SLOCKING-STONE results

[eLLioTT morEton]

An hour after the polls close, the winner is ... FRANJIT, with 8 and 8 
points!  However, as Fran actually voted for the correct definition, while 
Ranjit did not, I declare her the firstborn of the twins.  Haul it away, 
Fran!

em

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slocking-stone -- n.  Very fine-grained metamorphic rock, typically light 
gray to tan, and used for interior decorative stonework as moldings, dado 
rails, etc.

ERIC
2 = Pierre 2
Nora:  this gets my vote for cutest definition.  Since Ranjitand I just 
watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I think it is particulary 
fitting to say "So long, and thanks for all the fish!", but I give it no 
actual "counting votes."
Pierre:  2 points and the cumberlandite award (or is it the cummingtonite 
award?).
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slocking-stone -- n. The smallest of the five bones in the middle ear of 
most dolphins.

JEAN-JOSEPH.
1 = David 1
Pierre:  All mammals have three bones in each ear; all other vertebrates, 
if they have ears, have one. None have five. Not having access to breast 
tissue or behavior, paleontologists use this as a criterion for 
mammalhood.

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slocking-stone -- n.  A tempting, selected stone, shown to induce 
strangers to adventure in a mine.

THE OED.
2 = Fran 2
Jim:  Cutesy, but the "in a mine" was just too specific.
Pierre:  What is a tempting, selected stone?
Jean-Joseph:  If this had said "to induce strangers to *invest* in a 
mine", I would have voted for it.

The OED entry consists entirely of quotations:

1778 PRYCE Min. Cornub. Gloss. s.v., Slocking-Stone, a tempting, inducing, 
or rich stone of Ore. Ibid., There have been..instances of Miners who have 
deceived their employers by bringing them Slocking-Stones from other 
Mines. 1864 MRS. LLOYD Ladies of Polcarrow 89 These deceptive specimens 
are called "slocking-stones" by the mining community. 1880 E. Cornw. 
Gloss. s.v. Slock, Slocking stones are tempting, selected stones shown, to 
induce strangers to adventure in a mine.

I used the 1880 quotation, amending the Captain Carrot punctuation.  The 
author seems to be using "adventure" in the sense of "invest", like the 
Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay.  The OED has 
this under "adventurer":

1881 R. W. RAYMOND Mining Terms, Adventurers (Eng.), Shareholders or 
partners in a mining enterprise.
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slocking-stone -- n.  (med., inf.)  A kidney stone passed through the 
ureter but lodged in the urethra.

JAMES
3 = David 2 + Nora 1
Nora:  this gets the OUCHY vote, plus my one-vote.
Jim:  Ow. I hope this isn't it.  I hope this doesn't *exist*.
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slocking-stone -- n.  One of a set of standard stones used in measuring a 
person, animal, or object in "stones".

LINDA
0
Nora:  Don'tr the Brits usually say 8 stone, 4 stone and whatnot, rather 
than giving each stone a different name?
Jim:  Tempting. I picture a medieval National Institute of Standards
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slocking-stone -- n.  In the game of micklet, a stone that hits two other 
stones at once, thus branching the chain reaction.

PIERRE
2 = Judith 1 + Linda 1
Judith:  one point...I don't know what a slocking stone is, and I don't 
know if micklet exists, so why not?
Nora:  I don't know what micklet is, but if it has stones, maybe a 
slocking-stone would cause this to happen.
Jim:  Is micklet related to crokinole?  If you had used the latter term I 
would have bitten, but micklet sounded more likely to be made up.
Jean-Joseph:  And if each of those hits two more, then you have a 
murnival, right?
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slocking-stone -- n. (Northumberland dial.)  Pumice.

DAVID
0
Nora:  plausible.
Jim:  Isn't pumice *volcanic*?  Are there Northumbrian volcanoes?
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slocking-stone -- n.  A large, usually flat stone incorporated into the 
upper surface of a beaver lodge.

JIM
0
[Is this a Yurt Alert? -- em]
Pierre:  There are architectural terms for beaver lodges?
Jean-Joseph:  I've never dismantled a beaver lodge, but I have demolished 
some beaver dams.  The thing is, they move stuff around by grabbing it 
with their teeth, and are aided by the fact that the stuff that they move 
floats.  I can't picture how they would get a big flat rock up to the top 
of the lodge.
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slocking-stone -- adv. (central U.S. slang)  Extremely.  Only used in the 
expression "He's slocking-stone cold DEAD!"

JUDITH
0
Nora:  funny, but I don't believe it!
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slocking-stone -- n.  A device to alert one that the pot is boiling.  
Place the flattish, concave stone (like the shape of a red blood cell, but 
about 3 inches across) in the soup, or whatever, and when the soup boils 
the stone will clatter and bang inside the pot so that you know to come 
and turn down the heat to simmer the soup.

FRAN
8 = 2 for correct guess + Nora 2 + Jim 2 + Jean-Joseph 2
Nora:  I've seen such things, and it seems plausible that it has a name 
like slocking-stone, but do I want to give it two points?  I already gave 
away my one-vote, and I won't go back, no I won't.  All right, I will give 
this one my two-vote because it looks like something someone made it up (I 
don't think the dictionary would use the words "or whatever" in a 
definition.) and it needs some lovin'.
Jim:  2 points!  Believable object, and if it exists its name would likely 
have 'stone' in it.
Pierre:  I've seen this made of glass. It's called a potwatcher.
Jean-Joseph:  So informally written.  Tsk tsk.  Uses the phrase "or 
whatever".  Tsk tsk.  Two points.
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slocking-stone -- n. (Northeast U.S. and Canada)  1. A heavy stone on a 
rope used as an improvised anchor for a small boat; hence 2. a shirker.

RANJIT
8 = Judith 2 + Eric 1 + Fran 1 + Jim 1 + Pierre 1 + Jean-Joseph 1 + Linda 
1
Judith:  two points...I do know what ropes and anchors are, and even 
boats, but I know zero about nautical language.
Eric:  Well done.  Two points.
Nora:  this one seems to make lots of sense, too.  argh, which will get my 
two-vote?  No two-vote, but I do believe that this is the dictionary 
definition.
Jean-Joseph:  Gets the leftover point.
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slocking-stone -- n.  A small boulder marking the current best distance at 
a caber toss.  "And with that excellent toss, Duff will have to roll the 
slocking-stone another two meters!"

NICK
2 = Eric 1 + Linda 1 (splitting her two-point vote)
Eric:  Ah, nonsensical sports journalese.  Always good.  One point.  
Oh, wait, ASCII art?

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That thing on the bottom is the caber, above it the slocking-stone.
Nora:  another game...  but no votes.
Jim:  Poor Duff!  Wouldn't the caber itself, or its impact point, mark the 
current best distance?
Jean-Joseph:  I don't think this event is based on distance, actually.  
Hmm, too close to the deadline for me to create any decent ASCII art.  I 
took a stab at a caber-tossing guy, but the result was so ugly I almost 
lost my haggis.
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