[Fictionary] Shai, fai, hori, and janja too

[Pierre Abbat]

Hutch and Eric were tied for a few days, until Nick sent his vote last night.

Jim: Okay, I have to eliminate the ones which sound like variants on the 
Australian slang term dinkum, and the ones too similar to kimchee. So...
Eric: All four of these have to do with quality, either good or false, and I'm 
guessing they're influenced by "dinkum".  I know mine is. (acceptable, showy 
but inferior, pyrite, and true beyond a doubt)
Lawrence Miller (during the def phase): I don't know it, but I do have a 
co-worker named Jin Kim!

I didn't get any verses, so this is what I made up:

One, two, jinkimaloo,
One, two, jinkimaloo,
One, two, jinkimaloo,
Jinkimaloo, my darling.

Shai, fai, hori, and janja too, (3x)
Jinkimaloo, my darling.

Scrimshander made it, chew, chew, chew, (3x)
Jinkimaloo, my darling.

jinkim, adj. (W. Midlands dial.) Of showy but inferior workmanship. n. A showy 
but low-quality object.
by Eric. 6
David: 2
Jim: 2 points
Elliott: Derogatory enough, but doesn't sound like an adjective to me.  Still, 
I'll give it one point.
Eric: My def. (showy but inferior) is influenced, first, by trying to be the 
opposite of dinkum.  And second by being pretty much the definition 
of "brummagem" (one of my favorite words).  Except, speakers from the West 
Midlands (i.e., Birmingham), would want a word other than brummagem.
J-J: Like maybe, pyrite jewelry?
Nick: This might be me just thinking of trinket, but sounds right. 1 point.

jinkim, n. (Kor. lit. "soaked fish") A traditional Korean dish made of fish 
(most commonly cod or whitefish) and vegetables that are seasoned and 
fermented in sealed containers; similar to kimchi.
by Jeff Hutchinson. 5
1 for qima
Ranjit: Sounds plausible, but not English enough for fictionary.  1 pt anyway 
because now I'm hungry for Korean food.
Elliott: Doesn't sound dictionary-like.  I can just about believe that you can 
ferment fish, but would anyone eat it afterwards?
Linda: Two points for the soaked fish, since my son used to have a Korean 
roommate and he had a fridge full of kim chi, a thing I never tried, but 
there were stories about how spicy it was. If this is the right guess, it's 
accidental, as I've never heard of jin kim, or eaten any Korean fish, 
either.  I seem to recall an episode of MASH in which a jeep hits what they 
think is a land mine, but it turns out to be some buried (and explosive) kim 
chi.
Eric: I applaud definitions based on kimchi.  I don't buy it (does "jinkim" 
fit the sound pattern of Korean?) but one point anyway, partly because the 
rest of the definitions are worse.
J-J: Fish similar to cabbage?
Nick: Tempting. The individual syllables could be Korean, but I've only ever 
seen them in the context of names. It seems unlikely people would be 
named "soaked" or "fish", although I suppose it could have another meaning.

jinkim, n. A Victorian children's game played with clothespins and a knife.
by Jim Moskowitz. 4
David: 1
Elliott: Could be.  Maybe inspired by Janken (aka rock, paper, scissors)?
Eric: Hee-hee!  Yes, those Victorians were not quite so safety-obsessed as we 
have become. . . . Two points, but only if the author will follow up with a 
description of how to play.
Hutch: 2 point
J-J: If this one is real, I want to know the rules.  I'm also wondering 
whether the knife poses a hazard like it does in mumbledy-peg, or if it's 
just a marker or some such.  One point.
Nick: Sounds Gorey.

jinkim, adj. Acceptable.
by Ranjit. 4
Elliott: Hmmm.  ``Jinkim'' sounds too derogatory to mean this, but what else 
can I do?  Two points.
J-J: Reminds me too much of the Strine expression "fair dinkum", or whatever 
it is.
Nick: I don't know why, but this seems like a good slangy usage. 2 points.

jinkim, n. A diacritical mark used in writing Coptic.
the truth. 3
Elliott: Maybe, maybe not.  I'd expect a dictionary to say more about the 
value of the mark.
Hutch: 1 point
J-J: I don't believe it for a moment.  Two points.
J-J: Not that easy to find with Google, but... huh.  I guess I have to believe 
it now.  Interesting that you can draw it three different ways, and that it 
can be used (with different effect) with either vowels or consonants.
Nick: I feel like this should sound more technical.

jinkim, n. Tainted food served to arrest an unprofitably insatiable appetite 
at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
by Elliott Moreton. 2
Ranjit: Someone's playing to lose.  2 points just to spite you.  And because 
that's a good def.
Elliott: They must have *some* kind of backup plan, mustn't they?
J-J: Just soak some straw in poisoned molasses and serve it to them -- 
deee-lish, and it will solve your problem in a jiffy.
Nick: I think this would be a risky business plan.

jinkim, n. Chewing gum made from whalebone.
by Jean-Joseph Cote. 2
2 for Titty Mouris
Elliott: Eeuw!  Somehow I think a dictionary wouldn't call it ``gum''.
J-J: Mine. I'm not sure, but I think people did used to chew whalebone before 
chicle became more popular.  But it wasn't called jinkim.
Nick: Gross!

jinkim, n. 1. Counterfeit books 2. The practice of American publishers 
illegally copying British books during the Colonial period.
by Nicolas Ward. 1
Elliott: Reminds me of something Daniel Dennett wrote about Hilary Putnam's 
``Twin Earth'' thought experiment, where you're supposed to imagine that 
there's a planet that has a substance called ``water'' that has all the 
properties of Earthly water, but isn't H2O.  Dennett said, well, suppose you 
tried to say that about the tables on Twin Earth --- they look like tables, 
they're used as tables, but *really* they aren't tables at all.  Harder to 
imagine, isn't it?  This def strikes me the same way.  Jinkims look like 
books, they heft like books, when you open them up, they're full of pages 
with print on them, but really they're counterfeits!
Linda: One point for the counterfeit books, as I like to think that the early 
Americans liked to read something besides the Bible, and Americans weren't 
confident enough or didn't have enough free time to  write many of their own 
books for a while.
J-J: Presumably no longer needed once Noah Webster came along and produced 
real American texts.

jinkim, n. (fr. Tamil) - Pyrite jewelry.
by David Randall. 1
Jim: 1 point
Elliott: Could be, I guess...
J-J: Sounds showy, but of course, of low quality...
Nick: I don't know what Tamil sounds like, but it seems weird to have the 
distinction by quality of material.

jinkim, adj. True beyond a doubt.
by Linda Owens.
Ranjit: So I wasn't the only one thinking of "fair dinkum"!
Elliott: I suppose that could be too.
Hutch: "dinkum" from Strine?
J-J: This one also reminds me of "fair dinkum".  Though I honestly don't know 
what "fair dinkum" actually means, at least down to the subtleties of 
proper usage.
Nick: Doubtful.

Pierre
-- 
li ze te'a ci vu'u ci bi'e te'a mu du
li ci su'i ze te'a mu bi'e vu'u ci