Subject: Ah, there's nothing so bivial as the madreporite of a holothurian...

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 09:45:28 -0400

Linda was in the lead until Kir pushed David on top. Take it away, David!

bivial, n. (fr. Russian) A marten-fur hat.
by David Randall. 9
Fran: 2 points (for being very different from the others)
Joe: Somehow, I'm left with this as the only def for my two point vote.
MyS: I'll give two to the Russian hat
Linda: Aren't these beasts rare?
Hutch: 1 point. I don't really believe this is the def, but there's nothing 
else left.
Kir: 2 points for an improbable Slav.

bivial, n. A glass bottle composed of two connected chambers, used in 
distillation.
by Linda Owens. 8
2 points for avoiding Dysaster
David: 2 points
Aussie: How about oil & vinegar, as used in salad dressing? I think One point 
here.
Ranjit: 1 pt
Linda: Or used for serious quaffing. Or serious spilling.
Hutch: 2 points. There's nothing else left.

bivial, n. (Math.) A random choice between two alternatives used to compare 
samples for statistical significance.
by Fran Poodry. 7
Aussie: Sounds just geeky enough, Two points.
Joe: Once upon a time, when I knew math, I would've known that this was a 
fake, but it's been too long, and I've forgotten it all, so I give this one 
point.
Ranjit: 2 pts
Linda: Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo?  Hmmmm...  Try: one potato, two 
potato...nope. Think of a number?  Heads or tails?
Hutch: I know there's a word for this, but I don't think "bivial" is it.
J-J: Two for random chance

bivial, n. A fine grained blue chalcedony having dendritic veins of a darker 
shade.
by Aussie Meyer. 5
David: 1point
MyS: and one to the chalcedony, on the general principle (followed also by 
me) that they have nothing to do with two things, or containers.
Linda: How pretty.
Kir: 1 point for beautiful concept -- I got 2 geologists to argue about this 
after I picked what to vote for. There's off discussing calcium carbonates, 
crystalline precipitates, inclusions -- yay!
Elliott: This sounds like a real definition of *something*, though not 
necessarily "bivial".  Two points for plausibility.

bivial, n. A wooden-handled tool with a shovel head at one end and a small 
pick head at the other.
by Joe Robins. 3
Fran: 1 point
Joe: Hrm.  I still wish I could've worded this better.  I have a clear mental 
picture of what such a thing would look like, but I don't think I expressed 
it well.
Linda: Very handy.  I'll take one for one point!
J-J: one for the shovel/pick
Elliott: "Ahh, Meester Trotsky!  How nice to see you."  Sounds like it would 
be painful to use either end.

bivial, adj. Pertaining to the hind legs of a starfish.
by C. Q. Cumber. 3
Joe: Given that I don't think starfish have a front and back, so much as a 
top and bottom, I can't imagine which ones would be considered the hind legs.
MyS: Now watch it be the damn starfish.
Linda: They have hind legs?  I thought they were ambi-pod-something-or-other.
Pentap(o)(e)dal? Anyway, this is so funny, I must vote for it.  Two points 
for the two hind legs--two hind legs?
Hutch: Starfish don't have "hind" legs. Heck, they don't have "legs" at all.
Elliott: Nice.  One point.

Elliott 1

bivial, adj. Being in a mental state where one is simultaneously strongly 
convinced of two contradicting viewpoints.   "Eric was bivial about whether 
to proceed as controller; not "on the fence", but fully convinced that he 
should, while also wanting nothing to do with the entire organization."
by Jean-Joseph Coté.
Linda: I have half a mind to vote for this one.
Hutch: I probably would've voted for this, but the example sentence doesn't 
strike me as believable.

bivial, adj. Posessing the ability to drink with both hands.
by Ranjit Bhatnagar.
Linda: Double "Irish elbows"
Hutch: Can't everyone do this?

bivial, adj. Unable to cast a shadow.
by Melissa Shaner.
Joe: What sort of thing is unable to cast a shadow?
Linda: And that would make it a vampire or something like wind? L.  So 
unusual, I wish I had votes left.

General comments:
MyS: None of these is the least bit plausible.

J-J, after voting: (Hmm... all the online dictionaries just say "Of or 
relating to the bivium."  Real helpful.  But apparenty it's really the 
starfish thing.  Well, you learn something new every day, I guess.  I had 
always thought that starfish had radial symmetry.  Apparently not.)

Pierre: The front legs are called the trivium, so something pertaining to the 
front legs is called trivial. But some starfish have six or seven legs. How 
are they divided? Trivium and quadrivium?

Bivial trivia: A holothurian slithers (or whatever you call it) with its 
bivium up.

Eric sent the following, but because of a mail server problem, I did not get 
it in time:
bivial, adj.  Of a mathematical relation, not having the fixed-point property 
(q.v.).

phma

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From: "David Randall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 16:25:43 -0400

Marten-fur wery warm.  New definition is,

prad

David Randall