Subject: Boot wins first prize!

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 00:05:16 -0500

First prize goes to Kir the Cordwainer for inventing a boot that never gets 
wet inside, no matter how much it rains! And since the first shall be last, 
the prize is a new last. Let's see how long it lasts. For more information 
about cordwainers and their guild, see http://www.thehcc.org/.

The first set of numbers is the days to make defs; the second is the number of 
votes I hoped to get, but I got only tasn-mi. As "chork" in modern Armenian 
is pronounced "chors", I threw some old forms in.

phma
---
Kir: Oh jeeze... chalk/chert? spork? choke? chock? chortle? Bother!
JJ: I'll vote the straight "Meachinized Fabrication" ticket this time.
James: I will vote for the definition that most closely resemble, without 
actually being, mine. This may help ensure that I will be on the same 
wavelength as the eventual winner, which will give me a leg up when trying to 
deduce the next word...
Judith: All three [the movable lug, the half-dovetailed log, and the lathe 
tool] sound equally likely/unlikely, given my terrific background in 
construction.  

chork, n. (bootmaking) Rabbited wedge between the vamp and sideseam, inserted 
for decorative widening of the sidewall.
by Kir Talmage. 11
1 point for getting her feet wet
Pierre: Rabbit, or rabbet?
AChu: 2 points
Amy: Two points.
James: TWO POINTS
Fran: 2 points
Linda: I'm not sure what a rabbited wedge is, but it sounds comfy--I've been 
wearing my old shoes for too long, so a bit of bunny fur sounds nice.  And my 
new shoes  (see above) are soft, too, even if they chork a little. 2 points

chork, n. A crude type of lathe tool that removes large pieces of excess wood 
at the beginning of the turning process. v. To remove such pieces. Also 
refers to the first stages of excess wood removal in chain saw sculpture.
by Linda Owens. 5
Judith: Let's give 2 points to the lathe tool, 
Kir: Had this been a lathe bit, I'd've been liekly to believe it... at least, 
until I got to the chain saw bit... er. Part.
JJ: Two.
James: ONE POINT
Linda: An amusing story made me think of lathe tools: many years ago, my 
husband David's grandfather owned a small factory that made steam traps, 
which look a bit like toilet floats. They were made from copper sheets that 
were turned on a lathe, using special heavy wood and metal shapers.  After a 
while the business was sold to someone in NH, and even later, about ten years 
ago, the three lathe tools ended up at an antique shop nearby, after they 
were no longer needed.  Shortly thereafter, while on a walk near the family 
summer cottage, my husband happened to go into the same antique shop, like 
the look of the lathe tools, which he had never seen before; and because the 
owner did not anticipate anyone else buying them, he sold them to David for 
$5.00 each.  It was David's uncle who confirmed that David had indeed bought 
back the Family Tools.  Linda  PS We love them and the story that goes with 
them.

chork, n. A cowhand who signs on with a ranch with the motive of gathering 
information, e.g. about business practices for a rival ranch, or of 
opportunities for rustling the stock.
by Jean-Joseph Cote. 4
Kir: Damn. Alright 2 pts, for not being related to anythign else I can think 
of.
Snibor: Industrial espionage in the heartland!  1 point!
Linda: This doesn't sound especially Western, but I have a weakness for 
cowboys, so 1 point.

chork, n. A unit of data equal to 12 bits, or one-and-a-half bytes.
by Eric. 2
Snibor: Why would anyone ever need to refer to such a unit?  And couldn't they 
come up with a better name for it?  I mean, they did such a good job with 
nybble (half a byte).
David: 2 points
Linda: Oh, no, another one of those imaginary numbers!

chork, n. A piece of lint or other debris, found in an unlikely place.
by Judith Schrier. 2
Snibor: I like this.  Has a certain air of plausibility to it, a quiet 
elegance. 2 points.
Linda: Hmm--the usual places are belly buttons and toes, so the unlikely 
places could be anywhere.

chork, v. To make the noise which the feet do when the shoes are full of 
water.
by Oxford E. Dictionary. 2
Kir: 1 pt.
Amy: One point, I can't quite believe it, but I'd like to.
Linda: It can also be Squish.  I just got some new walking shoes that even 
when dry make me sound like The Penguin from the very old Batman series 
 (Burgess Meredith?).

chork, n. A rock resembling flint and consisting essentially of a large amount 
of fibrous chalcopyrites with smaller amounts of amorphous, crystalline, 
granitic silicates.
by Jeff Hutchinson. 2
AChu: 1 point
Kir: chalk and chert...
David: 1 point
Linda: Would that be chert?

chork, n. A movable lug, allowing adjustments in shape between production 
runs, in metal fabrication.  
by Fran Poodry. 2
Judith: and one to the movable lug.
Kir: chock...
JJ: One.
Linda: I don't remember this def--it suddenly appeared, but it sounds the most 
plausible.  Then, again, aren't most lugs movable by adjusting the lug nut? 
Linda  Is it Moveable?  Can't recall.

chork, n. A half-dovetailed log used as the topmost log in a log-cabin wall 
that is otherwise fully dovetailed.
by James Kushner. 2
James: Predicted number of votes: zero. On the other hands, somebody's gotta 
pad the ranks.
Eric: Two points.
Linda: Someone has been playing with Lincoln Logs, I assume?  This is a nice 
def, and maybe it's real if the log in question is part of one of those 
full-sized gorgeous log houses one can build. 

Amy: 1

chork, n. A suppressed laugh or chuckle.
by Arthur Chu. 1
Kir: chortle...
Eric: One point.
Fran: 1 point
Linda: Chortle?

chork, v. To caulk a chicken coop.
by Ranjit Bhatnagar. 0
Linda: Actually, chork sounds more like to strangle a chicken.  Linda  And 
caulking a poultry pen is self -defeating:  if you make the pen too warm, it 
attracts all sorts of pests from bugs to rodents. It's usually best to give 
them shelter from rain and snow, by having little nesting boxes that you line 
with hay and protect from the wind with overhangs and/or winter "storm 
windows" of cloth or plastic.  Although, many farmers have taken to making 
little coops (which could be caulked) on wheels, so the chickens can roam in 
the day and go in at night, with the space to be eaten (bugs and weeds) 
ever-changing, but the eggs being laid inside and the chickens having 
protection from predators at night.

chork, n. A fork whose tines have rounded ends, intended to be safe for 
children.
by Joe Robins. 0
Judith: That's a spork, Linda.
Kir: spork...
Snibor: Hrm, I could really have worded that better.  Doesn't sound very 
dictionaryish.
Linda: I think my kids' school cafeteria served sporks.

chork, v. (prison slang) To stuff a fork down someone's gullet.
by David Randall. 0
Kir: choke...
Linda: Yikes!  Could that be a pun on Choke?

-- 
.i toljundi do .ibabo mi'afra tu'a do
.ibabo damba do .ibabo do jinga
.icu'u la ma'atman.

---

From: James Kushner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 06:55:02 -0500

Hi everyone!

>Linda: I think my kids' school cafeteria served sporks.

Did everyone else use a different spork than I did? My spork-memories are 
of a plastic utensil with a rounded bowl and shortened tines, but the ends 
of the tines were still pointy.
I didn't comment on the entries much, but I did think that this definition 
was the funniest - if the ends of the tines are rounded, how useful is it 
as a fork, for children or anyone? You couldn't use the thing to impale 
food. (Well, it could still work for tofu or overboiled vegetables, I 
suppose.) I guess it depends on how rounded the ends are.

Onwards,
James

---

From: Snibor Eoj <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 13:11:17 -0500 (EST)

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003, James Kushner wrote:

> Did everyone else use a different spork than I did? My spork-memories
> are of a plastic utensil with a rounded bowl and shortened tines, but
> the ends of the tines were still pointy. I didn't comment on the entries
> much, but I did think that this definition was the funniest - if the
> ends of the tines are rounded, how useful is it as a fork, for children
> or anyone? You couldn't use the thing to impale food. (Well, it could
> still work for tofu or overboiled vegetables, I suppose.) I guess it
> depends on how rounded the ends are.

No, this is not a spork.  Your memory is correct.  I have seen a plastic
fork like this (which is what gave me the idea for the def) which is
really shaped just like a normal fork, but with little rounded ends.  
It's not good for spearing, but it's fine for little children to eat mushy
foods.

Snibor Eoj

[email-masked]                     http://journal.oygevalt.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm a member of the Non-Sequitur Association of America
  "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make
   a silk purse out of a pig in a poke."  - Opus

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 21:20:10 -0500 (EST)

Wow, I won.

I am totally unprepared for this. 

What about:

orbity

kir, the not so speedy.

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From: Elliott Moreton <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:08:02 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 [email-masked] wrote:

I think that's the state or condition of being an orphan.  If not, then I 
don't know it.

em

---

From: Elliott Moreton <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:15:40 -0500 (EST)

Ack, sorry, that wasn't supposed to go to the list.  

em

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:46:03 -0500 (EST)

> I think that's the state or condition of being an orphan.  If not, then

Yep, that would it.

Thanks to DR & JJ for nifty defs, but I guess I'm on to finding a new word. 

Kir, who'll get back to you soon's I can (but not 'til tomorrow at best)

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 11:31:24 -0500 (EST)

How about

simarouba

Kir

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:41:03 -0500 (EST)

Someone knows enough about simarouba to guess the meaning in a list:
simarouba (plural si·ma·rou·bas) or simaruba (plural si·ma·ru·bas)
noun 
tree with medicinal properties: a tropical American tree of the quassia family 
with bark that has various medicinal properties. Genus Simaruba.

Try this word: 

MAGUARI

Kir

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 12:33:15 -0500 (EST)

MAGUARI

I've received 5 definitions so far, and no claims of clue. 

So I think definition submittal shall end next Wednesday 26 November at 3
(THREE) p.m. Eastern US Time. I will send the votable defs as soon as I can
after that (I picked 3 p.m. so I could get 'em out that day if all goes well)
and you'll have a week to vote.

Merrily, Kir

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 11:37:39 -0500 (EST)

MAGUARI defs: please vote with the 2/1 system as has become usual. Voting closes
3 p.m. December 5th. Comments welcome with votes!

Hope y'all are enjoying this long-for-some-of-us weekend.  This is the most
productive thing I've done all day.  *merrygrin*

Kir

--------------------------------------------------------------------

maguari (n) 1. A mustache worn on the lower lip. 2. (Mil. sl.)  An
unforseen absurdity required by regulations.  [Devised by Capt. F. Maguari
(1871-1916), Brazilian Antarctic explorer, to meet the Brazilian army's
mustache requirement while minimizing his men's sniffle problem.]

maguari (n) the chinking compound used in Navajo hogans.

maguari (n) 1. A cactus of the prickly pear family.  2. The juice of the maguari
cactus, used as a health tonic.

maguari (n) [Guaran=ED] Either of two trogons, Baucomia maguari and B.
flavirostris, of Paraguay and Bolivia.

maguari (n) Payments made by a former employee to a company in order to continue
insurance coverage or other perquisites after termination.

maguari (n) A guari in the possession of a Southerner.

maguari (n) A tall Austrian wedding-cake, with white sugar icing and batter
flavored with sweet red peppers.

maguari (n) A traitor in the ranks of the royal household staff.

maguari (n) The class of organisms which rely on geothermal energy and minerals
for their metabolic needs, rather than on solar energy or biological nutrition.

maguari (n) A South American stork (Euxenara maguari), having a forked tail.

maguari (n) A spicy condiment made from a puree of the fruits of the tamarind
and cherimoya (guanabana) plants.

maguari (n) A dress-like garment worn by older women in Gabon.  It is usually
black or very dark blue, and has no decoration.

maguari (n) A straw made of natural sugar cane used in some alcoholic drinks.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 13:17:03 -0500 (EST)

Aussie’s condiment is complimented with 9 points. Yay, Aussie!
Nice defs, way fun to read (causing giggles and odd looks at work). Sorry to not
send tally out Friday though... the day escaped me in some slithery fashion.  --Kir

Spreads and Commentary follow: 

James: General comment: wow, lots of biology here.
General comment #2: this is much more fun than studying for my finals.

Linda: These were terribly tricky. I split my votes into thirds, 1 point each,
sorry, but I had to.

Elliott wins 3:
maguari (n) 1. A mustache worn on the lower lip. 2. (Mil. sl.) An unforeseen
absurdity required by regulations. [Devised by Capt. F. maguari (1871-1916),
Brazilian Antarctic explorer, to meet the Brazilian army's mustache requirement
while minimizing his men's sniffle problem.] 
     1 (MyS)
     1 (James)
     1 (Linda)
Pierre:   Preposterous. David Randall?
MyS:      delightful but implausible chin mustache, otherwise known as a goatee.
James:    This one's beautifully silly. Did Brazil ever explore the Antarctic? I
imagine that it would have involved more cross-border cooperation with Argentina
than either side would have been comfortable with.
Amy:      Ahahahaha. I truly regret that this definition is clearly false –
sniffle problem! Brazilian Antarctic explorer! Hee!
JJ:       Sounds like the work of Elliott.
Linda:    I can't quite recall the name of the mustache where the sides go down
the cheeks and make the guy look tough, but I like this def because of the
resemblance to my memory, the difficulty of my picturing this one, and the
sniffle problem. If it's wrong, it's still absurdly appealing as a def.

JDMS wins 1:
maguari (n) the chinking compound used in Navajo hogans. 
     1 (JJ)
Pierre:   This sounds more Hopi than Navajo. IIRR there is no 'm' in Navajo.
Elliott:  YURT ALERT! YURT ALERT! YURT ALERT! Listeners are advised to take
refuge in their yurt shelters and stay tuned for further announcements.
James:    What's a hogan?
Amy:      Are hogans Navajo? <dubious>
JJ:       We know Kir builds houses, so perhaps she's familiar with varied
construction techniques, and would know a word like this. I'm trying to remember
exactly what a hogan looks like, and whether it would require chinking, but in
any case, I'll award this ONE POINT.  [Kir adds: *grin* I do and I might be,
although I’d be more likely to know about straw bale construction than hogans,
per se.] 
Linda:    But wouldn't this be adobe as well?

Linda wins 6:
maguari (n) 1. A cactus of the prickly pear family. 2. The juice of the maguari
cactus, used as a health tonic. 
     2 (David)
     2 (Aussie)
     1 (Arthur)
     1 (Fran)
Pierre:   Saguaro.
James:    "saguaro"-derived
JJ:       Finally realized what seemed to tickle my brain about thus: the
-aguar- is redolent of "saguaro". But that's not enough to tempt me.
Linda:    Originally I thought this sounded like a cocktail. 

Pierre wins 2:
maguari (n) [Guaran=ED] Either of two trogons, Baucomia maguari and B.
flavirostris, of Paraguay and Bolivia. 
     1 (Judith)
     +1 for guessing right
Aussie:   Patently claptrap!
James:    What's a trogon?  [Kir adds: I think someone should send you some
postcards from tropical countries! I think I got a trogon postcard from ... um
... Costa Rica?]
JJ:       I'll guess Pierre.
Linda:    No idea what a trogon is. Probably it. 

Jean-Joseph:
maguari (n) Payments made by a former employee to a company in order to continue
insurance coverage or other perquisites after termination. 
Aussie:   COBRA!
MyS:      The perqs practice is illegal, I believe, but...
James:    I wish this had a generic term, but suspect that there isn't one. I
just knew it as COBRA (which I may be misremembering as an acronym, hence the
all-caps). It was also known as "how to go broke fast." Fortunately, I
eventually became re-employed, after a fashion.
Linda:    Isn't that Cobra?

David: 
maguari (n) A guari in the possession of a Southerner. 
Aussie:   Ha ha.
Pierre:   Cothurnus: An entity that shares its thurnus with another.
	  Costean: To jointly control the stean.
	  What's a guari?
Elliott:  Nah, no Southerner would be caught dead possessing a guari. It's much
too effete. We just use our fingers.
James:    Yep.
Linda:    Is this a joke def?

Eric wins 2:
maguari (n) A tall Austrian wedding-cake, with white sugar icing and batter
flavored with sweet red peppers. 
     2 (Fran)
Aussie:   "Arnold and Maria's traditional maquari sent the clan panting for
drink in a manner unbefitting even the Boston Irish."
James:    That sounds good, actually. However, "maugari" sounds nothing like an
Austrian/Germanic word. (Or am I limiting myself here?)
Amy:      I might have bought it if it was Australian, but not Austrian...
JJ:       Certainly doesn't look like a German word to me.
Linda:    I have trouble imagining a cake with peppers, even in Mexico. I
suppose if there is a Spanish riding school in Vienna, that peppers would not be
out of place, either.

James wins 1:
maguari (n) A traitor in the ranks of the royal household staff. 
     1 (Elliott)
Elliott:  I like this one! I suppose it could also apply to tattletale butlers.
Is it an eponym, like a quisling?
James:    Mine. It would have sounded better with a derivation, but I didn't
have the wit to come up with one
JJ:       Hmm... I'll guess David.
Linda:    Is a quisling a traitor? Who then was Maguari? One of those tell-all
servants? Or someone who enjoyed sending the royals to the guillotine?

Fran wins 1:
maguari (n) The class of organisms which rely on geothermal energy and minerals
for their metabolic needs, rather than on solar energy or biological nutrition. 
     1 (Linda)
Aussie:   A nice idea, but not it.
Pierre:   Thermophiles.
JJ:       There are things like this. But I've never heard this word used to
describe them.
Linda:    No idea of the name of this class or whether it should be capitalized,
but I like the idea of these elusive creatures.

Online Plain Text dictionary (http://www.mso.anu.edu.au//~raplh/OPTED/ ):
maguari (n) A South American stork (Euxenara maguari), having a forked tail. 
     1 (Pierre)
     2 (Judith)
Pierre:   One point for the birds. Since it resembles my def, it's probably not
real.
Elliott:  Are there New World storks? I don't remember, but I'm skeptical.
JJ:       I do like this, but alas, I'm out of points.
Linda:    Actually, this sounds possibly like the cry of a stork. 

Aussie wins 9:
maguari (n) A spicy condiment made from a puree of the fruits of the tamarind
and cherimoya (guanabana) plants. 
     1 (David)
     2 (Arthur)
     2 (Pierre)
     2 (MyS)
     2 (Amy)
James:   Tamarind and guanabana sounds like it would be sweet, not spicy. Then
again, I'm still (three days later) in my post-Thanksgiving food coma (induced
by three desserts), so everything sounds like it would be sweet.
JJ:      Like the cactus, the etymological resemblance to guanabana isn't enough
to sway me. 
Linda:   Judith, have you been cooking with interesting yummy fruits? 

Judith wins 5:
maguari (n) A dress-like garment worn by older women in Gabon. It is usually
black or very dark blue, and has no decoration. 
     2 (James)
     1 (Linda)
     + 2 for guessing right
Aussie:  Bit hot and conservative for Gabon, isn't it? I'll give this unlikely
one one point to balance.
James:   This gets TWO POINTS from me, for its absence of biological eymology.
JJ:      Not bad, and I might have gone for it if there weren't others I liked
better.
Linda:   I think the very dark blue got to me, even though the word sounds very
Spanish, and I would suspect that the women of Gabon would use tie-die or
lighter trim. I was amazed at the prevalence of dark, usually black clothing,
among older women of Europe, so it doesn't surprise me here. 

MyS wins 3:
maguari (n) A straw made of natural sugar cane used in some alcoholic drinks.
     1 (Amy)
     2 (JJ)
Aussie:  Whew, that'll put Karo in yer hookah! Do not try this at home.
Pierre:  Before or after it's turned into bagasse?
Elliott: Dude, like a margarita bong! Two points for a clever invention.
James:   I'll have a maguarita, please.
JJ:      Does this work? Is there a way to get the stuff out of the middle so
that the liquid can pass through? Or is this just a lot of bagasse? Well, I like
it, and hereby award it TWO POINTS.
Linda:   This has a nice feel to it. Not sure you can make a straw from cane,
though.

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 14:14:34 -0500

On Monday 08 December 2003 13:17, [email-masked] wrote:
> postcards from tropical countries! I think I got a trogon postcard from ...
> um ... Costa Rica?]
> JJ:       I'll guess Pierre.

A trogon is a kind of bird, of which the best known is the quetzal. The word 
means "gnawer" in Greek, presumably because of the way they make their nests 
in tree trunks.

> Jean-Joseph:
> maguari (n) Payments made by a former employee to a company in order to
> continue insurance coverage or other perquisites after termination.
> Aussie:   COBRA!
> James:    I wish this had a generic term, but suspect that there isn't one.
> I just knew it as COBRA (which I may be misremembering as an acronym, hence
> the all-caps). It was also known as "how to go broke fast." Fortunately, I

COBRA, or CORBA? CORBA (Common Object Reserve Broker Architecture, or 
something like that) is a sort of interprocess communication in computers.

> maguari (n) A South American stork (Euxenara maguari), having a forked
> tail. 1 (Pierre)
>      2 (Judith)
> Pierre:   One point for the birds. Since it resembles my def, it's probably
> not real.

Several sites called it Ciconia maguari.

phma