the dormie envelope

[Hutch]

On 3/13/06, Jean-Joseph Cote <jjcote at juno.com> wrote:
[snip]
> > 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?

James, there really OUGHTA be a word for this!!!

[snip]
> > 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.
[snip]

>From "The Handbook of Texas Online"
<http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/VV/htv9.html>.
The town of Von Ormy really does exist and is really named for the
Austrian Count Adolph Von Ormy, who really did disappear "under
mysterious circumstances".

And that's ALL I know about him.

BB,
Hutch

P.S. I read Ambrose Bierce's _The Devil's Dictionary_
<http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/index.html> today at work. My
favorite of his definitions:

POTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable;
indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find
it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as
thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and
diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all
countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of
substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that
liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be
unscientific -- and without science we are as the snakes and toads.

I'm thinking that next time I get the word choice, I might make you
come up with a "Devil's" definition. But that might be too evil?

[insert mad scientist laughter here]

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