Subject: Ponask Results: ... By A Nose

From: Hutch <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 15:30:12 -0600

I thought I had mailed this out last week. But in checking 
my own Inbox *and* Sent Mail folders, I can't find it 
anywhere. So I must not have.

After a spirited battle, J-J takes the win by a nose ... 
hmm, perhaps "by an en" would be more appropriate in this 
context.

Honorable mention awards go to Judith in second place and 
Aussie, who collected the most 'Gee! if only I had more 
votes' mentions.

So, take it away, J-J!

BB,
Hutch

========================================

ponask  n  a stone anvil used in the fabrication of arrow 
points
by Jean-Joseph Coté
5 points

Fran Poodry: 2 points: nice and boring
Judith E. Schrier: Sure, two points.
J-J Coté: Mine, created in collaboration with my 7.5 year 
old friend Stephen.
David Randall: 1

ponask  n  johnnycake stuffed with peppers, ham, etc
by Ranjit Bhatnagar
2 points

J-J Coté: Corn pone -- don' ask!
David Randall: 2

ponask  n  1. Also _ponask effect_. Suction produced when 
strong wind is channelled between adjacent circular 
structures. 2. A triangular array of tents or similar 
structures which reduces this suction
by Elliott Moreton
2 points

Fran Poodry: yurts, perhaps?
Ranjit Bhatnagar: 2 pts for an effect.
Pierre Abbat: I've seen a picture of a boat propelled by 
two tall cylinders, but they wouldn't generate any push 
unless they're spinning.
J-J Coté: Suction observed in what way, I wonder? I'm 
picturing a tank farm, and as wind blows by, it's 
necessarily accelerated in order to squeeze through the 
reduced cross-section. Naturally, this causes a drop in 
pressure as per Bernoulli. So where's the suction? Pulling 
inward on the tanks? Who would care? It's a little hard to 
imagine that they'd put up tents in order to reduce this, 
as opposed to something more permanent. Maybe there's some 
other kind of circular structures where this would be an 
issue. Not obvious why a triangular array would be 
especially effective, and I also raise an eyebrow at the 
idea that the same word applies to both the problem and the 
solution. I furthermore think this would be named after 
Prof. Ponask, and would be capitalized. But it does seem 
very reminiscent of a legend from MIT, the truth of which 
is unclear to me. The tallest building on campus is the 
Green Building (aka Bldg. 54), and it has a large archway 
at ground level. Supposedly when they first built it, the 
doors could not be opened if it was windy out, due to 
unforeseen aerodynamic issues. The solution came in two 
parts. One was to install revolving doors, in circular 
housings (I did hear something about their rotating like 
windmills early on, but I don't know if that's true). Th 
other was to install a huge (roughly triangular) Calder 
sculpture in front of the building which alters the 
airflow. Still, when a tropical storm blows through, the 
wind gets wild under the building, and you'll see bunches 
of students having fun by seeing how far forward they can 
lean without falling over, until the cops chase them away 
(though I don't understand why). After all that, I will 
award this definition no points.
Hutch: Interestingly, no one but Fran noticed that this is 
a 'yurt' definition. That's right, not even me.

ponask  n  beer fermented with a lump of rock salt
by David Randall
0 points

Judith E. Schrier: Oh, yummy!
Pierre Abbat: Calibogus award.
J-J Coté: Hutch knows beer. Still, yuck.
Hutch: That's right. Hutch knows beer. And he 
agrees: "Yuck!"

ponask  v  to surround food with cut greenery as in a 
wreath around the main entree of a meal
by Fran Poodry
0 points

Pierre Abbat: I've seen this done often enough that I ought 
to recognize the word for it. Isn't it "garnish"? I'll 
garnish your wages with lettuce.
J-J Coté: People certanly do that. Doesn't look like a word 
that would come from one of the European countries noted 
for fine vittles, though.

ponask  n  among eastern Algonquians, one who was expelled 
from the tribe for violation of the totem laws
by Pierre Abbat
2 points

J-J Coté: I think they were "Algonquins", but I'm not 
positive.
Elliott Moreton: Two points!  There's just something about 
the shape of that word....

ponask  n  a tubular hat of Persian lamb fur
by Judith E. Schrier
4 points

Pierre Abbat: Two points for Persian lamb.
J-J Coté: I'm going to go for this to the tune of two 
points even though when I picture it in my mind, the fellow 
sporting it is standing in front of a yurt. And for whimsy, 
I'm interpreting the "tubular" bit to mean that it has no 
top, and will fill up with snow, leaves, dust, etc. if you 
don't doff it periodically.
Elliott Moreton: A yurt for your head!
Hutch: I had envisioned this not as a yurt for your head 
but something more like a Cossack's fur hat: wider at the 
top than at the base.

ponask  v  to cook game by splitting it and roasting it on 
a spit 
by Real: _Forthright's Phrontistery: Obscure Words and 
Vocabulary Resources: Compendium of Lost Words_, 
<http://phrontistery.50megs.com/clw3.html>

J-J Coté: Seems like a pretty normal way to roast 
something. Would it have a special word?
Hutch: It would and *did*. The Compendium is a delightful 
source of extremely rare words. Basically, its creator 
claims that these are words that appear on the Web exactly 
two places: in the OED and on this page. If anyone is 
actually keeping a web page of all our words, this one will 
have to be removed from the Compendium of Lost Words after 
it appears on that page.

ponask  adj  rounded at the corners, as a wooden block made 
safer for children
by lindafowens
3 points

Fran Poodry: 1 point:
Ranjit Bhatnagar: 1 pt for adjectivism! also, it describes 
an ipod.
J-J Coté: I like the fact that this is an adjective. I like 
it very much. Enough to award it one point, even though I 
don't believe it at all.
Elliott Moreton: I like it. Ponask could be the name of a 
Danish toy company. But I'm out of points.

ponask  n  a protective girdle of woven leather straps
by Aussie Meyer
3 points

Judith E. Schrier: Why not? One point.
Ranjit Bhatnagar: I wish I had another point for this one.
Pierre Abbat: 1
J-J Coté: Tempting, very tempting. Light-duty armor, maybe. 
If I had more than two guesses...
Elliott Moreton: One point.  Am I being led astray by 
POIGNARD, or however you spell it, and CASQUE?
Hutch: Yes you are, Elliott.

---

From: Elliott Moreton <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2004 09:53:46 -0400 (EDT)

> imagine that they'd put up tents in order to reduce this,

I was imagining adjacent yurts being uprooted and bashed into each other 
by the Bernoulli effect, and figured that at least it wasn't obviously 
*wrong* that the problem would be ameliorated by arranging the yurts in a 
triangular array pointing into the wind so that the space between any two 
yurts was screened by another yurt:

 		*
 		  *
 		*   *		<---- wind blows like this ---
 		  *
 		*

> at ground level. Supposedly when they first built it, the

The legend I heard about the Green Building was that you could work your 
way to the roof by sitting in a vertical groove that ran up the facade, 
bracing your feet and back against opposing inside walls of the groove, 
and scrunching.  I heard someone did this, was met at the top by the 
authorities, arrested, and expelled.  True?

em

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 23:07:36 -0400

> have to be removed from the Compendium of Lost Words after

Actually "ponask" occurs 135 times on the Web according to Google, but many of 
them are the name of a lake.

phma
-- 
li fi'u vu'u fi'u fi'u du li pa