[Fictionary] Flexbone Results

[Nicolas Ward]

I figured with the playoffs, I should go for an obscure football term.
I thought some of you might pick up on the seasonality of the def, but
it seems I fooled all of you but Pierre, mwahaha. The reason you
probably haven't heard of "slotback" is that it's a very uncommon
position in American pro football; I also did not know of it as one of
the -backs before using it in my def. The play itself is also much
more common in college ball, where only the top teams have amazing
NFL-bound quarterbacks.

Congratulations go to the avant-garde rubber hose instrument. Take it away, Jim!

Is there some long yurt definition history I should know about? And
when does Ranjit's flexbone album come out?

Jim 7
Linda 3
Elliott 3
Pierre 2
Eric 2
Ranjit 1
J-J 1
David 1
Hutch 0

--

General Comments

Pierre: My first guesses would be cartilage and batten, but I suspect
it has nothing to do with "flex" or "bone".

Eric: I hope we are all mature enough to forgo the phallic definitions.

Eric: Wow, two adjectives. I am impressed. I honestly can find no
definition to give points to because I believe it to be correct. So
all of my points are for entertainment value.

Hutch: I must admit that my first thought was something about my lack
of a sex life as I age.

Elliott: Thank *you* for a lovely word, which called forth many good
defs. I had expected to see variations on ``a flexible trombone'', but
there were none.

Elliott: (P.S. after looking it up on line:)  Whoever sent in the
football def was thorough -- they even composed an
authoritative-sounding Wikipedia article to buttress their claims, and
posted comments using the word in on-line football forums. Very
creative. Maybe we should all start doing that every round.

Linda: Stormy weather activates my arthritis -- send me some flexbones, please!

--

Ranjit

flexbone, adj. Of a person, satisfied, content; of a transaction or a
product, acceptable. Coined as a mockery of Catalan immigrants in
agricultural southern California c.1920, but soon adopted into local
vernacular.

Pierre: I know of Portuguese immigrants to the Stockton-Tracy-Manteca
area (Manteca was named for a butter, not lard, factory), but I'm not
aware of a sizable number of Catalan immigrants to California.
Elliott: Admirably unrelated to flexion or bones.

Hutch 1

--

J-J

flexbone, n. A wooden batten inserted into the roof felt of a yurt
intended for use in high wind conditions, to reduce flutter.

Hutch: YURT ALERT!!!
Pierre: Yurt alert!
Elliott: How long has it been since our last yurt def?  One point for
traditionalism.

Elliot 1

--

Wikipedia (summarized)

flexbone, n. In American Football, a running formation using five
lineman and three runningbacks, often used by teams lacking a
quarterback with a strong throwing arm. The ball is optionally run by
the fullback, slotback, or quarterback, depending on the read of the
defensive line.

Pierre: Two points, because none of the defs is believable, and I know
next to nothing about football. Is there such a thing as a slotback?
Elliott: How the heck would I know?  I never even heard of a slotback.
 It sounds like a kind of piggy bank.

Pierre 2

--

Pierre

flexbone, n. (slang) A doctor who treats cancer using shark cartilage or
extracts thereof.

--

Jim

flexbone, n. A musical instrument consisting of rubber hoses suspended
from tuned wooden slats, which are played with mallets. It was
invented in 1963 by avant-garde composer Harry Partch, who also
created the instruments Zymo-Xyl, Chromelodeon, and Marimba Eroica.

Ranjit: "I ain't got no matches, ain't got no tobacco, ain't got no chow,
ain't got no money. Hey, Slim, is that blanket big enough for two
points?"
J-J: Well, I know Harry Partch was a real guy who invented instruments
like this, so I'll give it two. And if this isn't real, then Ranjit
should go ahead and invent it.
Elliott: Or was it invented in 2013 by avant-garde composer Ranjit
Bhatnagar? Two points.

David 1
Ranjit 2
J-J 2
Elliott 2

--

Eric

flexbone, adj. Possessed of overawing superiority in manners.

Elliott: Admirably unpredictable!
Eric: 'Cause, you know, it has nothing to do with flexibility, or
bones, or even sounding like an adjective.

Hutch 2

--

Hutch

flexbone, n. A method of bow construction involving laminating
multiple thin layers of flexible material, originally bone; it creates
lightweight but strong bows with very high pull weight; the modern
name is claimed to be direct translation from the ancient Mongolian
term for a similar process.

Pierre: Horn in compression, wood in the middle, sinew in tension.
Don't know about laminating bone. And another Central Asian origin.
Elliott: Admirably straightforward!   Is this a covert yurt def?

--

Linda

flexbone, n. One of a wooden set of spoons or bones used in old-time music.

Hutch: "set of wooden spoons" rather than "wooden set of spoons"?
Pierre: One point, though I've just heard them called bones, even if
they are made of wood.
Elliott: ``A wooden set of spoons''?  Not ``a set of wooden spoons''?
There's some poetical term for that --- hyperbaton, maybe?  Anyhow, it
sounds like something a dictionary editor would have changed.

David 2
Pierre 1

--

Elliott

flexbone, n. Heat-treated mica used as a substitute for spring steel
during the "Little Stone Age" which followed the eruption of the
Thirty Years' War.

Eric: The phrase "Little Stone Age" is, by itself, worth well more
than two points. But that's all I have, so two points.
Ranjit: One point for little stone age.
Hutch: How would rock--heat-treated or otherwise--replace spring steel?

Eric 2
Ranjit 1

--

David

flexbone, n. (Barchester dial.) Someone who has ceased to communicate
with the Anglican Church because he finds it excessively rigid in its
theology.

Eric: One point. I don't know why I find this amusing, but I do.
Elliott: Well, he knew he was right, anyhow.  Can you forgive him?

Eric 1

--Nick