[Fictionary] glip, gurning, mediser -- RESULTS!
fictioneric at cluemail.com
fictioneric at cluemail.com
Sat Jan 15 21:40:03 EST 2011
Greetings All,
No runaway winner this round, and no def with many votes. Votes were
spread around within each of the three words. And few votes for the
real defs, only Ranjit got glip, and Elliott nailed Mediser.
POINTS
Hutch and Ranjit lead with five points each. Settle it between
yourselves. Breakdown is:
Hutch 5
1 mediser: Linda
3 glip: Linda, Pierre, Elliott
1 gurning: Jean-Joseph
Ranjit 5
3 mediser: Jean-Joseph, Lawrence, Pierre
1 -- voted for real glip
1 glip: Lawrence
Elliott 4
1 -- voted for real Mediser
1 mediser: Ranjit
1 glip: Hutch
1 gurning: Lawrence
Pierre 4
1 glip: Jean-Joseph
3 gurning: Linda, Elliott, Hutch
Jean-Joseph 1
1 mediser: Hutch
Linda 1
1 gurning: Pierre
REAL DEFS
glip, n. The oily streak marking the track of a surfaced whale.
I got this from _Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York
Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of
Nature_, by D. Graham Burnett. A very good book that I *highly*
recommend.
See, if you stay within the glip while rowing in to harpoon the sperm
whale, it probably won't see you due to the the limits of its
peripheral vision.
Mediser, n. One who aids or is sympathetic to Persians.
I got this from _A History of Sparta 950-192 B.C._ by W. G. Forrest.
A very dull book that I do not recommend.
gurning, n. (1) The pulling of strange or scary faces as a
competitive sport. (2) The involuntary, chronic, and destructive
tooth grinding attendant upon overindulgence in amphetamines.
You can find the "funny faces" sense various places online, including
this post http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gur1.htm at the
World Wide Words site, as well as on Wikipedia. The tooth-grinding
sense can be found in the Urban Dictionary,
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gurning, as well as
being attested in this guide to ecstasy:
http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/e_guide.html
ALL THE DEFS AND VOTING
MEDISER
Mediser, n. One who aids or is sympathetic to Persians.
I Elliott
Elliott: Oh, I *like* this one! I would have believed it if it had
said ``to Medes''. One point anyway.
Eric: Well, the book referred only to Persians and the Persian
Empire, but used "Mediser".
Pierre: One man's Mede is another man's Persian, and the Kurds are
always getting in the way.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranjit:
mediser, n. Any footnote, appendix, codicil, etc. which is comparable
to or greater in size than the text it supplements. mediser, v. to
speak aimlessly and at length, esp. in an academic setting.
III Jean-Joseph Lawrence Pierre
Elliott: Lovely idea, but I'm out of points. This seems somehow
related to the ``sidekick'' def, but I'm not sure how. ``med'' ->
``mid'' -> `with'?
Pierre: One point because it's a verb.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
David Randall:
mediser, n. (1) The bite of a feral chicken. (2) A harmless treachery.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
lindafowens:
mediser, n. Someone who gives unsolicited medical advice.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Pierre Abbat:
mediser, n. A judge of a court martial in the Ottoman Empire.
Eric: nice use of "court martial"! Perhaps presided over by a
minister plenipotentiary or an inspector general.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Hutch:
mediser, n. A flunky, lackey, henchman, stooge, servant, sidekick;
usu. for a maleficent master.
I Linda
Lawrence: I believe the word you're looking for is "minion." No vote.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jean-Joseph:
mediser, n. A self-adjusting valve on a steam radiator.
I Hutch
- - - - - - - - - - - -
eLLioTT morEton:
mediser, n. An undercover mounted police officer.
I Ranjit
Ranjit: Point! The horse is painted in civilian livery, you see.
GLIP
glip, n. The oily streak marking the track of a surfaced whale.
I Ranjit
Ranjit: Point! I don't believe it, but I like it.
Elliot: Why would the whale be leaking oil? Is this after you've harpooned it?
Eric: No, whales are just greasy on the outside. I guess.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranjit:
glip, n. Oversimplification.
I Lawrence
Lawrence: Least objectionable choice. One vote.
Elliott: Come to think of it, there's an SF story by Evan Hunter
called ``Malice in Wonderland'' where ``glip'' is a portmanteau for
``glib lip''. I will recuse myself from voting for this def in case
it's the real one.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
David Randall:
glip, n. (1) The bite of a feral chicken. (2) A harmless treachery.
Elliot: Ranjit?
Pierre: No feral chickens. They can't all be feral chickens.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
lindafowens:
glip, n. The space between your toes and the tip of the shoe, as
measured on a glipometer by a shoe salesman. glip, v. To slide along
the sidewalk on sheer ice.
Elliott: GAP + SLIP?
Pierre: The glipometer was discontinued because it was found to cause
foot cancer.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Pierre Abbat:
glip, n. An obsolete painting medium made from the resin of the pistachio tree.
I Jean-Joseph
Lawrence: Is there such thing as an obsolete painting medium? Don't
people still paint like with egg tempera on wood? No vote.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Hutch:
glip, v. To lengthen, level or straighten by adding small amounts of
material; to shim.
III Linda Pierre Elliott
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jean-Joseph:
glip, n. Polishing compound for earring posts. glip, v. To excise the
heartwood (of a tree) while leaving most of the tree standing.
Lawrence: While I can envision seeing a late night commercial for
Fabulous New Glip!, wouldn't that be a name brand? No vote.
Elliott: GL- words are glittery (glisten, gleam, glow, etc.); maybe
that plus LOBE? Anyhow, who polishes earring posts?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
eLLioTT morEton:
glip, n. A nasal kiss, in which the heads are tilted and nostrils are
addressed to nostrils.
I Hutch
Elliott: Has anyone tried this?
Eric: Yes, but it hurt. Also, it's illegal in Georgia.
Hutch: 1 vote. Too wierd not to vote for. Though, to be honest, I'm
not sure I actually BELIEVE it *LOL*
GURNING
gurning, n. (1) The pulling of strange or scary faces as a
competitive sport. (2) The involuntary, chronic, and destructive
tooth grinding attendant upon overindulgence in amphetamines.
Ranjit: Abstain! Cuz I know this one. Though I didn't know about
the amphetamines.
Elliot: ``Darling, I love you, but I *just* *can't* *smile*.''
- - - - - - - - - - - -
David Randall:
gurning, n. (1) The bite of a feral chicken. (2) A harmless treachery.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
lindafowens:
gurning, n. The feeling you have to vomit, just before you do.
I Pierre
Lawrence: I believe that is called "blorg". No vote.
Elliott: I can never remember which one, rhalphogogic or
rhalphopompic, is before and which one is after.
Pierre: One point and a capful of apple cider vinegar diluted.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Pierre Abbat:
gurning, n. (1) The method of propagating plants by packing soil
around a branch stripped of a ring of bark, waiting for roots to
grow, and cutting the branch. (2) A plant so propagated.
III Linda Elliott Hutch
Elliott: Believable, but I don't know whether trees can actually do
this. One point anyway.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Hutch:
gurning, adj. Being carried by wagon or truck. gurning, n. A convoy,
esp. of land vehicles; a wagon train
I Jean-Joseph
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jean-Joseph
gurning, adj. Tending to produce paisley patterns.
Lawrence: I have this tendency myself, and this is not what we call
it. No vote.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
eLLioTT morEton
gurning, n. (1) Discoloration on the ceiling above a chandelier
formed by combustion products from the candle flames. (2) Simulated
gurning painted above an electric chandelier.
I Lawrence
Lawrence: I'm entranced by the idea that people in the early days of
electric light might simulate soot. One point.
Other comments:
Linda: Yikes! What a collection. The defs with the feral bite are
either looking for attention or hoping to be skipped! So, one point
each for the shim glip, the gurning plant propagation, and the
Igor-like (flunkey) mediser. What a harmless treachery!
Jean-Joseph: Well, Google was not much help. Without actually
putting any effort onto it, the only one that came up was gurning as
what happens to your face on speed.
--
-- Eric | fictioneric at cluemail.com
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