Puna results

[Fran Poodry]

Lonely Planet's _ Peru_ guidebook has this to say:

In Peru's highlands, you'll find the distinctive puna, which is made up of
shrublands and grasslands that act as a natural "sponge" to the Andes.
These areas have a fairly limited flora or hard grasses, cushion plants,
small herbaceous plants, shrubs and dwarf trees.  Many plants in this
environment have developed small, thick leaves that are less susceptible to
frost, and curved leaves to reflect extreme radiation.

Want more info?

The puna is the home of the vicuna (the n should have a tilde) which is the
smallest of the andean camelids and has the most expensive wool.  You
thought your alpaca sweater was expensive?  The vicuna scarf costs 6 times
as much.  In Woody Allen's movie _Match Point_ one of the obnoxious rich
people had a vicuna sweater.  Vicunas have really long eyelashes and large
limpid brown eyes, and you just want to hug them!

Want to avoid mountain sickness?  Try coca tea upon arrival at high
altitude.  You can't import that into the USA, however, it being made by
steeping coca leaves in boiling water, and coca leaves also being the source
of cocaine.  I have never had mountain sickness, so maybe coca tea works,
plus it is yummy.

Anyway, Eric is the winner of this round with 9 points, so GO ERIC!

-Fran


*******RESULTS*********
Puna  v.  (Puna'd, Puna-ing or Punaring; also Poona, Pooner, etc.)  (Br.
mil. sl.)  To punish an officer unofficially by posting him to a remote,
unpleasant, or unprestigious command.  From Puna, a city in western India.
Shanghai'd young into the Fleet,/Copenhagened, chased, and beat,/ And lately
Puna'd off to Swansea by his wife! (Kipling, Naval and Military Ballads,
1902).
-Elliott, 2 points
Br. mil. sl. is *almost* enough on its own to earn a point... but it's just
too out there. -Nick
Moreton Award, first class. -Eric
The example just doesn't feel like real Kipling, but I like the definition.
(Remember the old joke: Earnest Young Man: "Do you like Kipling?"
Interested Young Lady: "I don't know; I've never kippled.") -Hutch
Ah, the standard type of definition, probably from either David or Elliott.
-Jean-Joseph
Stellenbosch. -Pierre
Surely this deserves at least one point for rhyming.  Oh, and another one
for the collection of verbs named after cities.  Two!  Two points! -Ranjit
 
 
PUNA  acronym.  Public Utilities of North America, a lobbying organization
(in Washington and Ottawa) representing the interests of state, provincial,
county, and municipally-owned water and power companies.
-James, 0 points
Doesn't seem like something Fran would pick, somehow. - Elliott
Are we allowed to use abbreviations? That was never in my family's version
of fictionary. -Nick
³Deeply implausible.² -Nova, James¹s wife
An international lobbying organization? Maybe, but I don't see this one.
-Hutch
I just don't think a word-picker would be inclined to pick something like
this. -Jean-Joseph
Pure bunk!  Everyone knows the water and power companies don't talk to each
other! -Ranjit
 
 
puna  n. obs.  The sin of failing to perform, or incorrectly performing,
passos (certain Lenten exercises, denigrated by the Second Lateran Council
[1139]); promulgated by St. Isidore of Pesulium (c.380-449/450)
-Hutch, 4 points
"Denigrated" and "promulgated" just don't sound right here, and "passos" is
inexplicably accusative (assuming it's Latin, which maybe it isn't, it would
mean "those who had suffered, masc. pl. acc.", which makes no sense, but
maybe it's one word plucked from a longer sentence, e.g., from a prayer....
No, I refuse to talk myself into believing this one.  Vade retro, Satanas!)
- Elliott
1 point. -Linda
Your what hurts? -Nick
One point.  For being not true, but brilliant!  (If this is the actual
definition of some other word, you have to tell us.) -Eric
2 points for voting for the correct definition
This one is also probably either from David or Elliott. -Jean-Joseph
 
 
puna  n.  Rainfall in the atmosphere which evaporates completely before
reaching the ground.
-Jim, 3 points
Oooh!  This *ought* to have a name, and it's something Fran would know
about. One point. - Elliott
That's just simple but unusual enough to be plausible. 1 point. -Nick
Two points.  Less interesting, hence more plausible. -Eric
"verga" [sp?] -Hutch
A completely real phenomenon, but it's called 'virga'. -Jean-Joseph
Virga. -Pierre
 
 
puna  n.  A variety of cotton grown in Peru, which because of its level of
gossypol is usually grown without insecticides.
-Pierre, 2 points
Ignotum per ignotius, so no points. - Elliott
Do I want to know what gossypol is? Is it in my shirts? It is, isn't it!
-Nick
If I had any points left, you'd get one for using the word "gossypol". -Eric
What's gossypol? 1 point -Hutch
Was 'gossypol' a fictionary word once?  I've definitely seen it somewhere.
I'd think this was Pierre sneaking in a reference to an old word, but I
think if we did use it, then it might have predated him. So maybe it's
Ranjit. -Jean-Joseph
1 point for voting for the correct definition
 
 
puna  n.  Any one of several similar reef fish species, including the
unrelated Speckled False Puna, found in the Hawai'ian archipelago.
"These waters may be a federally protected wildlife area, but the puna we
catch here taste so good!"
-Nick, 0 points
Euuuww!  No points for poachers! - Elliott
The first of the "it sounds Polynesian" definitions. -Nick
Well, the Hawai'ian alphabet does include those four letters so that's a
good sign.  Though I am thrown by the fact that the False Puna would be a
real puna. -Jean-Joseph
My favorite brand of canned puna is Sparkist. -Ranjit
 
 
puna  v. sl.  To share generously. [N. Amer., originating southern
California.  Compare _bogart_]
-Ranjit, 1 point
Two points for making me laugh! - Elliott
1 point. -Jim
Nah. Maybe I'm too distant from drug culture to buy this one? -Nick
Unlike "bogart", I can't see a believable derivation for this one. -Hutch
I understand the etymology of 'bogart', so I'm trying to figure out if
there's some parallel construction that would yield 'puna', but if there is,
I'm missing it. -Jean-Joseph
 
 
puna  n.  Residue strained off from boiled hooves during the manufacture of
glue.
-Jean-Joseph, 4 points
We always just sucked it right off through a straw.  Mmmmm, hooflikker! -
Elliott
2 points. -Judith
Ew. Just... let me be an omnivore in peace. -Nick
Two points. -Pierre
Bagasse flavor Jello! -Ranjit
 
 
puna  adj.  Discarded by a god. As, food offerings, cooking vessels,
worn-out fabric or thatching, etc., that are no longer fit for holy use, but
taboo because formerly in the deity's possession.
-Eric, 9 points
I always thought they handed that stuff down to demigods. - Elliott
2 points. -Linda
1 point. -Judith
Hmm... not sure if tabu needs a word that closely related, but I was
thinking Polynesian myself, so I'll give. 2 points. -Nick
2 points -Nova, voting for James
Concept seems backwards. I think most religions give out the offerings
(well, a portion thereof, anyway ;-> as charity. -Hutch
I like this.  The word has a nice distasteful sound to it (like spitting),
but I like the juxtaposition of it being untouchable because it was once in
an exalted place. One point. -Jean-Joseph
Anything like a geniza? -Pierre
1 point. -Ranjit
 
 
puna  n.  A small lake. [Southwestern U.S.]
-Judith, 7 points
2 points. -David
2 points. -Jim
Not any kind of Spanish I know. -Nick
1 point. -Nova, voting for James
Living (sort of) in the Southwest, I would have expected to have heard this.
-Hutch
I've spent enough time there, in the correct contexts, that I would have
though I would have encountered this, and I haven't that I recall.  But two
points anyway. -Jean-Joseph
 
 
puna  n.  A fold in a cat's ear.
-Linda, 1 point
A puma fold? -Hutch
1 point. -David Randall
This is one of those things that really doesn't need a specific term. Does
it? Maybe I'm just the wrong petless person to ask. -Nick
Just a cat?  Mighty specific. -Jean-Joseph
 
 
puna  n.  A poisoned lei. [Hawaiian]
-David, 0 points
This sounds like the sneaky way for a henchman to try and kill James Bond in
Act 2 of a standard Bond movie. Naturally, Bond would blend into a hula
performance, and get the lei back to the would-be assassin. -Nick
What a bizarre idea ... for that culture. (I could see the equivalent in
western European or Mediterranean or Far Eastern cultures, but in the
Hawaiian culture???) -Hutch
Heh.  The haoles get off the plane, and we'll show them! -Jean-Joseph
 
 
puna  n.  1.  A high plateau in the Peruvian Andes. 2.  mountain sickness.
[Quechua, in sense 1]
-The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 1996, 3 points
Tempting, but I'm out of points. - Elliott
We really liked South America and Polynesia for this ballot. -Nick
I didn't like this one on first glance, but it kinda grows on ya ... like
fungus: 2 points -Hutch
This has the right feel, but I'm out of points. -Jean-Joseph
One point, because we both thought of Peru so it's not as likely to be
right. -Pierre
 
 
 
 
Would anyone have voted for this one?
 
PuNa (n.) -- A type of nuclear fission reactor fueled by plutonium and
cooled by liquid sodium.
 
-Elliott