[Fictionary] mobby results

[fictioneric at cluemail.com]

The real definition is the drink from sweet 
potatoes.  I got it from a description of a 
letter of Tom Verney, writing from Barbados, to 
Sir Edmund Verney, in 1639.

    "Mobby, a drink brewed from pressed sweet potatoes, was also
     popular; indeed, Tom thought the sweet potato was the best
     provision the island had to offer, since after only a month or
     two of exposure to its delights, servants wanted nothing else to
     eat and drink but sweet potatoes and mobby."

From _The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War, and 
Madness in Seventeenth-Century England_, by 
Adrian Tinniswood.  Elliott confirms that this 
def is also in the OED.

For the win, Pierre and Elliott are tied, gentlemen, it is in your hands.

Congratulations, also, to Elliott, for voting 
twice for definitions that no-one else chose.

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Real definition
     mobby, n.  A drink brewed from pressed sweet potatoes.

     5  --  2 David Randall, 2 Pierre, 1 Hutch


Pierre Abbat
     n. A bicycle messenger in Nigeria, using a bicycle with a large
     built-in trunk to carry things.

     5  --  2 Nicolas, 2 Jim, 1 Jean-Joseph


Elliott Moreton
     mobby (n.) -- A braided horsehair wick used by beekeepers to extract
     bumble from a bumblecomb.

     5  --  2 Ranjit, 1 Nicolas, 1 Linda, 1 Pierre


Nicolas Ward
     mobby, n. A stationary steam-powered winch used in drag-logging.
     (ca. 1880)

     3  --  2 Jean-Joseph, 1 David Randall


Jean-Joseph Cote
     mobby - n. - a wad of straw soaked in poisoned molasses or honey
     that is placed where it will be found by vermin.

     3  --  2 Hutch, 1 Jim


Ranjit Bhatnagar
     mobby, n (South Africa) a mobile phone.

     2 Elliott


Jim Moskowitz
     mobby, n. A nonexistent word placed in a dictionary to facilitate
     detection of plagiarism.

     2 Linda


David Randall
     mobby - n. (Blue Ridge dial.) - a domesticated skunk

     1 Elliott


Jeff Hutchinson
     mobby - adj. - (usu. pejorative) lower class

     1 Ranjit


Linda Owens
     mobby, adj.  Congested, as a venue filled with people.


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Comments:

Jim: Ooh, again I like a whole bunch. The 
similarity between the wick with beestuff and the 
straw with molasses is tantalizing...
Elliott: Some of these are really good --- even 
plausible.  The decision will be difficult.


Real definition
     mobby, n.  A drink brewed from pressed sweet potatoes.

Nicolas: Gross.
Elliott: I hope not.
J-J: Doesn't sound that appealing.  Can it then 
be distilled into some kind of yamka?


Pierre Abbat
     n. A bicycle messenger in Nigeria, using a bicycle with a large
     built-in trunk to carry things.

Nicolas: Sounds like colonial English slang to me. Two points.
Elliott: This is also plausible, but I'm out of points.


Elliott Moreton
     mobby (n.) -- A braided horsehair wick used by beekeepers to extract
     bumble from a bumblecomb.

Ranjit: Two.  I don't know if there's any such thing as bumble, but I like it.
Nicolas: Oh those crazy beekeepers! One point.
Linda: One point for the horsehair wick.  I've 
been a beekeeper, but I've never heard of this, 
and have no idea what bumble is  (I thought it 
described a bumble bee's bumbling), so it must be 
true.
Pierre: One point for silliness.
J-J: I'm guessing that bumble is something that 
bumblebees produce that's analogous to the honey 
produced by honeybees?  If so, I would think that 
wicking would be a very slow manner of extracting 
it.


Nicolas Ward
     mobby, n. A stationary steam-powered winch used in drag-logging.
     (ca. 1880)

Elliott: Wouldn't that be a statty?


Jean-Joseph Cote
     mobby - n. - a wad of straw soaked in poisoned molasses or honey
     that is placed where it will be found by vermin.

Nicolas: Seems suspiciously specific.


Ranjit Bhatnagar
     mobby, n (South Africa) a mobile phone.

Nicolas: I think I'd buy it if the slang were more boer sounding.
Elliott: Utterly, utterly plausible, and amusingly Commonwealthy.  Two points!


Jim Moskowitz
     mobby, n. A nonexistent word placed in a dictionary to facilitate
     detection of plagiarism.

Nicolas: Heh. Meta!
Linda: Two points for the non-existent word, ironic for fictioneers.
Pierre: This word doesn't have enough esquivalience.


David Randall
     mobby - n. (Blue Ridge dial.) - a domesticated skunk

Nicolas: I feel like I would have seen this in 
English required reading at some point. Our 
selections were for whatever reason biased to the 
Southeast.
Elliott: One point and the Stole Fire From the Gods Award.
J-J: Domesticating skunks doesn't seem like a a 
pastime that would be very appealing to rural 
people.


Jeff Hutchinson
     mobby - adj. - (usu. pejorative) lower class

Nicolas: This has to be too literal of a 
mob/mobilé definition, right? Even though thus is 
a construct I might use.


Linda Owens
     mobby, adj.  Congested, as a venue filled with people.

Nicolas: Again, too literal, right?
Elliott: Another plausible def!  What the d---l's going on around here?
J-J: I was going to say that I'd be more inclined 
to believe that this is "mobbish", but I think 
it's actually "mobbed".


-- 
-- Eric   |   fictioneric at cluemail.com