[Fictionary] YAMEN results

[Hutch]

On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 11:05 AM, Jim Moskowitz <jim at jimmosk.com> wrote:

>
> Hutch is our winner with his detailed pruning-knife definition. The actual
> word, courtesy of Merriam Webster online: " the headquarters or residence
> of a Chinese government official or department"  More detail is at
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Yamen <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamen>
> Here's the breakdown. Thanks to all for playing, and take it away, Hutch!
>

[snip]


> yamen, n. An archaic, long-handled pruning knife of England; now rarely
> used due to the mass production of shears making them available to the
> middle class. The word yamen is of northern or Scottish descent; in other
> areas, the knife is called aler (Herts), haveller (Suffolk/Norfolk),
> fothering iron (Yorks), or haearn dyludo (Wales).  BY HUTCH (11 points
> total)
> 3 points from David
> 3 points from Ranjit "for all the detail!"
> 3 points from Jean-Joseph
> 2 points from Jed
> Linda: "The archaic pruning knife almost blinded me with science."
> Nick: "This seems like a suspicious amount of detail."
> Pierre: "Apparently "dyludo" means "fothering", whatever that means"
>

Borrowed bits and pieces of this fictionition from two other words' real
definitions. I decided it would be a tool and went looking for information
about real archaic and obscure tools.

An "averruncator" is the "long-handled pruning knife" (
http://davesgarden.com/guides/terms/go/2408/).

The other regional names are actually names of a device called a "Broadcast
Seed Fiddle". The farmer wears a seed bag over one shoulder with the device
attached to the bottom (?) of the bag. A long handle is attached to the
device and drawing the handle back and forth (like a fiddle's bow) spins
something that broadcasts the seed fairly evenly. Apparently the device
engendered a specialty job for twenty years or so as the density of seed
could be adjusted by the fiddle rate and the walking rate. I did not find
any description of what "fothering" means either. Presumably (???), it has
some connection with scattering seed or planting. (
http://www.antiquefarmtools.info/page3.htm)

[snip]

yamen, n. The sliding weight affixed to the shaft of an atlatl. BY ERIC (5
> points total)
> 3 points from Linda
> 2 points from David
> Nick: "I didn't know there was a weight involved in spearthrowers."
> Elliott: "What's it for?  Do you use it to adjust the range somehow?"
>

In several discussion groups interested in archaic weapons, I found
discussions about "sliding weights" of various kinds. The rumor (?) /
belief (?) / whatever was that you could somehow make a given weapon
increase the damage that it caused by having a sliding weight on it. The
concept is (presumably!) that the weight would slide from near the
wielder's body to away from the wielder's body as the weapon was swung,
thus increasing moment arm. (I think that's the right physical concept?)
With an atlatl, presumably this increase in moment arm would allow the
wielder to throw the dart farther/with more force.

However, in all the discussions of this I found, the agreement seemed to be
that the idea does NOT in fact work. The only described instance of a
"sliding weight" on any actual historical weapon is something called "tears
of the victim" (unsure!) from a Chinese weapon of some sort and the
discussions all seem to agree that these are merely ornamental on a purely
ceremonial weapon.

Oh, a word? You caught me without anything prepared.

How about   nard   ?

FYI: This is NOT the nickname for "spikenard", the biblical perfume, nor
the plant from which it is made.

BB,
Hutch

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