[Fictionary] betyl, cierge, results

[fictioneric at cluemail.com]

Hi all,

Any apologies would be insufficient.  I am sorry I took so long.

The real defs were the holy stone and the candle, and the winner is 
Pierre with his beekeeping jargon.  Well, after the real def, which 
got lots of votes.

----------

General comments:

Elliott: _Cierge_ feels somehow familiar, and brings to mind wax and 
candles, so I will disqualify myself from voting for any wax or 
candle defs.

Linda
=====
betyl, adj.  Modifying a type of fuel, as in betyl alcohol, used in
     certain automobiles.

cierge, n.  A modern hybrid vehicle using electric, petroleum,
     and/or other fuel sources, such as wood.

     The TV crew featured the new sleek Pontiac Cierge, which uses
     betyl alcohol for its main fuel, along with an electric motor
     with rechargable solar panels, thus adding fuel-efficiency to a
     resurrected old favorite muscle car.  "You can buy any color as
     long as it's green."

Three points (1 Pierre, 2 correct choice)

Elliott: _Cierge_ sounds too old and French for that.

Pierre: One point, though I think I'd have heard of betyl alcohol if 
it existed.

Eric: If I remember from high school, methyl, ethyl, butyl, propyl . . .betyl?

J-J: Not likely, since Pontiac is defunct.

Nicolas: I see the betyl/cetyl parallel, but I don't remember seeing 
"betyl" when I was looking through the IUPAC naming standards a few 
months ago.

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

David
=====
betyl, n.  An ochre semiprecious stone

cierge, n.  The owner of a rental building

     I bribed the cierge with a betyl to get an apartment.

Three points (1 Nicolas, 2 correct choice)

Hutch: "concierge" Naah.

Elliott: _Concierge_.  They are putty in the hands of anyone carrying 
a barometer, for some reason.

J-J: Seems too much like "beryl".

Nicolas: This seems too close to "beryl", but I like that cierge and 
concierge might be related. 1 point.

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

Nicolas
=======
betyl, v.  To plant an orchard in rows with alternating spacing.

cierge, n.  The crown of a fruit tree.

     The grower widely betylled his apple trees, so that the best
     fruit of the cierge could be easily reached during the harvest.

Three points (1 David, 2 correct choice)

Elliott: I could believe this _cierge_, but the _betyl_ just doesn't 
sound verby to me.

Ranjit: So, 2 points for fruit orchards. I've always wanted my own 
orchard of olives, nut, and fruit trees.

J-J: How does that help?

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

J-J
===
betyl, n.  Feigned politeness.

cierge, n.  Refined aggressiveness.

     Beverly bit her tongue and displayed diplomatic betyl, unsure
     how to respond to his attempts to impress her with his cierge in
     what should have been a friendly game of croquet against her
     father.

Two points (1 Hutch 1 Linda)

Linda: And one for the feigned politeness and refined aggressiveness. 
We need more "diplomatic betyl" around here.

Elliott: _Cierge_ has that sneering sound, doesn't it?  I'm out of 
points, but I'll give it the Eminent Victorians Award.

Nicolas: Plausible, but I already assigned my points.

Eric: And I see that Eudora is flagging this email with three 
hot-chili-peppers as containing "language highly likely to cause 
offense" due to the phrase "her tongue".

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

Ranjit
======
betyl, n.  A class of thermoplastics derived from beta-polymer
     resins.

cierge, n.  The difference, for a given material and machining or
     cutting method, between the ideal resulting surface and the
     expected actual result.

     When cutting quarter-inch acrylics or betyls, plan for a cierge
     of about 0.05 inches; for acetyls, the cierge is closer to 0.02
     inches.
             -- User's Manual, Epilog 35 Watt Laser Engraver

Three points (1 Elliott, 2 J-J)

Elliott: Sounds so very much like you [Eric] that I have to give it a point.

Pierre: I'd expect the cierge to be given in metric.

J-J: I guess I'll give this two.  20-50 mils sounds pretty bad, but 
I'm not exactly an expert in these matters.

Nicolas: Not metric!

Eric: to all you metric complainers, at least in my day (25ya) 
machining was done in thousandths of an inch.

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

Real def.
========
betyl, n.  A sacred stone, often a standing stone fashioned into a
     conical shape.

cierge, n.  A wax candle used in religous rites.

     The chamber was hardly lit by the cierges burning in irregular
     niches about the crude stone walls; but before him, Lawrie saw
     the betyl shining in its own lambent glow, the unnatural light
     seeming more to writhe unctuously about the stone than issue
     from it.

8 points (2 David, 2 Hutch, 2 Linda, 2 Pierre, 2 Nicolas)

Linda: Two votes for the sacred stone/candle because my ears need coning again.

Elliott: Lambentness creeps me out.

J-J: Hmm.  "Cire" means "wax", I think.  I'd almost go for this, 
but... "writhe unctuously"?  I'm trying to picture that.  I'm 
reminded of a Firesign Theater routine that introduced a character 
and mentioned his "well-oiled hat".

Nicolas: 2 points, both for not being a sound-alike def and for using 
"unctuously".

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

Pierre
======
betyl, n.  A tool for uncapping honeycomb cells, consisting of a
     knife that slides in a frame which holds the comb.

cierge, n.  A device consisting of a heater and a filter for removing
     bee's knees and other objects from wax.

     Debra took a comb out of the meligot and put it in the cierge,
     then put another from the betyl into the meligot to drain the
     honey. She realized she had taken the wrong comb when she found
     a schadon in the cierge.

Six points (2 Elliott, 1 Ranjit, 1 J-J, 2 correct choice)

Eric: In my brief beekeeping days, the "cierge" was unheated and 
consisted of a colander and pantyhose.  It was a pain, and I wanted 
to dispense with it and sell to the ultra-natural market: "Unfiltered 
honey!  Now, with 500% more bee parts!"

Hutch: "bee's knees" *giggle*

Linda: PS  I've been a beekeeper, but never heard of the uncapping 
tools in those terms, but you never know the latest inventions!

Elliott: Two points for ``bee's knees and other objects''.  I like 
the equation of ``you're the bee's knees'' with ``you're the rat 
hairs in the peanut butter''.

Ranjit: 1 point for honeycomb tools. Would've been two points but all 
the extra mysterious words are a bit gratuitous.

J-J: Another possible "cire" connection.  I'll give it only one, 
because... "bees knees"?

Nicolas: I don't think I know any of the other words in this sentence.

Hutch
=====
No def. Two points (correct choice)

-- 
-- Eric   |   fictioneric at cluemail.com