[Fictionary] samson post results

[Jacob Mattison]

I'm going to humbly request that J-J take this one, for two reasons.  1) is that J-J was tied with Ranjit on the last round, and now tied with me, and that seems to average out for a win.  2) is that I had minor eye surgery last week and am still limiting the time I spend staring at a computer screen (a problem given my chosen profession).  Hope that's OK!  

And, yeah, for the boarding school thing I kind of thought it would be _more_ plausible if there was no explicit connection to Samson of the Bible, etc.  I figure there was once some local student named Samson who performed this service for somebody, and the name caught on at, you know, Eton or wherever, and spread from there.



>________________________________
> From: Ranjit Bhatnagar <ranjit at moonmilk.com>
>To: fictionary <fictionary at swarpa.net> 
>Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:52 PM
>Subject: [Fictionary] samson post results
> 
>
>Nobody sent in a tiebreaker vote, so we have a tie! I'll let you two settle it between yourselves.  The actual winner, by points, was the dictionary definition, the post on a boat.  And our two human winners, with six points each, were Jacob, with boarding school contraband (candy? cigarettes? porn mags?), and Jean-Joseph, with the demolition jargon.
>
>I'll note that Jacob earned all his points through the votes of others, while Jean-Joseph got 33% of his points by choosing the correct definition.  However, I don't have any sense as to who gets the advantage from that.  I further note that they both have names starting with J, but J-J has twice as many.  
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>Anyway, the full results follow.
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>Take it away.... one of you!
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>- ranjit
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>Nicolas: I'm ignoring all of the biblically inspired definitions, because that seems too easy, but maybe that really is correct.
>Hutch: Throwing out anything about the mail or about "critical structural columns".
>Nora: These were fun to read!
>Elliott: I'm eliminating the ones that have to do with actual posts (in the sense of big sticks).
>Linda: It's getting harder for me to reply to the ballots by writing between the lines, as my reply doesn't include what has been sent, so, I wish you had numbered the defs for easy reference.
>(Good idea!)
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>NICOLAS -- 2 pts for correct guess
>(no def)
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>JACOB -- 6 pts
>samson post, n. (English boarding school slang) A delivery of contraband sent by 
arrangement to a local "day" boy and secretly carried into school. 
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>Joe: This seems like it'd be a useful thing to have.  2 points
>Elliott: Creative and fun, even if I don't believe it.  Two points.
>Nicolas: Why not? 1 point.
>David: 1 point
>Hutch: Although I said I was throwing out anything about the mail, this one remains very tempting.
>Jean-Joseph: Hmm.  Not sure why this would be "samson".
>Nora: Maybe a delivery of doggie contraband named Samson!
>Linda:  I kinda like the boarding school delivery service, as it reminded me of how contraband stuff got smuggled into the prison I taught art at for a year, although I really didn't want to know about all that in case I got someone in trouble--including myself.  (I played by the book).
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>JEAN-JOSEPH -- 4 + 2 pts for correct guess
>samson post, n. A 
structural column identified during a building demolition as being 
critical to causing a controlled collapse.  Most structures will have 
several columns that will need to be eliminated with explosives, in 
which case the first one to be blown in a sequenced operation will be 
designated the samson post.
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>Pierre: I'm giving this one two points, because there were originally two samson posts.
>Nora: This seems the most plausible to me, so it gets 2 votes!
>Jean-Joseph: Unimaginitive, I know, and I half expected there to be several obvious definitions along these lines.  In the words of the Rev. Gary Davis, "If I had my way in this wicked world, I would tear this old building down".
>Joe: I like the derivation from the biblical Samson, but this seems a bit 
contrived.  Easier to see the biblical connection than the other similar def, though.
>Linda: I did see recently a TV show  (Science Channel?) about very exquisite demolitions, with the delayed detonations set at various supporting vertical beams, but the name Samson did not come up.  
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>ERIC -- 3 + 2 pts for correct guess
>samson post, n. Hand-delivery.  "To send it samson post" -- to deliver it oneself.  Derivation unknown.
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>Jean-Joseph: Well, the "derivation unknown" gets around the lack of connection to Samson.  One point.
>Linda: Okay, liking the idea of Shank's mare, I will give one vote to the self-delivery.
>Pierre: One point.
>Nicolas: I think I'll stick to "sneakernet" for this sense.
>Nora:When I saw "To send it samson post" my first thought was to give it to 
Samson (your dog), and I thought, he'll never take it anywhere! and he 
might eat it or pee on it!
>Elliott: No compelling reason to vote for it, although it looks plausible.
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>RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY via dictionary.reference.com -- 8 pts
>samson post, n. (Naut.) 1. A strong bitt or post at the bow or stern of a vessel.  2. A king post for supporting cargo-handling booms on the deck of a ship.
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>Nicolas: This sounds nautical. 2 points.
>Eric: Two points.  Parts of ships are usually suspect, but this seems the best
 of what we have.  Also, *I* almost sent in a part-of-ship def, so I'll 
vote for this one.
>Hutch: 2 points
>Jean-Joseph: Ah, this would be something strong.  I'll bite, two points.
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>JOE -- 2 pts
>samson post, n. A short, sturdy post intended to prevent vehicles from entering a pedestrian-only area.
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>Linda: And two points for the pedestrian-only protection.  I'd have thought that the author of that one would have included posts that prevent entry to secure buildings and driveways by terrorists, as well. 
>Nicolas: Isn't this a stanchion? Or is that a bollard?
>Jean-Joseph: Usually known as a bollard.
>Nora: I like this one, also. If there isn't a special name for it, it ought to have one.
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>NORA -- 2 pts
> samson post, n. In American football, a special deep post play, where one wide-receiver runs a short up-the-middle pattern and 
the other runs straight up the field, turning in toward the post at about 20 or 30 yards. Named after Paul Samson, head coach of Emporia State University, Emporia KS, from 1904-06, and again in 1908, who developed the play.
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>Nora: Paul Samson did actually exist, and he was head coach of Emporia State for the dates I mentioned in case anyone was wondering...David: 2 points
>Nicolas: Plausible, but as far as I know football plays aren't generally named after people. Also it seems unlikely that a play from that long ago would persist.
>Joe: No dictionary that I respect would call it "American football".  This is America, we just call it "football" here.  So I'm afraid I can't vote 
for this.
>Jean-Joseph: Gotta thrown out the eponyms, just because I need reasons to throw things out.
>Elliott: Beautifully detailed (``and again in 1908'').  Sounds plausible, though 
it may be a transparent forgery to anyone who knows football.
>Pierre: What's the bandwidth of the wide receiver?
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>PIERRE -- 
>samson post, n. Any of a series of posts, generally 1.5 to 2 meters apart, which hold up a balcony.
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>Jean-Joseph: Sort of like my definition, but we have to use our imaginations to picture the balcony collapsing.
>Nora: My balcony has samson two-by-fours attached to the outside wall.
>Elliott: The ``1.5 to 2 meters'' makes me suspicious.  That seems awfully 
restrictive, and architects take lots of liberties for the sake of 
appearance.
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>ELLIOTT -- 
>samson post, n. (sl.) A position teaching art, music, or drama in a school district where they are regarded as dispensable.
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>Elliott: The Biblical pun may be less obvious than I thought when I wrote this one. Oh, well.
>Nicolas: Sad, but seems unlikely to need a word.
>Jean-Joseph: Hmm, but why "samson"?
>Nora: Isn't that ALL school districts? (sadly)
>Linda: what I consider essential school subjects, such as music and art, have become far too dispensible according to penny-pinching school districts, whose right-brained students would have a better attitude toward school if the arts were included.
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>HUTCH -- 1 + 2 pts for guess
>samson post, n. (fr. Basque) An isolated natural spire, tower, or obelisk, esp. one which leans as if it had been a projectile; hoodoo
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>Joe: Not sure I like this definition, but I like the idea of samson having derived from some Basque word.  1 point
>Nicolas: I don't know enough about Basque to see if this is a believable word.
>Jean-Joseph: Not clear how this would come from Basque, unless it's a
    hobson-jobson, but then I would have expected more detail about the
    Basque word.
>Elliott: This one comes out of the blue for me.  Basque?  Shot-looking rock formation?
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>LINDA -- 4 pts
>samson post, n. (fr. Australian eventing winner Adele Samson) A special horseriding seat, in which the rider bounces on the saddle 
only half as often as with the regular English hunt position.
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>Eric: One point for the phrase "bounces on the saddle".
>Hutch: 1 point
>Nora: hmmm... 
besides mine, this is the only other sporting one, so I will give it my 
One vote just because, although I don't think it's very plausible.
>Elliott: Excellent!  I like the use of ``seat'' to mean ``way of sitting'', too. One point.
>Jean-Joseph: The other eponym.  Interesting to imagine how the seat would halve
    the frequency, unless it had a complex suspension that would
    resonate at a subharmonic, but that seems like it would work only
    for a specific frequency, or else you'd probably get beating...
>Linda: in coming up with a def, I first thought of the Biblical Sampson (sp?) of the long hair, but figured it was too easy.  
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>DAVID --
>samson post, n. A package of hair delivered to a wigmaker via the postal service
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>Jean-Joseph: The sender must demand payment in advance, knowing that afterwards he'll be too wimpy to collect.
>Nora: while wearing a hairshirt!
>Elliott: Hee!
>Linda: the Delilah-image of wig/hair delivery is charming.
>Pierre: Is that a samson post or a delilah post?
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>JIM --
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>samson post, n. A load-bearing vertical member whose removal
will compromise the stability of its entire encompassing
structure.
>Jean-Joseph: Yeah, I figured there would be at least one other...
>Nora: This is very much like the one I think is the actual definition. Maybe this is the real one? But I'll stick with my gut.
>Pierre: This goes along with the controlled demolition def. I'll put one hand on each
>of them and push, and so I picked one by the R. B. Trary rule.
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