[Fictionary] GOOLAYYALIBEE results

[Pierre Abbat]

> Elliot: This one's hard!  The "oo" and "ee" spell Former British Colony,
> which if true would eliminate the Quechua.  The word has five
> differently-spelled vowels and/or diphthongs <oo ay a i ee>, whereas
> Australian languages tend to have only /i a u/ --- but there could be
> any amount of allophony, or a length contrast, that could be heard who
> knows how by Europeans.  The Devil take thinking!  I'll just vote for
> defs I like.

Proto-Pama-Nyungan had three vowels and a length contrast. Many modern 
Australian languages have the same set, but some have modified it, such as 
Mbabaram, whose word for "dog" is "dog", descended from Proto-PN "gudaga"

> Eric: One point, just because I like guinea pigs.

But do you eat guinea pigs? (I've read they eat them to get vitamin D, not 
that pre-Columbian Quechuas ever heard of vitamin D.)

> Goolayyalibee - n. - One of the three divisions of the Spinifex people
> of the Nullarbor Plain, the others being Goolamardirnoo and
> Goolabungbung. Married couples must be from two different divisions, and
> their children belong to the third.
> from Pierre.  Linda 2 = 2 points
> Linda: Two points for cheek
> Nick: Bung bung just makes me think of Berlusconi now...
> Eric: Likability points for using Spinifex and Nullarbor. But
> "divisions" jars, I'd prefer clans, moieties, or, my favorite, "phratries".
> Elliott: "Spinifex" *so* does not look Aboriginal Australian.

It isn't, of course; it's the name of a plant, and the exonym of the people. 
See also http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/etym/people.html for how the kaluta 
got its name.

Several Aboriginal peoples have such divisions, but to my knowledge, they're 
all powers of 2.

I thought of a joke def, but was too busy to send it:
goolayyalibee, n. One who is goolayyalibated by a goolayyalibor.

Pierre
-- 
.i toljundi do .ibabo mi'afra tu'a do
.ibabo damba do .ibabo do jinga
.icu'u la ma'atman.