Subject: plench results

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 10:26:04 EST

Thank you all for voting and commenting!  The winner of this round is Pierre 
(phma) with a record-breaking 14 points (at least, I can't remember anyone 
having gotten that many points before)! Congratulations!
Runner up: Kir, with 8 points.
Most comments/David Randall/Elliott Moreton Award: Aussie
Here's the breakdown:

plench  n.  the distance between an alignment mark and the element to be 
aligned.  
Ranjit (5 points total)
(honorable mention, jimmosk)(1, jdms)(1, MyS)(2, Kir)(1, correct guess)
"I'd vote for this if I had another point."(phma)
"Too awkwardly worded to be the dictionary, methinks." (EZ)
"Very plausible.  2 points."(Kir)
"I really like this one!"(Fran)

plench  v.  to dye raw cotton with indigo.

David Randall (0 points)
"What's it called if it's another color? I'm dyeing to know!"(phma)

"Which is why jeans are made from a fabric called plenim."(Ranjit)

plench  n.  a lack or scarcity.
judith (1 point)
(1, jimmosk)
"Too close to "plenty", and we already have "dearth"."(phma)
"No plench of good definitions here."(Ranjit, making the obvious joke)

plench  v.  scream.
jdms (1 point)
(1, aussie)
"Just what we needed.  Another one-word splatterflick title :-)"(jimmosk)
"I know that this must be Judith, yet I feel that it merits one 
point."(aussie)

plench  n.  a hand tool used for gripping, pulling, and turning objects under 
zero gravity, operated by squeezing the handle.
Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary
(2, phma)(2, Jean-Joseph)
"I don't think by the time a civilization gets around to naming things like 
this there are very many one-syllable words left..."(jimmosk)
"Would NASA have come up with a name like this for something that's a 
combination of pliers and a wrench?  Sounds plausible to me.  I'll give it 
two points."(Jean-Joseph)
"Tempting except for the zero gravity bit."(Kir)
"'Have you a grippy?'  1 point."(Ranjit)

plench  v.  (Back-formation < planchette)  To divine by seance, mediated by 
signs or indirect guidance from spirits of the deceased.
EZ (0 points)
"I think this is J-J"(phma)

plench  v.  To draw the stems of (flax or hemp) across a blunt edge, bending 
them at an angle so as to loosen the fibers.
phma (14 points)
(2, jimmosk)(2, aussie)(2, david randall)(2, judith)(2, correct guess)(1, 
Jean-Joseph)(2, EZ)(1, Kir)
"this sounds likely!  2 Points!"(aussie)
"Despite the fact that I think the first parenthesis is in the wrong place 
('of' should be inside), I'll give this a point."(Jean-Joseph)
"Yeah, I think I can give this my 2 points, punctuation weirdness aside."(EZ)
" I like that.  Brings to mind carding wool and so on.  1 points."(Kir)
"I'd have voted for this one if not for the weird parentheses."(Ranjit)

plench  n.  1. metal binding.   2. (of knives, daggers, etc.) metal strips or 
wire wrapping a split-wood handle, causing the handle to grip the tang of the 
blade.
Kir (8 points)
(2, jdms)(1, judith)(1, phma)(2, MyS)(2, Ranjit)
"Too Much Clench award"(jimmosk)
"Sounds kind of like Hutch to me."(Jean-Joseph)
"Interesting, but I unfortunately seem to have run out of points."(EZ)
"Plench just sounds like a utilitarian word.  2 points."(Ranjit)

plench  v.  to crease in an alternating fashion, as in an accordion fold.
MyS (5 points)
(1, mjd)(2, Hutch)(1, david randall)(1, EZ)
"Sounds Like 'Pleat' award"(jimmosk)
"Hmm, that's pretty good, too!"(aussie)
"Interesting idea.  Should it be starched?"(Kir)

plench  n.  A weak solution of salt and/or iodine sometimes added to Scotch 
whisky during the fermentation process.
Jean-Joseph (2 points)
(2, correct guess)
"Ugh, I'm sticking to rye!"(aussie)
"Isn't iodine a poison?"(EZ)
"Oh dear.  I think this person needs to visit more distilleries.  Hm.  Maybe 
I do.  I recommend the one in Oban."(Kir)

plench  n.  (Anglican church) a dainty spade, usually silver and adorned with 
a stylized cross, used in the burial of the umbilical cord.
Aussie (3 points)
(2, mjd)(1, Hutch)
"This gets the `ha ha ha ha ha!' award.  But I don't understand how a cross 
can be `stylized'."(mjd)
"'How Quaint' award for using 'dainty' in a definition"(jimmosk)
"I'm omphaloskeptic of this one. I think it's Elliott."(phma)
"I might be inclined to suspect Elliott on this, except for the use of the 
word 'dainty'.  David Randall is also a candidate.  But in any event, it gets 
the weird award."(Jean-Joseph)
"I'll eat my Book of Common Prayer if it's the Anglican spade."(MyS)
"This is *so* D. Randall."(EZ)
"Randall-Moreton award?"(Ranjit)

"P.S.:  This was a *good* word:  simple, but still impenetrable!"(EZ)
"Lots of fun defs. "(Kir)

-------------------------------------------
Note from Fran:
I picked this word because it looked both verbish and nounish.  Although I 
found it in my usual dictionary, I am not convinced that it is actually in 
use.  There is something similar advertised on TV sometimes--you squeeze it 
and it will turn a bolt or nut or even a screw.  Last week I came across the 
following note from Al Bartlett in the March 2000 issue of _The Physics 
Teacher_:

Newton's Third Law in Space

When astronauts are using hand tools to assemble the space station, they need 
to be tied to the space station before they can exert torques to tighten nuts 
and bolts.

"If an astronaut needs to be held down, there are body-restraint tethers, 
which can become rigid, and foot restraints, which fit into sockets on the 
side of the station.  Without them, of course, astronauts 'will literally 
spin around a bolt,' West explains. 'It's entertaining but not very 
productive.'"1

I have an undated clipping from the 1960s that tells of an inventor who had 
devised a way around Newton's Third Law.  To tighten bolts he proposed using 
a pistol-grip device, which when squeezed, would apply torque to the socket.  
Because one was squeezing rather than applying a torque the old-fashioned way 
with a wrench, this inventor figured that there would be no reaction on the 
mechanic.

1. P. Scott, _Scientific American_, March 1999, p. 42

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 12:01:29 -0500

>"I'd have voted for this one if not for the weird parentheses."(Ranjit)

The parentheses indicate that flax or hemp is the direct object of the verb
plench. You don't plench of flax; you plench it. Here's the third def of "doff"
from the OED:

To put off as a dress or covering; to throw off, lay aside; hence (in wider
sense), to do away with, get rid of (anything associated with oneself).

phma

---

From: Aussie Meyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 20:58:26 -0800

Well, I knew my definition was a bit of a stinkeroo ... "dainty" is just
one of those words I overuse by habit, and I s'pose all crosses are
stylized.  I just had the thing pictured in my head as a cute, ornate
little silver spud, 'bout the size of a mixing spoon, in the hands of
Sister Mary Pious, who is heard intoning some special Mass of the
Umbilicus as she plants another one in the garden.