Subject: All precincts reporting ...

From: Aussie Meyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 00:59:55 -0600

Pierre Abbat has it in the bag with 8 points and Fran Poodry is runnerup
with an appreciative 5.  Nobody voted for the real definition, although
I probably ought to've written "obsessed with lightness of complexion"
rather than "obsessed with light complexions".
I admit that I followed Ranjit's lead and launched a non-dictionary
word, but it's legit.  I was familiar with "colorstruck" from flapping
my ears at the conversations of black co-workers - it's a fairly common
African-American term for describing someone who's bedazzled by light
complexions.  Literary citations:  'Color Struck' was the title of a
play by Zora Neale Hurston in 1926,  it popped up in the Spike Lee movie
'School Daze' (1988), 'Colorstruck' was the title of a novel by Benita
Porter (1990 - but set in the 1900's).  

"'Color-struck' teachers favored light-skinned students, who were given
the honors and awards, the opportunities for college and jobs."
---from "Barbara Jordan, American Hero", by Mary Beth Rogers 1998 

"... we used to call it being color struck. If you're black, get back;
if you're brown, hang around; if you're light, it's all right."
---Henry Louis Gates, Jr., from an interview on Booknotes, C-SPAN 1994

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

8 fat points for Pierre Abbat +2 (js) +2 (dr) +2 (fp) +2 (ez)
colorstruck - adj. - Made by a process in which different metals are
combined into one coin or medal so as to produce contrast; for example,
a gold head on a silver background.
---"It *ought* to be this, but is it?  I'll give it 2 points,
anyway."-Judith
---"2 points for believability" -Fran
---"25 years ago, I was an avid numismatist, and I would have thought
that I would have encountered this word if this def was real." - J=J
---"Ooooh.  This reminds me of the Canadian $2 coin... This person (and
I suspect that it is a competitor, not the Real Dictionary) suckers me
out of my two-er, on pure nostalgia value (and I really liked those
coins"  -EZ, who also sends a picture URL:
http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/CdnCoinClub/Canada/Z-2k-996.gif

1 point for Judith S. +1 (ec)
colorstruck - adj. - poorly dyed.
"One point.  Also boring, also plausible." - EC
"The problem with this ("Bride of Tip Stretcher") kinda thing is that
these kinda defs, at which I wouldn't look twice in a round with a
"normally obscure" word, are no longer something I can dismiss out of
hand.  Hmm.  But no." -EZ

2.9 points for Eric C. +2 (phma) +1 (j-j) -.1 (for misspotting Elliott)
colorstruck - n. - On a vessel lacking a main gaff, a lightweight yard
extending abaft the main topmast, upon which the colors may be
displayed.
"I'll risk a point by guessing that the masts are Fran Poodry."-
MyShaner
"Too nautical to be credible.  You know how sailors are...." - Elliott
"I'll give this two points, even though it's a noun and the word sounds
like an adjective." -PHMA
"I didn't vote for this because it's a blatant attempt to capitalize on
my memory of the imperative "Strike your colors and heave to!" (or
something) -- either that, or it's the One True Def..." -EZ

2 points for David Randall's nifty  +1 (mys) +1 (nova)
colorstruck - n. - a flock consisting solely of white-fleeced sheep
"... at least on the side facing us." - Elliott
"1 to the sheep, just 'cause I like sheep" - MyShaner
"Cute, but no Stinky Cuban Phallic Tobacco Stick.  Neeeext!" -EZ

4 points for Ranjit's woods +2 (em) +2 (ec)
colorstruck - adj. - (of a woods) barren.
"This leaves me with *nothing* to award my 2-point vote to. Oh, well, I
guess I'll go for the tree def." - Elliott
"Two points.  Boring, but plausible." EC
"This is either the real definition, or a good fakeout.  But my money's
on the latter." - EZ

Goose egg for E.Zuckerman (...condolences)
colorstruck - adj. - characterized by clashing extremes of hue.

3.9 points for MyShaner +2 (j-j) +2 (nova) -.1 (for miscalling Fran)
colorstruck - adj. - supersaturated, producing a blurred photographic
image
"No, I'm a photo-head.  Supersaturated color does not necessarily blur."
- EZ
"I'll have to look up the real term for this. At the office, I've got
the handy-dandy L.A. Times guide to color
reproduction. (Our company runs lots of ads in the Times, and we have to
watch the color to make sure that the blue sky doesn't come out all
purple and murky, and the swimming pool doesn't look like it's filled
with...stuff." - James Kushner

5 points for Fran Poodry +2 (mys) + 2(rsb) +1(ez)
colorstruck - n. - a test pattern for four-color process printing
equipment.
"I've been doing pre-press for years, and never heard this term." -EC
"More recently, I've been involved quite a bit with color printing
(though more spot color than process color), and again, I would have
thought I'd have encountered this." - J-J
"2 pts -- it's a noun and believable." - Ranjit
"Ack.  In an indecision of which-of-these, I give this my onesie." - EZ

Shutout for the real definition (from usage)
colorstruck - adj. - (colloq. Afr/Am) - obsessed with light complexions.
"But "colored" means *dark*, not light. Implausible." - Elliott
"Hee!  High entertainment value." -EC

2 points in Jean-Joseph's rucksack +1(em) +1(fp)
colorstruck - n. - a particularly violent maneuver in Rugby, in which
players enter a standing ruck formation at high speed, attempting to
force the situation through momentum rather than strength.  Prohibited
since 1956 in Rugby Union, permitted in Rugby League.
"1 point for creativity, even though I don't believe it for a minute.
(How can this word be anything but an adjective??)  Sounds like Eric
Cohen, especially that last sentence." - Elliott
"My vote for "most likely to be by Elliott"." - EC
"What's a ruck?" - PHMA
"1 point because I know nothing about rugby, so why not?" = Fran
"In American Football, where this was also outlawed (earlier in the
century), it was the "Flying Wedge".  The wording doesn't say "OED" to
me, though." - EZ

3 for Kir's ailment +1 (js) +1 (dr) +1 (phma)
colorstruck - adj. - suffering from a medical condition in which all
objects have a multi-colored halo. May be neurological or psychosomatic
in origin.
"I don't think this is it, but it seems better than the others.
1 point."-Judith
"One point. There is a term for this, but I'm not sure what it is.
Thurber had it, IIRR." - PHMA
"Isn't this what they call an "optical migraine?"  My mom had one once."
- Fran

9/10 point for Elliott Moreton +1 (rsb) -.1 (for misfingering Eric)
Colorstruck - n. - A subterranean cyclone, often of great destructive
force (sc. _Colorstruck tornado_, after a mine disaster in Colorstruck,
Nevada, in 1888.)
"Subterranean cyclone?? This isn't from the Weather Underground, is it?"
- PHMA
"I initially didn't think of this as happening in a mine or cave, but
rather in the soil itself, as a bizarre seismic phenomenon.  But it's
preposterous anyway.  I could imagine a whirlwind in a mine, but only a
gentle one." - J-J
"1 pt -- it's a noun and reminds me of the locofoco.  RULES FOR SMOKING
UNDERWATER indeed!" - Ranjit
"I haven't been playing as long as everyone else, but I can't remember a
time when a toponym turned out to be correct." - EZ
"A subterranean cyclone? Newspaper citation please." - Nova&James

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

Bonus joke def from EZ:
colorstruck - adj. - having fallen into a fast-onset depression
(from "blue")
"Interesting.  A visiting friend suggested that the real def might turn
out to be something like "embarrassed"" = Jean-Joseph

Bonus bonus joke def from Aussie:  
colorstruck - n. - the truck that carries the equipment for the
colorguard in a marching band.
"I came really close to submitting a def something like "the jeep
preceding the general's car, carrying a flag when moving into a
conquered city"" - J-J

Double-Meat bonus with cheese and bacon:
And in the same vein, Elliott had spare definitions falling
left and
right:
<em)colorstruck -- (adj.)  (of a ship)  Surrendered.

"We thought of this one too, but not as a joke. (No proof
available, of course, since we didn't send anything in.)" N&J

(em)colorstruck -- (n.)  A vehicle for transporting liquid
dyestuffs.