Subject: [Fictionary] GALLY ballot

From: Fran Poodry <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 11:26:54 -0800

Please send 1-point and 2-point votes by the morning of January 13.
I'm excited that there are two verbs and two adjectives among the usual
collection of nouns!
-Fran

GALLY

gally, v. to inscribe a possession with a name or other identifying
information as proof of ownership

gally, n. a Hungarian plant, Feketefeheria sopronensis, in the family

Aristolochiaceae, used in folk medicine.

gally, n. a perch with a vertical scrim beneath it, used in falconry.

gally, v. frighten, terrify

gally, n. a small, sharpened awl, used to create eyelets or perforation
vents in leather shoes or sneakers.

gally, adj. of paint, fractured by a network of small cracks.

gally, n. a silk and ivory flywhisk.

gally, adj. comfortable; just right. Likely shortened from "Goldilocks"
circa 1850.

gally, n. swagger, insolence.

-- 
*Fran Poodry (she/her)*
*Oregon, USA*

*“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61107.Margaret_Mead>*

---

From: Fran Poodry <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2025 15:42:35 -0800

Don’t forget to vote on GALLY fictionitions!
I’ll try to tally these up over my lunch on Monday.
-Fran

On Fri, Jan 3, 2025 at 11:26 AM Fran Poodry <[email-masked]> wrote:

> *“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret
> Mead <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61107.Margaret_Mead>*
>

---

From: Fran Poodry <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 11:35:37 -0800

GALLY results

Jim wins with 7 points, since I didn't count his 1-point vote for himself.
Jean-Joseph avoided this problem and checked his sent messages - and earned
6 points to tie with Merriam-Webster.com for second place.

-Fran

-Ranjit, 0

“Overthinking this: Fran was excited by the fact that there were verbs,
suggesting that just maybe the word isn't really a verb. So for no other
reason, I'll throw out this verb.” - Jean Joseph

-Pierre, 2

2 points, correct guess

“No plants/animals. (And plants don't have nationalities.) (And what kind
of plant?) (And the word doesn't look particularly Hungarian to me.)” -
Jean-Joseph

-Jim, 7

2 points, Ranjit

2 points, Joshua

2 points, Jean-Joseph “This looks way too much like the kind of definition
that someone would make up. But also the kind of word someone would choose
if she stumbled across it. So for that reason, plus the process of
elimination, Two Points!”

1 point, Pierre ”One point and the yarak award. Can you have a bass with a
scrim beneath it?”

Also Jim gave himself 1 point, but I am not counting it. “1 point, though I
don’t remember coming across it when I was looking at falconry terms in
preparation for the YARAK round.”

-“Gally.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 6

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gally. Accessed 3 Jan. 2025.

1 point, Hutch “I like it”

1 point, Eric “Not clearly wrong”

1 point, Jean-Joseph “Just the sort of ordinary definition that is often
real. But it loses the coin toss because of verbiness. One Point!”

2 points, Pierre

1 point, Wesley

-Joshua, 2

2 points, Wesley

“As opposed to the dull awls that are used for all other purposes?” -
Jean-Joseph

-Eric, 3

2 points, David

1 point, correct guess

“I think I've seen a word for this, but I don't think it was ‘gally’.” -
Jean-Joseph

-David, 2

1 point, Ranjit

1 point, Joshua

“It's so tempting to look up whether a "flywhisk" is really a thing. And
I'm imagining someone needing one, and being delighted upon being presented
with a gally, instead of some pedestrian version made of willow and linen.
And I'm wondering whether this is just a flyswatter and the fancy ivory and
silk is still just going to smoosh a bug.” - Jean-Joseph

This made me think of the Daoist horsetail whisk:
https://daoistgate.com/understanding-the-horsetail-whisk/ - Fran

-Nick, 2

2 points, Jim “2 points for the awesome origin story”

“Would have gotten points, but for the derivation.” -Eric

“In Swedish there's a word "lagom" that pretty much has this meaning.” -
Jean-Joseph

-Jean-Joseph, 6

2 points, Hutch “I can see this noun getting verbed as well.”

1 point, David

2 points, Eric

1 point, correct guess

“I wonder if I would have voted for this if I hadn't gone through my Sent
messages and found out that it was mine.” -Jean-Joseph

Hutch and Wesley, though they did not submit definitions, get 1 point each
for guessing correctly.

-- 
*Fran Poodry (she/her)*
*Oregon, USA*

---

From: Jim Moskowitz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 14:38:40 -0500

Wow, my face is red! I had completely forgotten that that suspicious falconry submission was *my* suspicious falconry submission.   o.O

I’ll think about what word, or what sort of variety round, I want to run next.

-Jim

> On Jan 13, 2025, at 2:35 PM, Fran Poodry <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> GALLY results
> 
> Jim wins with 7 points, since I didn't count his 1-point vote for himself. Jean-Joseph avoided this problem and checked his sent messages - and earned 6 points to tie with Merriam-Webster.com for second place.
> -Fran
> 
> gally, v. to inscribe a possession with a name or other identifying information as proof of ownership
> -Ranjit, 0
> “Overthinking this: Fran was excited by the fact that there were verbs, suggesting that just maybe the word isn't really a verb. So for no other reason, I'll throw out this verb.” - Jean Joseph
> 
> gally, n. a Hungarian plant, Feketefeheria sopronensis, in the family Aristolochiaceae, used in folk medicine.
> -Pierre, 2
> 2 points, correct guess
> “No plants/animals. (And plants don't have nationalities.) (And what kind of plant?) (And the word doesn't look particularly Hungarian to me.)” - Jean-Joseph
> 
> 2 points, Jean-Joseph “This looks way too much like the kind of definition that someone would make up. But also the kind of word someone would choose if she stumbled across it. So for that reason, plus the process of elimination, Two Points!”
> 1 point, Pierre ”One point and the yarak award. Can you have a bass with a scrim beneath it?”
> Also Jim gave himself 1 point, but I am not counting it. “1 point, though I don’t remember coming across it when I was looking at falconry terms in preparation for the YARAK round.”
> 
> 1 point, Jean-Joseph “Just the sort of ordinary definition that is often real. But it loses the coin toss because of verbiness. One Point!”
> 2 points, Pierre
> 1 point, Wesley
> 
> gally, n. a small, sharpened awl, used to create eyelets or perforation vents in leather shoes or sneakers. 
> -Joshua, 2
> 2 points, Wesley
> “As opposed to the dull awls that are used for all other purposes?” - Jean-Joseph
> 
> “I think I've seen a word for this, but I don't think it was ‘gally’.” - Jean-Joseph
> 
> “It's so tempting to look up whether a "flywhisk" is really a thing. And I'm imagining someone needing one, and being delighted upon being presented with a gally, instead of some pedestrian version made of willow and linen. And I'm wondering whether this is just a flyswatter and the fancy ivory and silk is still just going to smoosh a bug.” - Jean-Joseph
> This made me think of the Daoist horsetail whisk: https://daoistgate.com/understanding-the-horsetail-whisk/ - Fran
> 
> gally, adj. comfortable; just right. Likely shortened from "Goldilocks" circa 1850.
> -Nick, 2
> “In Swedish there's a word "lagom" that pretty much has this meaning.” - Jean-Joseph
> 
> “I wonder if I would have voted for this if I hadn't gone through my Sent messages and found out that it was mine.” -Jean-Joseph
> 
> Hutch and Wesley, though they did not submit definitions, get 1 point each for guessing correctly.
> 
> 
> I'm excited that there are two verbs and two adjectives among the usual collection of nouns!
> -Fran
> 
> GALLY
> 
> gally, v. to inscribe a possession with a name or other identifying information as proof of ownership
> 
> gally, n. a small, sharpened awl, used to create eyelets or perforation vents in leather shoes or sneakers.
> 
> gally, adj. comfortable; just right. Likely shortened from "Goldilocks" circa 1850.
> 
> Fran Poodry (she/her)
> Oregon, USA
> “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” 
> ― Margaret Mead
> 
> 
> -- 
> Fran Poodry (she/her)
> Oregon, USA
> 
> “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” 
> ― Margaret Mead

---

From: Ranjit Bhatnagar <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:01:28 -0500

I had no memory of yarak, so I looked it up in my email archives: it was a
fictionary word back in 2014! I'm impressed that two of you thought of it!

I do occasionally remember fictionary words from the* '90s*, though.
(Afflatus! Loco-foco!) In conclusion, memory is a land of contrasts.

---

From: J-J Cote <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:14:32 -0500

I tried looking it up in my archives as well, even though I knew they
weren't completely up to date. Turns out that my list doesn't go past "fub"
in the spring of '09...

Jean-Joseph

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:21:59 -0500

> of plant?) (And the word doesn't look particularly Hungarian to me.)” -

We've had galah, masdevallia, foumart, mahonia, stepmother's blessing, 
goolayyalibee, reremouse, skirret, vetiver, and snottygobble, not counting 
some I've picked, such as dogdrave and ked.

Plants don't have nationalities, but they can be endemic to countries. The 
species name indicates that the plant was found in Sopron, near the Hungary/
Austria border.

What kind of plant? A plant in the family Aristolochiaceae, many of whose 
flowers look like peculiarly bent tubes. Aristolochia (birthwort) used to be 
used as medicine in childbirth, until they figured out it's poisonous.

"Gally" is a real Hungarian word, meaning "twig". The other words with "lly" 
(which is the letter "ly" doubled) are "Illyés", "súllyed", and "zsöllye".

Pierre
-- 
ve ka'a ro klaji la .romas. se jmaji

---

From: J-J Cote <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:15:25 -0500

So, looking it up afterwards (and probably news to nobody but me), a
flywhisk is totally a thing, they're used primarily to shoo flies away
rather than to swat them, and they're often ceremonial, so one made of
ivory and silk would totally make sense.

Jean-Joseph

On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM Fran Poodry <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Also Jim gave himself 1 point, but I am not counting it. “1 point, though
> I don’t remember coming across it when I was looking at falconry terms in

---

From: David Randall <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:57:29 -0500

I invented the definition on the fly (so to speak). Looking it up, I see
there *are* ivory flywhisks! -- but not silk (save for modern rayon-silk),
presumably because silk is absolutely lousy for whisking flies. -- David

On Tue, Jan 14, 2025 at 10:16 AM J-J Cote <[email-masked]>
wrote:

>> Jim wins with 7 points, since I didn't count his 1-point vote for
>> himself. Jean-Joseph avoided this problem and checked his sent messages -
>> and earned 6 points to tie with Merriam-Webster.com for second place.
>>
>> -Fran
>>
>> 2 points, Jean-Joseph “This looks way too much like the kind of
>> definition that someone would make up. But also the kind of word someone
>> would choose if she stumbled across it. So for that reason, plus the
>> process of elimination, Two Points!”
>>