[Fictionary] Latten Results

[Nicolas Ward]

The latten results, first by definition, then general comments, then
overall score.

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[David] latten - n. - Hemp braided with jute.

  0 - Not clear to me what the outcome is --- a rope? a basket? [Elliott]
  1 - Boring enough to be plausible. [Eric]
  2 - [Judith]
  1 - Nice and simple. [Fran]
  1 - [Pierre]
  0 - I would have bought this one if the materials had been felted
together or twisted into skeins, rather than braided. Whether it is my
my intuition or my vocabulary which is wrong, remains shortly to be
seen. [Ellen]

[Ranjit] latten - n. - Gingerbread.

  0 - Maybe suggested by "gingerbread latte"? [Elliott]
  1 - [J-J]
  0 - So your gingerbread house's structure would be latten lathing ;-) [Ellen]

[Jim] latten - n. - A blended wine made from grapes of a single type, but
grown at different vineyards.

  0 - "Latten" looks too Germanic to be a wine word. [Elliott]
  0 - I would have thought that the difference would be too subtle to
be worth the trouble... but I am not a wine conoisseur (conisseuse?)
[Ellen]

[J-J] latten - adj. - Rhomboidal with rounded corners.

  0 - Maybe suggested by the interstices of a lattice? [Elliott]
  1 - That sounds like something there should be a word for, although
I'm not sure it's this word. [Amy]
  1 - I just like this one. [Ellen]

[REAL] latten - n. - Brass hammered into thin sheets.

  0 - Maybe suggested by "flatten"? [Elliott]
  2 - [David]
  1 - [Judith]
  0 - If I had another point, I would give it to this one. [Fran]
  2 - For sounding like a word "laiton" which I dimly remember hearing
somewhere. [Pierre]
  2 - [J-J]
  2 - Oh, this probably isn't it. Although brass is so soft that I
can't imagine a widespread use for hammering it into thin sheets, and
it's not like people are rushing out to buy brass-gilded jewelry (but
it will cover your skin a lovely shade of green ;-) ). Maybe an
electrical use? [Ellen]

[Ellen] latten - n. - A wooden bar comprising the locking mechanism of a gate
(released by gravity to lock, and manually returned to place to open
the gate).

  2 - I have a distinct feeling that this one is actually right. I'm
vaguely recollecting this term being used in, perhaps, Agatha Christie
mysteries... or something of that era anyway. [Hutch]
  2 - [Amy]
  0 - The opposite of the bobinette? (Tire la chevillette, la
bobinette cherra.) [Pierre]

[Amy] latten - v. - To cut into laths; to be so cut.

  2 - Simple and plausible. [Elliott]
  2 - For being a verb! [Eric]
  2 - For being so dead obvious. Lathen->latten. Very brave. [Fran]
  0 - Good definition, but I just don't see it as a verb. "To latten"
just doesn't work for me. On the other hand, I once had a coworker who
felt that "to rather" was a verb, to wit, "Fran rathers..." and not
understanding that it "(would) rather" is an auxiliary to an implied
verb. [Ellen]

[Linda] latten - n. - 1) [Regency Era] An inset of contrasting cloth or lace
toward the bottom of a ball gown. 2) A strip of stiffening, often
whalebone, but also folded cloth, in a corset, or above the waist of a
ladies' garment or undergarment.

  1 - I don't believe this one at all ("[Regency Era]"??), but it is
creative and not obviously wrong. [Elliott]
  2 - For detail. [Ranjit]
  1 - [David]
  0 - The second one sounds like batten. [Pierre]
  0 - The two definitions are so incredibly specific as to cast doubt
on whether a new word would be invented for such a thing; and to me
the two different uses don't seem enough related to be likely to be
indicated by the same word. [Ellen]

[Elliott] latten - n. - 1)  A horseshoe fitted with a wooden or metal blade for
skating on ice. 2) Cavalry or dragoons so equipped.

  0 - Mine, from a list of definitions in search of words.  I picked
it for this word because "latten" sounds like "lath", and I read
somewhere that the Dutch (humans) use lath-like wooden strips as
skates. [Elliott]
  1 - For skating horses! [Ranjit]
  1 - This is too funny! I don't believe it, but whoever came up with
the idea of ice-skating cavalry horses deserves a point. [Hutch]
  0 - The mind reels. [David]
  0 - Can you point me to the video of that? [Eric]
  0 - ROFL! (Do people still say that? I keep meaning to say "WTH?" at
school so I can be corrected and then I can explain that since I don't
use bad words I have to replace the first letter of *uck with the
first letter of *eck. Why do so few of my students laugh at my jokes?
...) Anyway, invisible points for hilarity. [Fran]
  0 - I don't think horses' legs can move apart and twist as would be
necessary for skating. [Pierre]
  0 - Always nice to have a preposterous one in there, with all of the
other definitions being so plausible.  I can't imagine the carnage
that would result from trying this. [Elliott]
  0 - Because ice skating is so important while at war ;-). (Okay, so
maybe you have to get across frozen lakes or rivers and can still
balance and move across ice while carrying 40-pound packs and balanced
on blades... Horseshoes and cavalry? Now that I want to see,
ice-skating horses!) [Ellen]

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The final rankings:

David, 7
Amy, 6
Ellen, 6
Jean-Joseph, 4
Linda, 4
Elliott, 2
Pierre, 2
Ranjit, 1
Judith, 1
Jim, 0
Fran, 0
Eric, 0
Nick, -7

Pretty divided, but David wins!

Also, Elliott wins the special "Most Requests for a Video
Demonstrating the Definition" Award, so get on that!

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[Hutch] Hmm, several definitions meaning mixtures: hemp and jute, blended
wine, contrasting cloth. I think I'll avoid those.
[Nick] I thought it was interesting that most of the definitions were materials.

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Finally, apologies to Pierre, whose definition I missed when searching
my inbox and compiling the ballot. He submitted:

[Pierre] latten - n. - The bar that supports the top of a chain-link fence.

Take it away, David!

--Nick