[Fictionary] houghmagandy results

[fictioneric at cluemail.com]

Greetings all,

My apologies for the several long delays.  Non-fictionary life has 
been too eventful.

The real definition is
     houghmagandy, n. Adulterous sexual intercourse.

I immediately award myself innumerable points for running a round in 
which NO-ONE voted for the real def.

The other winner (besides me) is Elliott with his ground-imprinting 
horseshoe, with six points.  The votes were pretty well spread this 
round.

Take it away, Elliott!

----------------------

You can learn more about houghmagandy here[1]; the use mentioned 
there,  in _Pale Fire_ by Nabokov[2], is where I found it.

[1] http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-hou1.htm

[2] Lest you think me too intellectual, I add that this is the only 
Nabokov I have read, and I only read it because a friend told me it 
was funny.[3]

[3] Gratuitous book review: I can see why one would say that.  Also, 
it would be funnier if it were shorter, and it would be funnier if it 
were funnier.

And now, the votes and comments:

----------------------

Nicolas Ward: Lots of great defs this time, with an obvious gaelic
     theme.
Pierre Abbat: Four people, including me, thought it sounded Celtic.
Elliott: How come there weren't any GANDER defs?

----------------------

Real def:
houghmagandy, n. Adulterous sexual intercourse.

Nicolas Ward: Replaced entirely by fornication, I supposed.
J-J Cote: Hmm, apparently the adultery.  Seemed too ordinary for me
     to give it a vote.
Elliott: Sounds too polite for that.
Hutch: After placing my votes, I looked it up. *LOL* Delightful
     word: I'll have to remember it ... on the off chance that I get
     to indulge in some *LOL*

----------------------

Jim Moskowitz:
houghmagandy, n. An ocean swell of significantly greater height than
     those around it.

One point (J-J Cote, 1).

Jim Moskowitz: Mine. I considered adding a second, related, meaning:
     a mythical sea monster, the swell having been named after it
     since what else could cause the ocean to rise up like that. But
     I decided it made the def too cute... and I couldn't find a
     dictionarylike phrasing for it that satisfied me.
Nicolas Ward: Synonym for rogue wave, or not quite?
Elliott: A sort of water monadnock?  Nice.

----------------------

Ranjit Bhatnagar:
Houghmagandy, n. The traditional Cornish New Year's Day celebration,
     observed on the 18th of December.

Two points (Linda, 2).

Jim Moskowitz: We had two Celebration defs, which are tempting
     because I know the Scottish New Year celebration is called
     Hogmanay. But our definition-crafters may know that too...
Nicolas Ward: Was Cornwall culturally distinct enough? I didn't
     think so.
J-J Cote: I think celebrations of this sort usually take place after
     the solstice, once the sharp-eyed people can verify that the sun
     is indeed coming back.
Elliott: Too much like HOGMANAY, even if true.

----------------------

J-J Cote:
houghmagandy, n. A long-handled steel mallet used for tapping rails
     during inspection of a railway under construction, allowing the
     inspector to use the sound as one indication of substandard work.

Four points (Ranjit, 2; Jim, 1; Elliott, 1).

J-J Cote: Mine.  I'm pretty sure that on semi trucks, you can't tell
     if a tire is flat by looking at it, because the adjacent tire
     holds the axle up and allows the damaged one to remain round.
     So you have to either use a pressure gauge, or thump the tire
     with a hammer to hear whether it rings.  So I was traveling by
     train in eastern Europe about 20 years ago, and saw a guy in a
     uniform walking along looking at the train, and he was carrying
     a tool like the one that I described.  I didn't see him use it,
     and I'm not sure what it was for, but I speculated that he would
     bang on something with it and listen.  And I went in this
     direction because of the possible connection with "gandy
     dancer".
Jim Moskowitz: And this one must be from someone who knows the
     railroad term "gandy dancer". Or, it's actually related to it.
     I'll hedge my bet and give it one point.
Nicolas Ward: I really like the possibility of a railroad def, but
     I've used all my points.
Elliott: Different from the rest.   One point!

----------------------

Hutch:
houghmagandy, n. (Ir. Gael.) a tin pot or dish, esp. one repaired
     repeatedly.

Four points (Amy Smift, 2; Pierre, 2).

Nicolas Ward: Another believable (and different) Gaelic def.
Elliott: Why not?

----------------------

Pierre Abbat:
houghmagandy, n. Thatch that has collected smoke from burnt peat and
     is removed from the roof and used as a fertilizer, as is done in
     the Outer Hebrides.

Pierre Abbat: This is documented, with pictures of its effect on
     plant growth, by Weston A. Price.
Jim Moskowitz: More Scottish influence!
Nicolas Ward: Delightfully specific.
Elliott: Oooh, nice idea.  A bit Gaelic, hence close to HOGMANAY.

----------------------

Elliott:
houghmagandy, n. A figured horseshoe that imprints the ground with
     words or other symbols.

Six points (Nicolas, 2; Ranjit, 1; David Randall, 1; Jacob Mattison, 
1; Amy Smift, 1).

Elliott: Maybe these really exist; I don't know.
Ranjit: yeah, that would come in handy.  1 point!
Jim Moskowitz: I again suspect this has come from the alternate
     reality which Elliott spends part of his time in, a world which
     is so much more marvelous than our mundane one.
Nicolas Ward: I really like the "hoof" connection here, even though
     I can't imagine any such imprint would be legible. 2 points.
J-J Cote: I once had a pair of boots that looked like they might do
     this, but the company wasn't clever enough to make the writing
     on the sole backwards so that it would produce readable
     messages. Pierre Abbat: One point for silliness. I have read of
     figured horseshoes, but they made imprints of other animals or
     backward horses.

----------------------

Nicolas Ward:
houghmagandy, n. (Brit. mil. slang) Greengrocer. [Corrupted from the
     name 'Huma Gandhi', supposedly the proprietor of a fruit stand
     outside the British East India Company's barracks in Calcutta.]

Five points (David Randall, 2; Elliott, 2; Linda, 1).

Jim Moskowitz: Cute, perhaps too cute. I find such a short Indian
     first name implausible; Humataranarath Gandhi, I'd buy.
J-J Cote: Was the British East India company really paramilitary
     enough to have barracks and to have its mercenaries consider to
     be British military?  I wouldn't have thought so.
Elliott: Completely different from the rest!  Two points.

----------------------

David Randall:
houghmagandy, n. (Scots dial.) 1. Cheap whiskey. 2. A student party
     at term-end.

Four points (Jim, 2; Jacob, 2).

Jim Moskowitz: All right, you've worn me down with all these British
     Isles defs. I'll give this 2 points.
Nicolas Ward: Too long a word for booze, I think. Can you imagine a
     drunk trying to pronounce this? At least, a drunk me probably
     couldn't.
Elliott: Too close to HOGMANAY, even if true.

----------------------

Jacob Mattison:
houghmagandy, n. The set of parrel beads deployed at the jaws of the
     gaff on a gaff-rigged or gunter-rigged craft.

Three points (J-J Cote, 2; Nicolas Ward, 1).

Eric: I'm just back from Mystic, CT.  I saw many gaff-rigged craft,
     no houghmagandy.
Jim Moskowitz: Ah, the Put-other-unknown-words-in-the-definition
     Gambit!  Declined.
Nicolas Ward: I no sail good, but I'm a sucker for believable
     nautical defs. 1 point.
J-J Cote: Whatever that means.  Two points because I don't see
     anything better.
Pierre Abbat: Someone on the USMA list suggested that I buy a tape
     measure from Duckworth Boat Builder Supply. While looking around
     the site, I found out that there really is such a thing as a
     parrel bead. Oddly, some of the things for sale are dimensioned
     only in inches.
Elliott: Ignotum per ignotius, no points.

-- 
-- Eric   |   fictioneric at cluemail.com