloons.

    re .34 --
    
    Hence the wonderful entries in Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogues circa
    1850-1890, on the pages having to do with 

 "Hardware for the Outfitting of Kitchens and Places of Public Accomodation:"
    
        "Saloon Pistareen-Spittoon Sets, with matching Soup Tureens"
    
    It is said that catalogues with these pages still included fetch
    handsome prices in the better auction houses these days.

    A small colonial Spanish coin; hence, something trivial or picayune
    
    ... pistareen... It is a debased coin, and as such the best symbol of
    the age in which we live, all of us together in the soup under the
    soupistareen.
    
        --Lowry, _October Ferry to Gabriola,_ p. 171
    

    to check the unison of a musical ensemble, or orchestra.
    
    	"The violins tonitruated, echoing in their elysian register the
    		tenebrous strokes of the basses."
    			Burgess, _Earthly Powers,_ p. 20
    

    to thunder.  See "stertile."
    
    Stertile, adj.:  startling, STERTILITY, n.
    
    	"Stertile thunder tonitruated terribly."
    			Burgess, _Earthly Powers,_ p. 179

    	This is British teenage slang. As is well known, if you are under
    18 you cannot be prosecuted in a standard court, so the police often
    don't bother with arresting you if you appear to be under 18. On the 
    other hand, if you are under 18 then you are not allowed to drink
    anything other than beer or cider in pubs.
    
    	This leads to the agonising teenage decision as to whether you
    should appear to be under or over 18 when going out for the evening.
    
    	The pubs all have signs up saying "R U 18?", so it became a
    standard question between teenagers "Tonite R U 18?".
    
    	The word has been contracted a little with common usage, but many
    teenage girls will tonitruate for several hours before deciding on
    style of makeup and which clothes to wear for a wild evening out,
    balancing the difficulty of obtaining alcohol with the risk of arrest.

    Methinks I see a bit more face validity for Brother Monahan's
    etymology.  Immediately I re-read his well-chosen phrase "balancing the
    difficulty of obtaining alcohol" and pondered the chemical origins
    thereof, it was as if an occult hand had taken the scales from my eyes,
    revealing the underlying notion of "tonitruation titration."
    
    I stand, sir, in awe.
    

    	I admit it is balderdash, but I thought I should document the
    phenomenon (which is real) even if it has nothing to do with the word
    (which you probably invented ;-).
    
    	Dave.

    tonitruate::
    
    
    To blow up with gelignite   :
    
    "We cordwangled in the gloamin and decided to tonitruate the grocery
    spod."
    
    
    		Burgess :: A Clockwork Orange - P123

    Balderdash, n:  A race between Messrs Kalikow and Monahan to see who
    can most quickly pull out the other's hair.

    "Balderdash" is sort of a "Trivial Pursuit" for word freaks -- a
    _Wonderful_ game!!

    Tonitruate: This one is easy for any French speaking reader. The French
    cognate is not a rare word at all (tonitruer).
    		Denis.

    Denis --
    
    The Management of this String thanks you kindly for your discretion in
    your non-chat-de'saccification.
    
    :-)
    
    (Please pardon poor accent above -- I'm noting from a 320P notebook in
    NJ and I haven't mastered (or found!) the analog to the COMPOSE CHAR
    key...)
    

    Hmmm.  What's the digital (er, ah) analog of "analog"?

    I propose a usage that is already current in digital signal processing
    and in the Macintosh filesystem:
    
    ... "alias" ...
    
    (well, it works for me!! :-)
    

    To have carnal plans for the impending evening.
    
    "She was surpassingly sensuous, so as the evening approached, me kep
     cordwangled tonitruatingly..."
    
    
    
                    Burgess -- _A Clockwork Orange,_ p. 129-130

Am I too late for pistareen? Just as well - I'd only have had to guess.

Tonitruate is a verb. Back on the late-sixties folk circuit, a number
of guitarists would tune up between numbers and crack a very well-known
(and ultimately rather tiresome) gag, announcing the next number
as a Chinese folk song called TU-NING (geddit, arf arf?). When I
was tuning up - especially when I could see a TU-NING exponent
in the audience - I would say `excuse me while I tonitruate'.

b

    You're NEVER too late for any word in Etymological Fictionary.  Well
    perhaps if a word has already been "identified" or "voted on," cf. the
    early definition entries in this string...  But since nothing of that
    sort has happened, piss away...  Oops, can I say that here?  Well
    yasee, that apparently "bad" word really comes from the Indo-European
    root "posschoon" meaning "discourse eruditely but at somewhat tardy
    length," so I'm sure it's OK in this context.
    
    Dan
    

    Been there, done that...  :-)
    
    Dan
    

    Aha, but.
    
    .52 implied (but didn't spell out the definition) that tonitruation
    is done on a single instrument. .38 very cunningly adduced a gloss
    that was _very_nearly_right_, but applied to an ensemble. I wonder
    if there _is_ a language in which distinct words are used for the
    two cases of tuning; in English, though, tonitruation is reserved
    for a single instrument (adjusting the pitch of different components
    of a single instrument relative to each other: for example I might
    tonitruate my guitar with the A-string pitched at 435Hz). Orchestras
    just tune up (with everyone's A pitched at 440Hz). I didn't have
    the meaning fully pinned down when I posted .52; apologies.
    
    Pistareen: originally, a very small piece. If something is pistareened,
    it is reduced to small pieces. In vulgar usage, the participle
    `pistareened' acquires a more broad meaning - like `knackered'
    (which means something very particular but has a broader meaning
    in vulgar usage). Hence .52's title.
    
    b

    (-: and _in re_ .55, Bob -- a nice distinction!  I gladly bow to your
    clearly superior follicular-output-bifurcational abilities... :-)
    
    Dan
    
    (reposted to correct an actual spelling error in my original .56
     -- or should I have said riposted? :-)

    Calliblephary, n.:  a supernatural being who convinces a human that
    the dictionary is wrong and "phary" is the correct spelling for the
    supernatural being's class.  Clearly the human is then "callible".

    Calliblephary, n.:  the art of painting eyelids.  [from Greek kallos,
    beauty + blepharon, eyelid]

    Calliblephary, adj:  pertaining to window system interfaces that can
    be called, adding little blephs to decorate the glyphs.

    A lighthouse built on a brick tower.  [from Greek "kallios," beauty,
    and "pharos," lighthouse].  In early antiquity, the pharos was simply a
    fire lit atop a cliff, to warn off nearby ships.  The Spartans (or
    their predecessors) apparently invented the (self-styled "beautiful")
    idea of lifting the pharos higher through the use of a brick (or other
    noncombustible) tower.  This followed the destruction, by errant
    sparks, of all the tall aboriginal trees on the said cliffs.

    Further to .58, A guardian angel who serves mankind when we request it
    to leave the astral plane, and which renders us assistance here.  It is
    this instant availability, when needed, that gives it the first part of
    its name.
    

    Farrah Fawcett's nickname, used by those who know her phone number.
    Not applicable when she is Farrah Fawcett-Majors or other married name.

    Standing erect and alert; armed and ready; locked and loaded; see COCKET
    
    cocket, adj.:
    
    from French "coquette"; saucy, lively, flirtatious
    
    ...Kaatje's arched back and jumping breasts, pritchkemp and cocket.
    
    	-- Davenport, "The Dawn to Erewhon," _Tatlin!_, p. 243
    

    Yep, Llorca's well known as an Hispanocentric who looks even at native
    Portuguese through that Llens.  A most unfortunate Llacuna in his
    Llexicon.
    
                   (-: In other words. WHOOPS....  :-)
    
                                (hee hee)

    I'm afraid "pritchkemp" leaves me cold.  I don't have any contentious
    incentive to write a believable definition. I'll leave this one to
    others.

    ... watch this space, this GMA evening...  
    
    (though as we've seen, there's no bar to others proposing a word or
     phrase...) 
    

    "Pritchkemp" is an American corruption of the German term for the
    piece of a firearm's hammer that is neither the cocking spur nor
    the firing pin.
    
    						Ann B.

politics:  n.

	From "poli" meaning "many", and "tic" meaning blood-sucking varmint.

    Re .74: Slight correction - I believe the applicable meaning of "tic" is
    "small jerk".
    
    -b

    	A bee hive is almost like a modern city. There are thousands of
    cells of almost identical construction, and divided by streets so that
    the bees can move from one to another.
    
    	However, as any bee keeper can tell you, the cells, while identical
    in construct, have various uses. Some are where the queen bee lays eggs
    and where the grubs develop to become the next generation of bees. Some
    are used for honey storage, and are continually being filled by those
    bees collecting nectar, while being used by any bee withdrawing its
    regular rations. Other cells again are used for storing the royal
    jelly, reserved for queen bees.
    
    	It is the second set of cells, where the ordinary honey is stored,
    and where an ordinary street cleaner bee (yes, they do have diferent
    duties) goes to get her lunch, that is called the "aporia".

    The largest and widest selections of primates available for your
    shopping pleasure.
    
    In some countries, displays are restricted to zoos and the animals
    are not available for purchase.
    
    Some countries allow additional locations where the animals are not
    on display but their products are available for purchase.  Details
    are available from your local Digital sales office.

    Aporia is a medical condition, very serious for the sufferer. It
    is the inability to put anything anywhere - a sort of Midas Touch
    without the wealth.
    
    b

    perplexity, dubiety
    
    	... how proceed?  By aporia pure and simple?  Or by affirmations
    	    and negotiations invalidated as uttered...
    
    		--Beckett, _The Unnamable,_ p. 560
    

    glabrousness, without pores
    
    	... She adored his physicality, by turns hirsute and aporic, with
    	    omnivorous delectation ... 
    
    		--Spackman, _An Armful of Warm Girl,_ p. 37
    

    any high fever distinguished by tight, dry skin, unrelieved by sweating.
    
    						Ann B.

    	Derived from the Greek "apo" and a Latin based term "ria"
    (scientists love to muddle their languages) this refers to the habitat
    at the bottom of a fjord. There is a certain species of aporian shrimp
    that is considered a great delicacy in Norway.
    
    	On a cross section of Norway it is easy to trace from the high to
    the low :- ice cap, glacier, bog, beach, tidal water, aporia.

            Hello there, and WELCOME to Etymological Fictionary,
                   A.K.A. Wordplay of the Rich and Famous.
                                      
<applause>

OK guys 'n' gals, this string seems ripe for plucking.  Best series imho since
inception.  Some real contenders here, both for verisimilitude and for humor. 
Plus one going for irony in a big way.

.77	PASTIS::MONAHAN		ordinary bees' lunchroom
.78	JIT081::DIAMOND		primate emporium, see your DEC sales office
.79	FORTY2::KNOWLES		inability to put anything anywhere, Midas.NOT.
.80	Your Ob't Svt.		perplexity, dubiety -- "aporia pure & simple?"
.81	  "    "   "		glabrousness, without pores "hirsute & aporic"
.82	REGENT::BROOMHEAD	high fever, tight skin, unrelieved by sweating
.83	PASTIS::MONAHAN		habitat at fjord-bottom...beach, tidal, aporia

Free-form voting is encouraged.  Don't just say which you picked, say WHY.

I cannot comment on my own entries, though I would like to take this
opportunity to compliment myself on the excellent construction of the
"red-herring" entry, whichever it might be... :-)

I will not give the CORRECT definition ... yet.  You must suffer yet longer. 
You can, of course, continue to submit contenders.  or VOTES...  Like
these...!

For verisimilitude, (excluding of course my own entry) I have to go with
Broomhead's .82 -- short, sweet, and plays right into the Medical profession's
penchant for Latinate diagnoses.
   
<Applause> 
   Yes well, there's no accounting for tastes, is there...

For humor, (again, regretfully, excluding my own remarkable sally), I have to
go with Diamond's .78, though one must grit one's teeth to "swallow" the
strong Ferric content therein.  Still and all, he has his reasons.

<APPLAUSE> 
  True enough, "different strokes for different folks," _comme on dit..._

For honorable mentions, _mirabile dictu,_ I select .77, .79, and .83, frankly
hoping that the worthies responsible for these stellar efforts will keep on
playing, and that they will emulate their temporary "betters" :-) while
trying, ever more assiduously, for the increased verisimilitude/byte, or
humor/byte, ratio, whichever goal they wish.  Witness that last sentence as a
style NOT to emulate! :-)

Thank you very much, and GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY!  GOODNIGHT, all!!

<!!!WILD, UNRESTRAINED APPLAUSE!!!>

    The true definition of aporia is .80: perplexity, dubiety.
    
    Why?  Because I'm inclined to doubt all the others.

    Sounds like you should have said that
    the true definition of aporia is .86: skepticism.
    
    Why?  Because you're inclined to doubt ALL the answers......

    ... the rest are daffynitions.  And as for .86, my "recursion meter"
    just pegged!  How do you DO that, Norman??!!:-)
    
    Well played, all...
    

    Epigrammatical speech, especially when uttered by a Prophet.
    
    	"Suffer not those vellications," thundered Jeremiah epidictically,
    "lest ye be taken as hierophants!"
    		--Davenport, "A field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg,"
    _Da Vinci's Bicycle,_ p. 174
    

    showing off, ostentatiously displaying.  Compare VENDITATE
    
    	...Bals the God of beauty and intelligence, a callisthenic
    pentathlete stereodidymous and epidictic of genitalia...
    		--Davenport, "The Dawn of Erewhon," _Tatlin,_ p. 219
    
    Venditate, v.:  to advertise flagrantly, to display ostentatiously. 
    Compare EPIDICTIC
    
    	Perhaps he deems it enough to merely -- 'venditate' -- not plink
    out his thoughts in words.
    		--Garner, _Jason and Medeia,_ p. 10
    
    

    	"Sir, that man is a mere epidictic, as are all the French Academy".
    		-- Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson.
    
    Johnson, with his love of language, scorned those who took a
    superficial interest. c.f. epidermis.
    
    He did however have a sense of humour. "Lexicographer: a writer of
    dictionaries, a harmless drudge".

    epidictic - suffering from verbal diarrhea
    
    						Ann B.

    1a.  Positioned at, or pertaining to, the first or last letter of a word.
    (Analogous definitions for the Chinese and Japanese languages are currently
    under construction.)
    
     b.  Imprinted on the cover of a lexicon.
    
    
    2.   (Vulg.)  A display by an exhibitionist.

    Re aporia: I don't really believe any of them's right. My guess is
    that it really is a medical condition, which narrows it down to
    mine, Anne's and Dan's .81 - none of which seems credible: I'd have
    to choose .81 if forced (but not with much confidence.
    
    Re epidictic, adj: of or pertaining to the epididymis, of course.
    
    b

... It's there, exactly as I entered it, in "The Logodaedalian's Dictionary of
Interesting and Unusual Words," by George Stone Saussy III, U. of So. Carolina
Press, 1989, 339 fascinating pp.

Now don't y'all go out and buy copies, that's CHEATING!! :-)

... anyone with access to an OED who can verify?

Dan
 

    Re: aporia
    
    Aporia, aporetic, and aporetical are all in the OED:
    
    Aporia Rhet. n. of state
    
    1589 PUTTENHAM p 234 Aporia or the Doubtfull. [So] called..because
    oftentimes we will seeme to cast perils, and make doubt of things
    when by a plaine manner of speech wee might afirme of deny him.
    
    Aporetic, a. Inclined to doubt, or to raise objections.

    Having a sheddable exoskeleton, esp. in arachnidae.    
    
    	"...bitten by a Mongolian Black Widow, which immediately molted
            and escaped, eschewing its telltale carapace thru' the 
            fortuitous employment of its epidictic capacity."
    
    		Linnaeus, _De Classificatione,_ Vienna, 1703, transl. anon.

    Fossilized stoat droppings.
    
    	... the Mackenzie expedition to the high Gobi Desert brought back
    almost an hogshead of first-quality liripoop of the greatest antiquity
    yet seen by the London Museum.  Vertebrate curators as far away as
    Dresden rejoiced in unalloyed bliss, but none more so than Harrington,
    who nevertheless feverishly coveted the find.
    
    		DeVries, _Slouching towards Kalamazoo,_ p. 206
    

    The tail on the hood of an academic gown.
    
    	Dean Mackenzie horripilated as the pigeon poop, an unwelcome
    apparition amidst the pomp of the Commencement procession, despoiled
    the dun-and-gold silk of Dean Harrington-Schwartz's Purdue-doctoral
    liripoop.
    		DeLillo, _Ratner's Star,_ p. 102
    

    Vivid description.
    
    	The list could surely go, and there is nothing more wonderful than
    a list, instrument of wondrous hypotyposis.
    
    		Eco, _The Name of the Rose," p. 73
    

    The precursor to carpal tunnel syndrome.
    	
    	Subjects (n=97) were monitored longitudinally over the course of
    their Computer Science undergraduate careers, with particular attention
    being paid to chronic idiopathic ulnar hypotyposis.
    
    		Harrington, _Those "Carping Critics" May Not Be Nuts After
                            All!_, Brit. J. Exptl. & Ergon. Psych., Vol. 44, 
                            1992, p. 343A

    A deficiency in type-checking capabilities.  The pre-ANSI version of
    C, along with most other successful languages, benefitted from the
    mass popularity of this deficiency.

    Re .103 and previous: Dan, who the hell is that Harrington you keep
    harrying through your entries?
    			Denis.

    That's an easy Q:, Denis --
    
    A:  He's the brother-in-law of the MacKenzie who falls within the Ken
        of .100 and .99
    
    :-)
    
    /s/ Dan (red_herrings_r_us) K.
    

    	I was trying to find an appropriate Biblical quotation about the
    Danites, because Dan Harrington used to work here in Valbonne, but
    pressure of work....    I won't be within a terminal line's reach of
    this conference for a week.

    Pertaining to entries in JOYOFLEX 1007.*, as they can only be found
    outside of dictionaries.

    Not *a*l*l* of 'em, Norman...  Not all...  Care to hypothesize which
    definitions are NOT found outside of dictionaries...?  (hee hee)
    

    See quotation.
    
    In skydiving, there's a term "whuffo."  Whuffos are people who hang
    around skydivers saying "Whuffo you want to jump out of a perfectly
    good airplane?"
    
    	-- Boyd, _The Redneck Way Of Knowledge,_ p. 25
    

    To miss a two-on-lip in tiddlywinks.
    
    Hoerrod-Smythe's wink barely singed my own, in a cringing whuffo that
    brought sneers to the entire sixth form.  My reputation as Winker
    Extraordinaire was secure until I passed my A-Levels and went up to
    Cambridge, where I read History and dabbled in winkery for pocket
    change.
    
    	-- Davenport, _Lo Spledora della Luce a Bologna,_ Eclogues, p. 129
    

    whopping huge unidenti fied flying object
    
    To fly an example, type:
        $ OPEN/READ/WRITE/SHARE=WRITE WHUFFO 0::"33="

    A Philippine Islands subdialect spoken by mechanics and drivers in the
    indigenous stock-car racing circuit
    
    	"The checkered palm-frond waved through a miasma of hydrocarbons
    and the Autolog gabble of the greasemonkeys in the pits.  Malacanango
    had triumphed again, and the fermented coconut victory cup would be
    his."
    
    		-- Jivaro, "Tales from the Tagalog:  The Mindanao 500", p. 22.
    

    A word (such as "autolog"), phrase, sentence, or passage that refers to
    itself
    
    	"He flolloped around in astonishment and alarm.  He almust lurgled
    in fear...  He listened, but there was no sound beyond the now familiar
    sound of half-crazed etymologists calling to each other across the
    sullen mire."
    
    		-- Adams, "Life, the Universe and Everything," p. 59.
    
    

    >A word (such as "autolog"), phrase, sentence, or passage that refers to
    >itself
    
    Well, if you're going to put correct definitions in (though I first
    learned this definition for the word "homolog" -- ant. heterolog),
    then I'll have to give another correct definition:
        The command in IBM's VM/CMS operating system to start up a virtual
        machine under a different userid, with no console.
    
    Another meaning would have been the kind of vehicle driven by Fred
    Flintstone before he could afford an autorock.
    
    Or in Star Trek, after they develop AI, the captain's log can record
    events without imposing on humans.

    Hmm.  No laboring under misconceptions allowed.  This:
    
     > Well, if you're going to put correct definitions in 
     > then I'll have to give another correct definition
    
    is a misconception...  See these excerpts of .2 _supra:_
    
    4.  The PROPOSING PLAYER should eschew all expressions of ignorance or
    knowledge of the true etymology, so as to preserve the suspense of the
    Jury/Audience as to whether any subsequent etymology posted by the
    PROPOSING PLAYER is the true one, or a red herring.
    
    9.  Even if in fact the PROPOSING PLAYER actually DOES know this TRUE
    DEFINITION or ETYMOLOGY, it well behooves them NOT to post such explanation
    right off.  It is expected that the PROPOSING PLAYER actually SHOULD
    propose an answer during the later stages of play.  This may be the real 
    one, or a red herring, at the PROPOSING PLAYER's discretion.
    
    (-: humph. :-)
    

    >Even if in fact the PROPOSING PLAYER actually DOES know this TRUE
    >DEFINITION or ETYMOLOGY, it well behooves them NOT to post such
    >explanation right off.
    
    Yes, you did refrain from posting a proper answer right off, by
    posting a punishing one first.
    
    >It is expected that the PROPOSING PLAYER actually SHOULD propose an
    >answer during the later stages of play.
    
    And you proposed two answers at the earliest stage of play.
    Eat your lectographs!

    One who posts reports of one's own failings.

    Gee, I can only give the definition of "toelog", which is medical
    slang for "autologous blood donation".  Do you suppose you have
    an older version of the term?
    
    						Ann B.

    Gee, (shuffle shuffle, tug at forelock) I guess so...  (consults his
    sources) ...  :-)
    
    Well, that fits (Whoever's?) Law of phonology or phonetic evolution,
    wherein complex terms are whittled down by increased usage.  (Perhaps
    it's some sort of corollary of Benjamin Lee Whorf's Hypothesis? 
    RATHOLE ALERT!! :-)
    
    Anyhow, Ann, congrats on elegantly slipping in your new word under cover
    of philology.
    

    The separation of sperm by sex, using selective electrical charge.
    
    "Rutgers School of Veterinary Medicine reports reliable sex
     determination in cattle using a new laser-guided technology called
    'anagnoresis,' which is a modern variation on classical
     electrophoresis.  If heifers are desired, the polarities are reversed
     and the process is then term 'oestrophoresis.'"
    
    -- Scientific American, "Science for the Citizen" column, Dec. 1992, p. 120
    

    The denouement of a drama.  
    
    P.:  Here it comes.  You down there, wake up for the anagnoresis!
                                             -- Barth, _Chimera,_ p. 306.
    
    
    "You treacherous bloody bitch!"
    
    "But darling, this is what they called the anagnoresis."
    
                                        -- Fowles, _Mantissa,_ p. 191-192.

    	The "agno" obviously comes from the same root as the French
    "agneau" or lamb. This is the withdrawal symptoms when you give up
    sheep.

    Anagnoresis  is a particular condition of what is often less
    discrimnatingly bundled in with the term `ignorance' (perhaps
    because `ignorance' is easier to say, perhaps because `anagnoresis' -
    wanton ignorance, not knowing something because you just don't
    wanna - implies a value judgement: that the person guilty of
    anagnoresis _should_ have been open to the information that he or she
    has locked out.
    
    b

    The negative state attained by nabobs after excessive nattering.
    
    The Vice President said: "The American Media, those 'Nattering Nabobs
    of Negativism,' should be taken out and shot," and worked himself up
    into a state of almost total AgnewEnuresis.  (Archaic usage, circa
    1969.  Current version:  anagnoresis.)
    

    The current economic condition.
    
    Derivation:
    ag ore      = raw materials containing silver.
    ag nore     = raw materials not containing silver.
    agnoresis   = damage caused by raw materials not containing silver.
    anagnoresis = no damage caused by raw materials not containing silver.
    
    The price of silver is so low that its presence or absence in the raw
    materials of the economy (money) cannot possibly make any difference. 
    So the current economic condition has no damage caused by raw materials
    not containing silver.

    Theatrical term, originating at the D'Oyly Carte Theatre in 1893,
    during the very first rehearsals of "The Pirates of Penzance."  The
    scrim, a nautical scene of the harbor at which the ship is moored, was
    originally intended by G&S as the medium through which Buttercup first
    arrives onboard -- via swimming.  Mrs. Hortense Berkshire (a prominent
    soprano of her day) flatly refused, saying "Under NO circumstances
    shall *I* ever attempt to simulate natatory activities with the scrim.  
    _I_ am a firm believer in descrimnaution."
    
    Thus, the gangway arrival scene has come down to us, and as well the
    thespian term for such insistence on the Grand Entrance, which is often
    rendered (a century later, and with some understandable linguistic
    shifts): 
    
    "Well!  SHE certainly did _that_ discrimnatingly!"
    
    Or then again, maybe not...                                            :-)

    Mr. Kalikow,
    
    You have confused "H.M.S. Pinafore" with "The Pirates of Penzance".
    
    You may make amends for this error by attending a performance of
    the latter in two weeks.
    
    						Ann B.

    Er, um, I believe Mrs Berkshire's statement was actually, "... *I* am a
    firm believer in DISCRIMNATATION!" which meant that she would consent
    to the act only if shielded by *two* scrims, thus affording herself an
    ample degree of anonymity - for obvious reasons, in view of her
    proportions.
    
    -dick

    O, how I wish I could say "I _knew_ that, Ms. Broomhead... I was only
    baiting you!"  
    
    But Alas & Alack &c &c, honesty compels me to admit that it was a
    damnable page-fault, brought on by trying to have fun in JOYOFLEX while
    simultaneously attempting the debugging of a recalcitrant termulator-
    script file, but all the more noisome since I am one who was taught G&S
    literally at his parents' knee, and used to sing "Buttercup's Song,"
    "My Object All Sublime" (which I used to render as "The Punish Can Fit
    The Crime") (and which I know comes from The Mikado), and "The Song of
    the Pirate King" all before the age of (I believe) four, and somewhere
    in my dad's basement I could (if pressed) find the dated vinyl disks
    with my live performances to prove it...  My dad constructed one of the
    first home recording studios in the '40s, you see...
    
    O Willow, tit-willow, tit-willow...
    
    (And btw thanks also to Mr. Binder for his welcome correction of the
     historical record.  It pays to study light opera, obviously! :-)
    
    So Ann, give mit the details on this performance.  Would this be the
    one I see advertised at the pretty church in Sudbury, Rt. 27?
    
    Dan
    

    Legal term, a mispeller refusing to testify self-incrimnantly.

    Dan,
    
    You had a song to sing-o?
    What was your song-o?
    
    Yes, the pretty church is our sponsor.  The performances are at the
    Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, which means you go north at
    the light near the church, and turn right at the road-with-traffic-
    island-and-sign a mile-ish (meaning one-half to three miles) on.
    
    						Ann B.

        So is the verb "to streak" derived from the Greek "Eureka!"?
        
        Dan

    G'day,
    
     I always thought 'Eureka' was the root of teh deodorant industry...
    
    dj

	"'Eureka' is Greek for 'This bath is too hot!'"
					-- Doctor Who

    (-: Sorry, Pete Kaiser in 1057.* -- this is the best I can do... :-)
    
    Dan
    

    Joval, (n.):  The oaken-wheeled logging rigs that serve to catch 
    falling trees in the spruce & pine forests of the Canadian Northeast. 
    "Les Habitants," for more than two centuries now, have been dragging
    their jovals right next to the freestanding trees and methodically and
    precisely chopping down each tree such that it lands dead center in the
    joval, using which it can then be dragged to the logging truck or to
    the stream leading to the sawmill.  (They can't allow the jovals to
    rest BEHIND the trees for fear of the devastating consequences of a
    miss, hence the emphasis in many Canadian logging songs on the
    importance of accurate joval placement...)
    
    You're very welcome I am sure.
    
    Dan 

    joval - the `follow cutter' on a two-man crosscut saw.
    
    One logger `leads' the stroke, and the other follows.  Even so, the
    joval must not get behind the beat set by the leader, or the saw is
    liable to bind.
    
    Origin uncertain, perhaps from the name, such as Joseph Valle, of an
    old-time logger.
    
    						Ann B.

    Have at it, me hearties...
    

    Malingry, n:  Underwear that comes off too slowly.

    From "The Auto Repair Handbook," 1909 edition, South Bend, Indiana,
    Fahnstock Press:
    
    "Have a care when driving your Reo or Stanley Steamer into the BEAR
    Brand model 018 alignment rack, for a misplaced wheel flange or an
    impecunious hand on the crankshaft can easily convert $805 worth of
    precision brass instrument into a pile of worthless malingry."
    

    I like it, but where's the definition? I suggest "[configuration of]
    machinery that is not worth repairing; hence, by association, any
    kind of insurance write-off".
    
    b

    A small bit of word-tweezing is always permitted in note 1007.* (quoth
    the basenote author).  "Mal" for "dysfunctional," "aling" with some
    further letter-twiddling (codicil #7a slash 5 of the first sentence
    hereover quothed) produces "align," "gry" by extension from the "gry"
    on "hungry" which apparently (_vide_ base-word "hunger") means "state
    of being."
    
    Now.
    
    Any further questions, DORK!???
    
    :-)
    

    fanfaroon, n.  a lyre-shaped double-reed woodwind band instrument
    (early 19c) with a brazen timbre, supplanted by the serpent (q.v.). 
    The fanfaroon was developed for martial effects in enclosed spaces but
    never achieved wide popularity due to the unorthodox embouchure
    required to exploit the instrument's peculiar tonal characteristics.

    fanfaroon, n.  a trough, found just inside the doors of symphony
    houses in the old west, so that when bedraggled cowboys wandered
    in after some hard work looking for a bit of relief and culture,
    they could first dispose of the inappropriate fanfare that built
    up during the day.

    fanfaroon, n: a throng of adulatory followers.
    
    b

    Fanfaroon, n.  An ornately carved lintel piece, popular in Baroque
    architecture.   

    fanfaroon - a heavily ornamented hot air balloon which frequently
    lead parades in the late Regency period.

    Re .156
    
    Presumably political parades...

    fan-far'oon, n.,  A basket for winnowing corn [M.E. fannfarin from L.
    vannus, basket for winnowing, and farina, corn].
    
    Jon
    

    fanfaroon - one who blows his own horn; i.e., one who produces his
    own fanfare.
    
    						Ann B.

    fanfaroon - the onomatopoeic sound of ignited intestinal gases leaving
    the mouth.
    
    Nick

    Nick,
    
    I believe you have the instrument being operated from the wrong end.
    
    							Ann B.

Ann

RE: .162

So, you figured out what I might have meant :-)

Very many thanks for your laughter-inducing reply.

Nick

PS I've seen what I think you're thinking of done by a human to himself,
   and by a human to a horse.

   The first caused significant singeing to the jeans he was wearing, the
   second launched the horse across the field at break neck speed.

    Nick,
    
    I've only read about it.  In "Weatherman" by Lois McMasters Bujold,
    the enlisted men engaged in such competitions to relieve, ah, their
    boredom.
    
    						Ann B.

    Fins. ( having nothing at all whatsover, in any way, to do with fish)
    

    routant - obese, approaching spherical.

           <<< HYDRA::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]DAVE_BARRY.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -<  Dave Barry - Noted humorist  >-
================================================================================
Note 851.0                Second Honeymoon (St. Lucia)                No replies
QRYCHE::STARR "Remember your mission!"              101 lines  10-JAN-1994 09:59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 16:08:09 EST
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (Dave Barry)
Subject: Second Honeymoon
:
:
A lot of guys, when they are on vacation in
a tropical climate, wear "tank-style" tops, so that if you
happen to glance up from your food mound just as a guy at the next
table raises his arm to signal the waiter for another rum and rum,
you find yourself staring into his hairy armpit, hovering in front
of you like some hideous routant alien space rodent.
:
:
(C) 1994 THE MIAMI HERALD
DISTRIBUTED  BY  TRIBUNE  MEDIA  SERVICES,  INC.

    routant - an invincible mutant, i.e., one which will inevitably rout
              its adversary, and eat their lunch.  The only known counter-
              measure is a good deodorant/antiperspirant.
    
    
    (meaning derived from context)
    

    Disamenities - one of the several causes for stale or unhappy
    relationships that establishments like "Victoria's Secret" &
    "Frederick's of Hollywood" live to avert.  Partners whose sleeping
    companions appear to have fallen into a rut vis-a-vis their nite
    clothes are often found there, purchasing rather diaphanous
    replacements -- particularly around Valentine's Day.  If they know
    wot's good for themselves, that is.
    

    disamenity - any technique for prolonging prayer.
    
    							Ann B.

    Creole slang given as a prefatory apology, in advance of some nattering
    criticism.  E.g., "Disamenity, but you should not in my humble opinion
    have used TWO spaces between 'Dr.' and the person's first name."
    
    Pardon the lack of actual Creole slang in the balance of the preceding
    example.  Disamenity, but I couldn't actually mangle the language any
    further this afternoon... :-)
    

    The work of two nit-pickers who agree.
    
    In general, the work of two nit-pickers who might or might not agree
    is just dinity.

    	Nine year old kid trying to say "thesis" with a lithp.

            What used to be blasphemy (around the time of Cheops).
    
    (corollary expletive which was deleted whenever it was found chiseled
    in hieroglyphics:  phthosiris)
    

    med. Inflamation of the layer of cellulite immediately below the skin
    in those with over-large (diametric, not length) upper legs.  The word
    has been formed by contraction of a minor mispronunciation.

    phthisis, conj. phrase, introduces a logical construction, viz.
    phthisis red thenthatz green.

    	To talk endlessly without ever getting to the point.
    
    	I am not sure if this belongs in here. I have heard it used in that
    sense, but I can't find it in any dictionary. It is possible that it is
    a family word. I would welcome alternative meanings, with or without
    dictionary authority, or a dictionary authority for the above meaning.

    Witter, v. [comp.] to change shape, esp. in conjunction with change[s] in
    foreground or background colours, to wit:  "DECwindows wittered and dyed."

    whitter - v. to engage in talk, esp. chatter, with all subjects reduced
    to a series of minor complaints.  From the Old English thwitan, to
    reduce in size.
    
    							Ann B.

    granfalloon, n : US origin. A person who falls madly in love with his
    maternal grandmother when the leaves turn brown...
    dj

    granfalloon, n: Canadian origin.  A dollar coin that has been spent
    in the city of Granville.

    
    Wasn't this the word coined by Kurt Vonnegut (maybe in "Breakfast of
    Champions"?) to describe groups of people whose common characteristic
    is obscure or silly or of no practical use? I.e., the set of Hoosiers
    (people from the state of Indiana, USA) is a granfalloon?
    
    JP
    

    Yes, it was coined by Vonnegut, but the whole point of Fictionary-like
    games is to take an existing word and construct a plausible but false
    definition for it...
    
    					andrew

    
    Andrew,
    
    I believe my .183 is a proper and well-formed reply as called for in 
    Paragraphs 1 and 5 in 1007.2, "Official Rules of Etymological
    Fictionary, Rev 1.0," by the brilliant, esteemed, and loquacious Dr.
    Kalikow. That is, there is supposed to be a right answer among the
    replies, like a grain of wheat in the fictionary chaff.
    
    JP

    Yer right -- sorry 'bout that.

-< Spondoolix >-

n. Paint agitated and prepared for use by a person with a speech impediment.    

    SPONDOOLIX, a., tm:  A distant ancestor of an operating system now
    marketed by this firm, dating from the days of punched paper tape.

    spondoolix, n.  A verse form apparently unique to the oral traditions
    of the Australian Aboriginal people, generally used to relate legends
    of the Dreamtime.

    spondoolix, n.:  One sub-variety of phoneme-transformational dysphonial
    speech disorder, wherein the intended utterance is produced both in
    spondaic meter and also Spoonerized.
    
    Prizes will be awarded to anyone who can produce an example.
    =====
    PS -- (-: .185 :-) Tnx JP!

    spondoolix - humorous limerick with spondee meter.
    
    							Ann B.

    
    Re: .191
    
    He sure talks purty, don't he?
    
    JP

    .192
    
    > limerick with spondee meter
    
    Now where's that oxymoron topic?

spondoolix - n. The breaking into flame of a hot dish
                made of melted licorice.

How is oe-ligature supposed to be pronounced?

Wook

    Usually these days, the oe ligature is pronounced pretty much as a
    longish e.