[Fictionary] SPREATH results!

[eLLioTT morEton]

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Dear Fictionary,

The SPREATH results are in, and the winner is ... HUTCH, whose bouquet 
attracted the most bees.  Haul it away, Hutch!

Regards,
em

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GENERAL COMMENTS

Eric:  Holy camoley!  Has this ever happened before, three definitions all 
the same?  Three 'sblood definitions, two spread/breadth awards, one 
sprig/wreath award, and what's left?

David:  Oh, foo, I'm completely unoriginal. I will give my doppelgangers 
sympathy points.

Pierre:  There are three instances of "God's breath"; I'm not voting for 
any of them.
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spreath - n.  - a bouquet; particularly, an informal bouquet of 
wildflowers.

A spreath of dog-rose from the combe
Her feet bedewed whilst tripping home

  -- Robert Southey, _Cataract of Lodore_

HUTCH 6:  Ranjit 2 + Pierre 2 + Jean-Joseph 1 + 1 for correct guess

Ranjit: Very pretty!  2 points.
Jean-Joseph:  Reminiscent of "spray", but I'll give it one.
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spreath, n.  The marrow from the bones of a fowl.

My sisters fought over the drumsticks, but I just waited for the spreath.

RANJIT 3:  Eric 2 + 1 for correct guess

Eric:  Two points, for not being a 'sblood def, a spread/breadth def, or a 
sprig/wreath def.

Hutch:  The quote makes this one not believable, I'm afraid. If you wanted 
marrow, you'd be fighting over the drumsticks too.
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'spreath, interj.  An exclamation contracted from "God's breath"; used as 
an oath.

But where I go next, why it's more than I know;
To the word that he speaks, 'sbreath, I mustn't say nay;
But with heart, hand, and soul, must still cheerily bow,
For 'tis his to command, and 'tis mine to obey.

-- John Howell, _The Man-of-War's-Man_, 1825

JIM 4:  David 2 + Amy 1 + 1 for correct guess

Judith:  This one MUST be correct, since there are so many accurate 
quotations using it! Let's give it 55 points right away!

Amy: One point; 1825 sounds a little late for this though.

Hutch:  I too thought of "God's breath", but decided it was too obvious. 
Those get tossed out first.
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spreath, n.  A herd of cattle carried or driven off in a raiding 
expedition.

1665 J. FRASER Polichron. (S.H.S.) 85 He wasted and spulied the whole 
country, carrying away a vast spreath of their strongest cattle.

OED 4:  Eric 1 + Ranjit 1 + Jim 2 + Jean-Joseph 2 + Hutch 1 + 2 for 
correct guess - 5 for voting for own def

Eric:  One point, for not being a 'sblood def, a spread/breadth def, or a 
sprig/wreath def.  But only one, for being "spulied" rather than 
"spuiled".

[Yeah, I found that puzzling too.  It's that way in the OED.  Another OED 
``spreath''quotation has your preferred spelling in a Scots translation of 
the Aeneid:

We com nocht hidder..To spuile temples or riches of Libia, Nor by the 
coist na spreicht to drive awa.]

Ranjit: 1 point for spulification.

Jean-Joseph:  Why not?  Two points.

Hutch:  The quote makes me suspicious. If a spreath is "a herd of cattle", 
one wouldn't say "a spreath of cattle" = "a 'herd of cattle' of cattle". 
But, 1 point
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sbreath, exc.  A contraction of the oath "God's breath."

"I'll no oben tha burse a vhit," said the good Squire Trelawny, somewhat 
rubicund.  "Sbreath, I'd soonster hang mezelf than gibe tha jackanabes a 
zhilling."

DAVID 0

Amy:  Honorable mention!  I'm impressed that there were three of these.

Hutch (again):  I too thought of "God's breath", but decided it was too 
obvious. Those get tossed out first.

[The shadow of the past flits across Fictionary.  David's quotation is a 
riff on the West Country dialects of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and 
Somerset, which sometimes show voiced fricatives in place of voiceless 
ones at the beginning of a syllable (the classic example being 
``Zummerzet'' for Somerset).  Dialect maps and other interesting 
information can be found here:

http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/C/C69/C69-5201.pdf

Audio examples can be heard here, if you have the right plug-ins:

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0908X0027XX-0200V0.xml
http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0908X0030XX-0400V0.xml
http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0908X0065XX-1000V0.xml

Long-time Fictioneers will recall that we are technically playing interim 
rounds while waiting for the vote tallies from the ``zax'' round of 
October-November 2000.

Eerie Coincidence #1:  The [z] in that word is one of those West Country 
fricatives --- ``zax'' is thought to be a borrowing into London English 
from the West Country, like ``vane'', ``vixen'', and ``vat''.

Eerie Coincidence #2:  One of the defs on the still-pending zax ballot --- 
perhaps the winner, who knows? --- was

zax (interj.) [arch.] A euphemistic abbreviation of _by God's axe_, used 
in oaths.

https://www.swarpa.net/pipermail/fictionary/2000/001571.html

Eerie Coincidence #3:  Eerie Coincidences #1 and #2 happened at *exactly 
the same time*!

--em]

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Spreath, n.  The breadth of a tree in autumn, just before the leaves fall.

Jon calculated the spreath of the trees in his orchard every year, when 
they were at their maximum width and glory, to see if they needed any 
special organic treatments.

LINDA 2:  Judith 1 + Pierre 1

Jean-Joseph:  Not specific to autumn, but I know this as "crown spread".

Hutch:  The two so-similar plant definitions make me suspicious, so throw 
them out, too.
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spreath, n.  The area over which a given plant is capable of dispersing
its seeds.

The Sandbox Tree (Hura crepitans) explosively ejects its seeds as far as 
100 meters, resulting in a spreath of over 3 hectares, though is is 
eclipsed by trees which disperse seeds that can be carried by the wind.

JEAN-JOSEPH 4:  Judith 2 + 2 for correct guess

Jean-Joseph:  The tree is real, and it really does that.  Also known as 
the "Dynamite Tree".

Hutch (again):  The two so-similar plant definitions make me suspicious, 
so throw them out, too.
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'spreath, interj.  Euphemistic shortening of God's breath.  Cf 'sblood, 
'snails, 'slight, zounds, strewth.

Wittipol: 'Spreath! Sit, sir, and silent wait.  We go.
Does now the cuckold rise as if to fight?
How rise by day, that will not rise by night?

-- Ben Jonson, _The Devil is an Ass_, 1616.

ERIC 5: David 1 + Amy 2 + Jim 1 + 1 for correct guess

Amy:  Two points; 1616 sounds closer to the right date for this.

Jim:  1 point for being the same def as mine but with a better quote.

Hutch (yet again):  I too thought of "God's breath", but decided it was 
too obvious. Those get tossed out first.
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spreath, n.  The vertical distance measured between the stadia hairs on a 
leveling rod.

To compute the horizontal distance, multiply the spreath by K times the 
cosine squared of the vertical angle.

PIERRE 2: Hutch 2

Hutch: Not sure I like this one, but it's the best of the ones left: 2 
points
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