[Fictionary] Fictionary Results for Clem at Lasr! 5/23/11

[lindafowens at netzero.com]

FICTIONARY RESULTS FOR CLEM AT LAST   AND COOF, PERHAPS	May 23, 2011
	I was beginning to have an existential time, when hardly anyone responded with defs or guesses.  “Where are you all ?” I wondered.  Eventually, I had enough defs for a ballot, even though I had to make one up myself.  At the last minute, several folks turned in their guesses, so we had a goodly number of votes.  Was it the choice of words? Or just that everyone was so busy?  I must admit, April and May were busy for me, as my husband and I went off to AZ and CA on our 44th anniversary trip, mostly to see F&F; then there were a number of birthdays, Scout trips (he’s still a Scoutmaster), and this month ends with my 45th college reunion from Mount Holyoke College--I go every 5 years to see far-flung old friends and new old friends.  Eric excused himself, because he knew the word, probably from reading North and South.  OH, I stupidly left Pierre’s def off the ballot, so I told him he could be the tiebreaker.  Inadvertently he was, as when he voted, he put David Randall’s “drugged horse” one point ahead of Ranjit’s “quite satisfactory”, despite giving Ranjit 2 points, making David Randall the new champ!   Hip Hip, Hurrah!  Sorry about the Coof confusion.  Anyway, here are the results:
1)	Clem, n. (Victorian racing slang)—a drugged horse.  Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations.  A novel of the rich and poor in England.  By David Randall, total=4 plus correct guess for Clem=5!!!!!.  1 point from Elliott, for mentioning Disraeli, 2 points from Jim, another Disraeli fan, and 1 point from Pierre.

2)	Clem, adj—quite satisfactory; in good order (slang, early 20th C. northeastern US, prob. from “clement”.)  “You think everything’s clem?  You think you fixed it all up?” Ellis spit.  “You damn coof, it’s all gone to hell thanks to you.”  Coby’s Army, Richard T. Whistler, 1927.  Ranjit’s total=4.  2 points from David Randall and 2 points from Pierre.


3)	Clem, n.  An edible marine bivalve mollusk native to the Donegal, Derry, and Antrim coasts of Northern Ireland.  “My lady Rackrent, I’m sure, has dainties enough,” says Lucy.  “Dem, it’s hems and clems she’s asked for partikeler,” continued old Patrick,  “and it’s here I’ve brought th’ clems in th’ prem, along o’ soom crocks o’ me Molly’s jem, all as fine as ye’re fency rick o’ lem.  So beggin’ ye’re pahhdin mem.”  And thus did this worthy of Crookaghnawaturgh deposit his treasures on the kitchen floor.  Castle Rackrent:  An Hibernian Tale Taken From Facts, And From The Manners Of The Irish Squires, Before The Year 1782—Maria Edgeworth, 1800.  Eric wrote this one, and his total is 3.  1 point from Ranjit, with a Pecten award (scallop, not eyes); and 2 points from Elliott.  From Linda:  I think this is the funniest def I’ve seen in ages!  Did you make it up????

4)	Clem, v. To starve, to die slowly of starvation.  “It’s no use, Higgins.  Hoo cannot live long a’ this’n.  Hoo’s just sinking away—not for want o’ meat hersel’—but because hoo cannot stand th’ sight o’ the little ones clemming.  Ay, clemming!  Five shilling a week may do well enough for thee, wi’ but two mouths to fill, and one on ‘em a wench who can welly earn her own meat.  But it’s clemming to us…be domned to th’ whole cruel world o’ yo’; that could na leave me th’ best wife that ever bore childer to a man!”  North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  The REAL  One!  David Randall was the only person to guess correctly.  I saw the BBC production on Masterpiece, bought the DVD and then read and reread the book.  It has personal meaning for me (Linda) because my David’s grandfather, a Welshmen, left home (and too much alcoholism) (the Methodists got to him) early for Manchester, England, to become a mill mechanic.  Then he came to the USA, still as a young man, worked as a mill mechanic in RI, and later founded his own machine shop, employing over 100 workers, and with his two sons, getting many government contracts during WWII for rifle and artillery parts that saved many lives, in the long run, it was said.  (I think the Poppit valve they perfected kept some guns from expoding).

5)	Coof , n.  [Nantucket slang]  To locals, a person not born on Nantucket.  Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.  No one guessed this correct answer.  The story of the whaling ship Essex in the 1800’s was well-known around the world, for being the first documented case of a whale attacking a ship. After reading this tale, Herman Melville signed aboard a whaling ship and later wrote Moby Dick.  As for being a coof, it was an insult to newcomers and outsiders on an island or ship, even if the coofs lived on Nantucket for the rest of their lives.  Nantucket was a huge whaling capital, and men who signed up for a whaling voyage around the Horn were stuck together for years at a time.  Naturally, those native to Nantucket, having grown up together, were closer in friendship, and the last to be eaten when hunger became unbearable.


6)	Clem, n, a dolt.  Coof, n, a dolt.  [Clem and Coof are characters in an Irish Comic strip by Seamus Barclay, 1950’s.]  Often used around Manchester, England, the same way “Mac” is used to mean an ordinary, but slightly inferior, Joe.  Points from Ranjit (2) and Jim (1).  Elliott thinks this is the real one, but I made it up, thinking of Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch, forerunners of the Katzenjammer Kids.

7)	Clem, adj.  Deteriorated from many years of neglect.   “But I saw that everything within my view had become clem long ago, and had lost its luster and was faded.”  Great Expectations, Chapter 8.  Pierre’s def, and The One everyone can claim was the best def, but I left it off the ballot, alas!   So sorry.


By the Way, May 21 was supposed to be The Rapture, whatever that means.  Any really good people missing????



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