[Fictionary] Flexbone Results

Wed Feb 13 10:15:32 EST 2013

HI, Nice to be back, if only for a while--techie comes tomorrow nite, at last.  Our friend Deck of the KC Moaners jug band makes fiddles and also "spoons" or "bones" which are wooden and joined at the top--you hit them against your thigh, hand, etc.  So they are a set, like castanets on a stick, instead of in your hands separately.  He also plays the harmonica and washtub base or gutbucket.  The band claims we are their only groupies, but they are becoming more well known.  Linda  PS They now play out once a month or more at local ice cream or coffee shops and have a larger following--great stuff!  Mostly family friendly.  A lot of old tyme often 30's or Southern music.

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Nicolas Ward <ultranurd at gmail.com>
To: fictionary at swarpa.net
Subject: [Fictionary] Flexbone Results
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 12:20:10 -0500

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

____________________________________________________________
NetZero now offers 4G mobile broadband. Sign up now.
http://www.netzero.net/?refcd=NZINTISP0512T4GOUT1
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.swarpa.net/pipermail/fictionary/attachments/20130213/41af9cf5/attachment.html