the dormie envelope

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

"Dormie" was evidently transparent to many of you, because the real
definition garnered the most points.  Of the submitted definitions, we
have a three-way tie for first, with 5 points each, between Ranjit,
eLLioTT, and Pierre.  There was only one sort litereary work submitted,
by Uncle Aussie, so I'll up the value of her votes slightly, which
(assuming there are no objections from the UN election monitors) means
that our new Vizier of Vocabulary is HRH Bhatnagar.  Start hauling,
Ranjit!
___________________________________

General comments:
Linda: Let's see, we have a biologist and a biology def; a good cook and
a "recipe",  a writer who likes medieval stuff and heraldry, etc. Do we
count Aussie and several OZ defs?
eLLioTT: Oh, some of these are nice!
James: Let's see... I can't give points to any definition resembling my
own. This knocks out anything referring to sleep, and anything referring
to Australian slang. I also tend to shy away from animal species and from
words named after people. So what does this leave? Sjort literary works
may follow, if I have the brainpower.  (I'm sorry, that shold be
"shourt." )

> dormie - n. - Lobster bisque.
by Ranjit.  Aussie 1, correct guess 2, James 2 = 5 points
Aussie: one point for the delightful lobster bisque.
Linda: The Judith award for yummy food.
James: I think I'll give this TWO POINTS for directness. And maybe it's
right.

> dormie - adj. (Australian slang)  - Asleep.
by James.  Zero points.
Linda: OZ
eLLioTT: Come on, that's not obscene at all!
James (upon submitting his definition): "'Tis better to have participated
and lost than not to have participated at all." This is my sentiment
regarding fictionary (which is why I send in so many half-assed
definitions, including this one). Let's see if I'm that enlightened
concerning my bar-exam grade, which should be available in the middle of
April. 

> dormie - adj. (Heraldry) - Lying asleep.  Example: "Per saltire purpure
> and vert, a badger dormie or."
by Eric.  Kir 1, eLLioTT 1 = 2 points
Kir: *chuckle* My favorite, but I can't quite credit it...
Linda: The David Randall prize for heraldry.
eLLioTT: Hee hee!  When I get knighted, my arms will feature a tree sloth
pendant dormie vert.
Pierre: Isn't that "couchant"?

> dormie - adj. (Golf) - In match play, ahead by as many holes as there
> are holes remaining to be played.
by some anonymous historical golfer.  David 2, Judith 1, Aussie 2, Ranjit
2, Pierre 1 = 8 points
Aussie: Two points for the golf score term, because there are so many odd
golf terms
Linda: Oops!  I missed this one--good ploy.
eLLioTT: I almost never vote for game defs, unless they involve Eton
fives.
James: Doesn't sound right. Indeed, it sounds more lke a golf club (cf.
mashie).
Pierre: Birdie, bogie, dormie. I'll give it a point.
J-J: Apparently this is a cognate of "dormant", in that you can
supposedly go to sleep once you have this big a lead.  Once you've gone
dormie, if you can manage to so much as tie your opponent on one of the
remaining holes, then the game is over.  But you don't have the game
wrapped up yet, because if your opponent beats you on the remaining
holes, then you you go into sudden death extra innings (so to speak), and
you could still lose on the 19th hole (or the 20th, or 21st...).  

> dormie - n. (Australian slang) - 1. Safety date.  2.  The object of a
> second evening engagement, a late date.
by Aussie.  Ranjit 1, correct guess 2 = 3 points
Linda: Oz again.
Ranjit: ha!
eLLioTT: OK, now *that's* more like it.  But I'm out of points.

> dormie - n. - A serious mistake which has not yet been discovered
> by others, but which one can no longer undo.
by eLLioTT.  Eric 2, Linda 1, Pierre 2 = 5 points
Kir: I've had those ...
Eric: Awesome word!  I'm remembering an incident when I worked in a wood
shop, right after I realized that I'd cut our only piece of 2" particle
board to, ummm, well, both dimensions were now the shorter dimension.  Of
course, that one could not remain undiscovered for long.  There should be
a word for the related concept, the *half-life* of a given dormie.
Linda: This intrigues me.
Ranjit: i wish i had a halfsie for this one
James: There's a word for this?

> Dormie - n. - A variation game of marbles in which the game ends
> once all of the four dormant marbles have been removed from the
> circle.
by Linda.  Judith 2, Eric 1, James 1 = 4 points
Linda: Hmmm.  I think we've had marbles defs before.
eLLioTT: Marble terms do tend to end in -ie, but ... this doesn't involve
Eton fives.
James: ONE POINT because... it was the only one left standing.

> dormie - n. -  A small rodent of the rat family (Muridae), Vombatidae
> dormati.  It is native to South America, occurring in mountainous
> regions.
by Judith.  correct guess 1 = 1 point
Linda: Now, who's the biologist? Ranjit?  I forget, sorry.
eLLioTT: Vhy does zis vombat haff a name viss two endingss vhich don't
match?  Eh? Eh?  Answer me zat, vise vone!
Pierre: "Vombatidae" does not look like a genus name, and is the name of
the wombat family.

> dormie - n. (Scots dialect) - 1) A student who boards with a
> schoolteacher and performs domestic service as payment for classes.
> 2) A poor student.
by David.  Linda 2, correct guess 2 = 4 points
Linda: 2 points because I was almost one of these, but living with a prof
and family would have been easier than living at home with 3 siblings.
eLLioTT: Mmmmmm ... nice, but too much like "dorm".

> dormie - adj. - Having disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
> [After Count Adolph von Ormy, who disappeared from the Texas town
> now bearing his name in 1888]
by Hutch.  David 1 = 1 point
David: 1 point, and great esteem
Kir: *giggle* 
Linda:  very clever
eLLioTT:  I'd want to know more about M. le comte d'Ormy before voting
for him.  Who was he reputed to be a natural son of?  What harem did his
mother escape from, by reputedly magical means?  His constant animal
companion:  Was it an orangutan, or ... something more?  What was the
town called before he disappeared from it?  When did he reappear?  As you
can see, today's Fictionary voter insists on making an informed choice.

> dormie - n. - An antenna consisting of two crossed dipoles a short
> distance apart, fed in quadrature, designed to simulate the radiation
> pattern of an isotropic radiator.  [Invented by Harold Dormie.]
by Pierre.  Kir 2, eLLioTT 2, correct guess 1 = 5 points
Kir: 2 pts for nothing to do with sleeping and sleepers 
Linda: Blinding me with science again.  JJ? Or whoever does lots of house
repairs. 
eLLioTT: On the one hand, this looks like a patent attempt at an
ignotum-per-ignotius def, which I usually vote against.  On the other 
hand, I like invention defs.  Hmmm. I'm picturing this as two
perpendicular edges of an imaginary tetrahedron, with the four vertices 
taking turns at being positive (I assume "in quadrature" is fancy
engineer-speak for "90 degrees out of phase").  Maybe that *would* 
actually radiate roughly evenly in all directions....  Okay, I've talked
myself into it!  Two points for making me think.
_______________________________________________

And the much anticipated sort literary work by Ms. Meyer:

I fell dormie in Canberra and woke up in Adelaide,
The night I met my dormie on the golf course.She had played
a sprightly Dormie - so we moved on to a spot of  shade
to shoot Dormie with our marbles, and drink Gin and Lemonade.

The night that I went dormie, 'twas a dormie in the air,
hanging like a ball of snot, and threatening to the bearer,
when I lost my marbles I crawled into the closet with the brooms,
and was dormie like a dormie who could not afford his rooms.

A UFO had landed on the municipal links
and crept behind me silently like a dormie would a Sphinx,
It looked like Dormie's folly, with its dipoles crossed quite near,
It seemed to be  fed in quadrature, but nothing more was clear!

It scooped me up and probed me and it fed me a warm spoon
of dormie made from lobsters caught on Herculon's third moon
The Alien didn't know the turf too well and set me down,
upon the city golf course, but in quite another town!