ERIFF results

[Hutch]

On 11/21/06, eLLioTT morEton <emoreton at alum.swarthmore.edu> wrote:
[snip]
> eriff (n.) -- An underwater embankment, man-made.
>
> By:  Hutch
> 3 = (Fran 1 + Pierre 2)
>
> Fran:  But for some reason I am ROTFL on this one, so 1 point:...  I love
> using slang like ROTFL because I am (at over-30) very unhip.  So I
> feel that it MUST be funny to say such things.  Like ZOMG and pwn and
> !!!eleven!!  It is funnier when I use these terms in communication with my
> students than with you, I think, but at least I amuse myself by writing
> this e-mail.
> Pierre:  2

What is so funny about this most prosaic of fictionitions?

...

And I thought I knew a lot of Internet/hackish/etc slang. WTF is
"!!!eleven!!"? ... And how do you pronounce it? "bang bang bang eleven
bang bang"? Or what?

> eriff (n.) -- 1.  A canary-bird two years old.  2.  A rogue just
> initiated.  (Etymology unknown.)
>
> By:  OED
> No votes.
>
> Hutch:  "canary-bird"? It 'twere just "canary" I might've gone for this
> one.  Really like the newly initiated rogue, too, but I seem to recall
> (from Dickens and assorted fantasy novels) that the correct phrase is
> "stooled to the rogue".
> Jean-Joseph:  David Randall.
> [No, no.  We initiated David years ago. --EM]

You've got to be kidding! Neddie uses the word "canary-bird".
Evidently the world came to an end some time ago and they're just
getting around to telling me.

*G*

BB,
Hutch