Subject: Pierre wins! (Yes, here it is, finally!)

From: Jean-Joseph Cote <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 22:20:01 -0400

Okay, here are the results for "masdevallia".  I apologize again for
having botched the forwarded list of definitions from Hutch, but as Hutch
says, "Fuggit! Pierre wins. Let's move on".  Also apologies for not
having forwarded these results sooner.  I hadn't been paying attention,
and didn't notice that the top line from Hutch asked me to forward the
reults to the list.  But here they are at last.

Jean-Joseph
_________________________________________

Sorry for the delay everyone. My ISP has been down for over a week.
They're not talking, but I suspect Code Red.

First, we need to have an honorary award for the Most Outlandish Entry
Ever Submitted Intending to NOT Be Believed But Which Nonetheless Was
Awarded Points. Fran gave two points to Elliott's "flying snail"
fictionition. I suspect that no entry has ever received so many comments
before. I laughed, too.

The votes, however say that ... Pierre Abbat has won, with 8 points for
his fictionition of the sweaty Provencal dance. J-J's denture
fictionition held an early lead, but Pierre's correct guess and Elliott's
vote -- the last one I received -- pushed Pierre over the top.

M. Abbat, I bow to you, sir! Take it away!

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

General comments:

Aussie Meyer: Wowie! What a cornucopia of flowery entries!
Judith E Schrier: I don't like any of them...including my own, which
should have read "flavored with almonds" rather than "flavored with
almond extract"...tsk. My mind was not completely there. Oh, well.
J-J Cote: <Hutch> I notice that no one could make this word into anything
but a noun. <J-J> And we were all correct, apparently.
Elliott A Moreton: <Hutch> I notice that no one could make this word into
anything but a noun. <Elliot> Well, it sure doesn't end like a verb or
adjective, does it? Examples of verbs with final schwa are hard to find
-- "subpoena" is John McCarthy's favorite example.

-----

masdevallia : n. 1) a treasure trove or cornucopia, a sort of Spanish
potlatch 2) a semi-tropical viney plant with profuse pink to magenta to
maroon blooms 3) a festival of giving away old household goods to new
homes, so named for the flowery vines used to decorate the trays and
baskets and carts of the participants
Linda Owens
Score: 4 (Dave Turner, David Randall, Linda Owens 2)
Aussie Meyer: I refuse to believe any dictionary says "a sort of Spanish
potlatch"
David Randall: 1 point, though I don't really believe any definition
including the word 'viney'
Linda Owens: I kinda like mine best because it is beginning to sound
familiar. None of the others sounds quite right--must be a good word.
Judith E Schrier: Nothing left for the flowery vines...
J-J Cote: Sounds too much like David Randall.

masdevallia : n. a large genus of tropical American orchids whose flowers
have sepals fused at the base forming a tube; includes orchids sometimes
placed in genera Dracula and Dryadella
Ultra Lingua English Dictionary
Ranjit Bhatnagar: Dracula! 1 pt
Linda Owens: Two points for a flower def.
Judith E. Schrier: This [orchid, flowering herb, and flowery vines
definitions] is all I'm left with after sneering at everything else.
Aren't they all about the same? ONE of them ought to be correct, but
watch me throw away the right one and vote for the others...<sigh> Two
for the Tropical American Orchid.
J-J Cote: Sounds maybe like Fran; in any event, it doesn't sound like a
work Hutch would pick. [Later he added] I guess it was a word Hutch would
pick. Decent photos at http://miltoniopsis.com/masd.htm
Elliott A Moreton: Giggles to the genus Dracula! [Round Leader's Note:
This is precisely the reaction I was hoping for. "Dracula and Dryad". Had
I included the third genus sometimes included in Masdevallia --
Scaphosepalum -- I'm sure it would have been more believable. In addition
to J-J's web page contribution, _The Orchid Lady's Orchid Encyclopedia_,
at http://orchidlady.com/dict-mf.html#MASDEVALLIA says this: "Masd. Named
after Dr. Jose Masdevall, who was an 18th century Spanish physician and
botanist."]

masdevallia : n. a creamy Italian confection, flavored with almond
extract
Judith E Schrier
Score: 2 (correct vote 2)
Aussie Meyer: I'm sure I've seen this dessert in Fictionary before. I
think it's Ranjit, and he's hungry. [Round Leader's Note: Evidently it's
Judith who is hungry.]
Ranjit Bhatnagar: yummy!
J-J Cote: Sounds too much like Judith.

masdevallia : n. an exiled political leader with aspirations to return
home in triumph and establish a semi-dictatorial Catholic Socialist
regime; see Jorge Mas Canosa and Eamon de Valera
David Randall
Score: 3 (Jim Moskowitz, correct vote 2)
Ranjit Bhatnagar: Ha ha!
Jim Moskowitz: 1 point, for the etymology, although "semi-dictatorial"
pushed it beyond plausibility
Snibor Eoj: Is it possible that there's actually a word for that?? I
might've accepted it if not for the "Catholic Socialist" part...
J-J Cote: Sounds way too much like Elliott. (I mean, like a definition
that Elliott would submit, not that Elliott aspires to... well, who
knows, maybe he does...)
Elliott A Moreton: Hi, David, good to have you back! Can a masdevallia be
a quisling?

masdevallia : n. a large, flightless snail (Achatina loricata) native to
the Atlantic coast of Central America, prized for its ability to clear
blocked pipes
Elliott A Moreton
Score: 2 (Fran Poodry 2)
Dave Turner: ROFLMAO! "flightless snail"!!!
Aussie Meyer: A flightless snail! Isn't that like cholesterol-free
cereal?
Ranjit Bhatnagar: This one made me laugh out loud. Flightless snail!
Jim Moskowitz: No points, but the All-Time Most Brazen Entry Award for
"flightless snail"!
David Randall: My mind reels at the thought of flying snails
Snibor Eoj: Are there snails which aren't flightless?
Linda Owens: Can snails fly, out side of fantasies?
Joshua Mackay-Smith: I like [this one, ] but I'm not going to give it any
points.
Judith E Schrier: I do like the flightless snail...so different from the
usual flying snail...
J-J Cote: Is Laura playing again?
Fran Poodry: 2 for the flightless snail, though the only flying snails I
know of are the ones that get thrown. I laughed!

masdevallia : n. a repetitious dream about waking
Aussie Meyer
Score: 5 (J-J Cote 2, Fran Poodry, Elliott A Moreton 2)
David Randall: Sandman alert
Snibor Eoj: Hmm... Who all on this list reads Sandman? :-)
Linda Owens: There should be a name for this--sometimes one climbs out of
a series of dreams before waking.
J-J Cote: Preposterous. I don't believe it for an instant. Two points.
Fran Poodry: 1 for the dream, very nice, though I am not sure about
"repetitious:" does the dream happen over and over, or does the same
thing keep happening within the same dream? anyway, I thought it was
funny too.
Elliott A Moreton: Brilliant! Probably not the likeliest, but certainly
the best. Two points.

masdevallia : n. a dance popular in Provence in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, in which young men and women exchanged
handkerchiefs scented with their sweat
Pierre Abbat
Score: 8 (Aussie Meyer, Ranjit Bhatnagar 2, Linda Owens, Joshua
Mackay-Smith, correct vote 2, Elliott A Moreton)
Aussie Meyer: I'll give a vote for the sweaty hankies, but only one point
because it don't sound French to me.
Ranjit Bhatnagar: i like that. 2 pt.
Linda Owens: okay, 1 point. My husband and I love to contradance and seem
to notice sweat pouring out onto clothing after a few dances, so
exchanging sweaty hankies couldn't be too hard.
J-J Cote: Sounds like... I don't know, maybe Pierre.
Elliott A Moreton: Mmmmmmmmmmmm, sixteenth-century Provencal sweat!
That's worth a point!

masdevallia : n. a flowering herb native to central and southern Europe
Joshua Mackay-Smith
Score: 1 (Judith E Schrier)
Judith E Schrier: One for the flowering herb native to central and
southern Europe.
J-J Cote: Definitely not a Hutch sort of word.

masdevallia : n. items left in the suitcase after a voyage
Ranjit Bhatnagar
Score: 4 (Snibor Eoj, correct vote, Joshua Mackay-Smith, Pierre Abbat)
Aussie Meyer: I hate this kind of masdevallia!
Snibor Eoj: This gets my one point vote for "there should be a word for
this".
Linda Owens: A great image
J-J Cote: Sounds way way too much like somebody playing fictionary.

masdevallia : n. (Obs.) 1) any prosthetic device worn on the face or head
2) dentures
Jean-Joseph Cote
Score: 6 (Dave Turner 2, Aussie Meyer 2, Snibor Eoj 2)
Aussie Meyer: Weird enough to be true. Two points.
Snibor Eoj: o/` Everybody wants masdevallia on their real heads. o/` Two
points.
Linda Owens: Oh, dear, this could be it????
J-J Cote: Sounds too much like me. Oh wait, it was me.

masdevallia : n. foodstuffs used for religious purposes, e.g. wafers
consumed during the Catholic rite of communion
Snibor Eoj
Score: 3 (Jim Moskowitz 2, J-J Cote)
Linda Owens: The Mass part seems okay, but.....
J-J Cote: Kind of sounds like Ranjit, but I'll give it a point anyway.

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

Finally, what's curious or odd about the following paragraph?

"Seeing wherein neither weirdly-veiled sovereign deigned agreeing, their
feisty heirs, leisurely eyeing eight heinous deity-freightened reindeer
sleighs, counterfeited spontaneity, freeing rein (reveille, neighing!);
forfeited obeisance, fleeing neighborhood. Kaleidoscopically-veined
foreign heights being seized, either reigned, sleight surfeited, therein;
reinvented skein-dyeing; reiteratedly inveighed, feigning weighty
seismological reinforcement."

Blessed Be,
Hutch

---

From: Jim Moskowitz <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 23:58:34 -0400

>seismological reinforcement."

Just in case anyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop, see how 
many times i comes before e (except after c) in that famous 
paragraph...

Jim

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 00:06:26 -0400

> many times i comes before e (except after c) in that famous

Yes, but there *are* some words where it's pronounced as in neighbor and 
weigh: deigned, eight, heinous, freightened, reindeer, sleighs, etc. (I am 
assuming that "freightened" means "loaded with stuff to carry" and is not a 
typo.)

phma