[Fictionary] gibus results

[fictioneric at cluemail.com]

Hello Fictioneers!

gibus, adj.  Referring to the results of a contest or game of chance, 
made known so long after the event so as to be almost entirely devoid 
of interest.

Ha ha.

The real definition is the collapsible opera hat.  You can read about it here
    http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gib1.htm
The quotation given there, from the Dorothy Sayers novel, is where I 
first encountered the word.  It's also defined here
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibus_(hat)
where we learn it can also be called a "Chapeau Claque"; and its 
inventor, Antoine Gibus, is mentioned in the page on top hats:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_hat
Finally, you can buy one at
    http://www.villagehatshop.com/satin_collapsible_top-hat.html

The winner for gibus is Ranjit with 11 points, followed by Melissa 
(8), Elliott (6), the real definition (5), David (4), Pierre (3), 
Linda (2), Nicolas (2), Hutch (1), Jim (1), Jacob, and Judith.

Take it away, Ranjit!

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gibus, n. -- A collapsible opera-hat, in which the crown can be
     compressed down to the brim.  "Mr Bredon the ever-polite,
     expanded and assumed his gibus during the descent, apparently
     for the express purpose of taking it off to her when he
     emerged." -- Dorothy Sayers, _Murder Must Advertise_

5 points (1 Hutch, 1 David R, 1 Pierre, 2 Linda)

Hutch: 'I think I recall having seen one of these, though whether 
it's the right name or not, who knows. However, a definition citing 
Dorothy Sayers deserves a point no matter what: 1 point.'

Elliott: 'This sounds very plausible, but whenever the usage example 
comes from a real book, I am seized with suspicion that it is a real 
quote with only one word changed.'

Pierre: 'One point for the hat, since I've seen a drawing of a 
collapsed hat in Alice.'

Nicolas: 'I've always wanted to try one of these.'

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lindafowens at netzero.com

gibus, n. -- a global positioning device invented in the 17th
     century by some forgotten sailor. "In the dark corners of the
     Naval War College Museum in Newport, RI, (currently entered only
     with a special pass) are dusty examples of various gibi: some
     are improvements on sextants and astrolabes, and some are
     innovative contraptions of which most have never seen the like;
     all, however, aided their ships on their perilous journeys of
     yesteryear."

2 points (real def)

Hutch: 'Somehow I think this would be referred to as a "navigation 
device" rather than a "global positioning device'.

Pierre: 'The quotation doesn't fit the idea that it's a particular device.'

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Melissa Shaner <myshaner at verizon.net>

gibus, n. -- Public property used in performance art.  Coined by
     Scott Nethersole in _Immediations: the journal of the Courtauld
     Institute of Art_, in reference to a 1984 installation by
     guerrilla artist Wendie Chisholm in which she appropriated an
     out-of-service London Routemaster bus and hanged effigies of
     Margaret Thatcher and other Conservative Members of Parliament
     from its upper windows in support of the National Union of
     Mineworkers' strike.

8 points (2 Judith, 2 Elliott, 2 Beth, 1 JimM, 1 Ranjit)

Elliott: 'GIBBET plus BUS, ick!  I like absolutely everything about 
this def.  Two points.'

Beth: 'i'll vote 2 points for public property used in performance 
art.  iffy derivation, but i think it deserves a word of its own.'

Ranjit: 'I guess it's a better art-coinage than "neen" 
<http://neen.org/> -- 1 pt!'

------------------------------------------------

David Randall <withywindle at earthlink.net>

gibus, n. (fr. American army slang, "G. I. Bus") -- a lightly
     armored truck produced by Ford Motor Company between 1942 and
     1957.  "Willy patted the metal seat, and Edna hopped into the
     gibus.  The nurse giggled.  'I've never been in one of these
     before,' she said."

4 points (1 Judith, 1 Lawrence, 1 Linda, 1 real def)

Elliott: 'Ooh!  Good usage example, and plausible etymology (isn't 
"jeep" supposed to be from "G(eneral) P(urpose) vehicle"?).  But I'm 
out of points.'

Lawrence: '1 point.  I don't think it's true, but it really should be.'

------------------------------------------------

Jacob Mattison <jacobmattison at yahoo.com>

gibus, n. -- The amount of free movement or play in a directional
     antenna mount.  "I can't maintain the connection; the antenna
     has too much gibus."

Pierre: 'I think I'd have heard of this.'

Nicolas: 'Parallel with gimbal?'

------------------------------------------------

Jim Moskowitz <jim at jimmosk.com>

gibus: n. -- A glass containing an alcoholic beverage.  "Pass me
     down a sweech hopfully gibus, and let my melancholy flow." --
     James Joyce, _Ulysses_

1 point (Jacob)

Elliott: 'A lexicographer who has to resort to _Ulysses_ for an 
illustrative example is in desperate straits indeed!'

Jacob: 'Excellent quote.  1 point.'

Lawrence: 'I enjoyed the Ulysses quote, which nearly does convince 
me, but alas, no points.'

Pierre: '"sweech hopfully" doesn't mean anything to me. But then neither
does "brozaozaozing" (see "morepork").'

------------------------------------------------

eLLioTT morEton <emoreton at alum.swarthmore.edu>

gibus, n. -- A reputation fixed unalterably by a single event.  "The
     Florentines . . . represent the _Gibus_ as a screeching,
     fluttering parrot . . . [perched] on the right or left shoulder
     to signify renown or infamy." -- Ruskin, _Sketches from Italy_,
     1878

6 points (2 Hutch, 2 David, 2 Ranjit)

Hutch: 'The quote here seems to be JUST the right amount of skewed to 
be real: 2 points'

David: '2 points, and great admiration.'

Ranjit: 'If this def is to be your gibus, let it alight upon your 
right shoulder!  2 pts.'

------------------------------------------------

Judith Schrier <Judith_Schrier at brown.edu>

gibus, n. -- A small intensely red growth on a human, often on the
     face.  "Is that his nose?  I thought it was a gibus <L.O.L.>."

------------------------------------------------

Hutch <hutchinson.jeff at gmail.com>

gibus, adj. -- incomplete, unfinished. "Though the great sanctuary
     remains gibus in some detail, all work on the walls of the
     cathedral has finished and the pilgrimages begun."

1 point (real def)

Jacob: 'Bravo for an adjective.  I wanted to do an adjective, but couldn't make
it work.'

------------------------------------------------

Pierre Abbat <phma at phma.optus.nu>

gibus, n. -- The graph of the function y=cos(sqrt(x)). In full,
     "gibus of Frobenius". [Latin _gibus_, the part of a spring that
     comes off the rod it is wound on.]  "So we went into Larry's
     room, where he was designing the filter, and the board was
     covered with electronic diagrams, a gibus, and a cochleoid."

3 points (1 Melissa, 1 Nicolas, 1 real def)

Hutch: 'I know there are lots of these odd shapes, but I know a LOT 
of their names and this one doesn't ring any bells.'

Elliott: 'Or was it the Witch of Agnesi?  I never could keep those 
things straight.'

Nicolas: '1 point, mostly for using cochleoid in the definition.'

------------------------------------------------

Ranjit Bhatnagar <ranjit at moonmilk.com>

gibus, n. -- The pickpocket's assistant who, by loudly exclaiming
     that there is a wallet-snatcher about, induces passers-by to
     check their pockets and purses, thereby revealing the locations
     of valuables to the observant pickpocket.  "I worked up a new
     gibus in every town, a local guy, who knew the rich spots and
     when to drop low." -- Charles Danniver, _Life of a Con Man_,
     1933

11 points (2 Melissa, 1 Elliott, 2 Jacob M, 2 Lawrence, 2 Jim, 2 Nicolas)

Jacob: 'Two points. Very believable, and if it's not real, a great idea.'
Hutch: 'It doesn't feel like a good idea for a pickpocket to warn his targets.'

Elliott: 'The usage example on this one is first-rate.  One point.'

Lawrence: '2 points.  I'm 90% sure there is actually a name for this, 
and if it isn't gibus, the writer deserves the points anyway.'

Jim: '2 points.  I'm a sucker for con-men definitions'

Nicolas: 'The sort of thing that's specific enough to be real. 2 points.'

------------------------------------------------

Nicolas Ward <ultranurd at gmail.com>

gibus, n. -- The active cell-growth region of a tumor or other
     malignancy.  "Necropsy revealed a diffuse marginate gibus, with
     vascular wall infiltration compatible with the recurrent
     haemorrhagic episodes."

2 points (Pierre)

Note, this is the def to which I (Eric) added the usage example.

Hutch: 'Boring! Which probably means that it's right. But it's still 
not getting any points from ME :-)'

David: 'Polysyllabic Plausibility Award, Medical Edition.'

Elliott: 'I certainly hope not.  And I vote my hopes, not my fears.'

Pierre: 'Two points for the diffuse marginate gibus, which sounds 
most plausible.'


-- 
-- Eric   |   fictioneric at cluemail.com