[Fictionary] HYETAL results!

[Jim Moskowitz]

I apologize for the unexpected delay -- I had a major computer 
problem last week, when I tried to replace my laptop's internal hard 
drive with a solid state drive and ended up with a laptop that 
wouldn't recognize either the new drive or the old.  But things are 
better now (and wow, the SSD makes for a huge speed improvement!), so 
I'm ready to reveal that Elliott blew this round of fictionary out of 
the water, with his shadowy definition, which netted a 
possible-record 13 points from eight voters (I'm omitting the ninth 
voter, Elliott himself). The actual definition got zero votes, so I'm 
declaring myself the runner-up :^)   I'm honestly amazed that such a 
brief term for "pertaining to rain" isn't in more common use; I'd 
certainly never come across it before.

Full results follow; have yourself a merry winter holiday, and 
prepare for Elliott's round!


hyetal - 1. adj.  Open to the sky but overshadowed year-round.  2. n. 
The territory permanently in the shadow of a given relief feature, 
as, the hyetal of the Matterhorn.
    by ELLIOTT
2 points each from Ranjit, David, Nick, Linda, Eric, and Jean-Joseph
1 point from Jed
Nick: "Because it reminded me of that alpine town that installed 
giant mirrors to stave off Seasonal Affective Disorder."
Eric: "For the clever noun"
Elliott: "Someone must have a name for this (ecologists?  orienteers? 
real-estate agents?).  It was inspired by Lat. hiems `winter' plus 
Ger. Tal `valley', but in retrospect it looks like I partly 
plagiarized my own ``koonting'' def from a year ago about barnacles 
growing on the shady side of the hull."
Jean-Joseph: "Not that I believe it, but I think it's an interesting 
definition."

hyetal, n. An extinct mammal, ancestor to the hyena, much resembling the wolf.
    by RANJIT
2 points from Elliott
Elliott: "This is written like something out of an actual book, so I 
will give it two points.  It should have a mysterious giant relative 
in the snows of Tibet called a hyeti."

hyetal, adj. Of or relating to rain or rainy regions.
    REAL - from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
Elliott: "No reason to vote for or against."
Elliott (after looking it up:)  "OED says it's from Greek huEtOs 
`rain', and gives no quotations.  Google ngram viewer says it 
appeared in 1854, peaked in the late 1850s with what seems to be a 
minor craze for ``hyetal charts'', and it's been pretty much downhill 
ever since.  Nice word!"

hyetal, adj. Both spiny and rugose.
    by DAVID
Eric: "Lovely.  But if it were real, Lovecraft would have used it."
Elliott: "Like a wooly bear!"

hyetal, n. (ca. 1885, from Norwegian) 1. A plowed field. 2. A forest 
clearing approved for plowing by the Minnesota Land Commission.
    by NICK
1 point each from Linda and Elliott
Linda: "For being a noun in the midst of adj's."
Elliott: "For creativity.  Also, Norwegian things often have y's in them."

hyetal, adj. Lasting 12 synodic months (364.367 days).
    by JEAN-JOSEPH
1 point from Eric
Elliott: "Don't know what a synodic month is, so I'd better not chance it."
Hutch: "Pretty sure this is 'synodical'."

hyetal, adj. Of or pertaining to shrubs.
    by ERIC
1 point each from David, Jean-Joseph, and Hutch
Elliott: "The funniest def of the lot, and that only because it 
mentions shrubs. Why was everyone so serious this time?"
Jean-Joseph: "More credible."

hyetal, adj (obs.) Unrelated.
    by HUTCH
2 points each from Jed
Elliott: "No reason to vote for or against."

hyetal, adj. Of the part of the diaphragm that surrounds the 
stomach/esophagus and separates them unless stretched.  fr. Gray's 
Anatomy.
    by LINDA
2 points from Hutch
1 point each from Ranjit, Nick
Eric: "Hymeneal?"
Elliott: "Separates the stomach from the esophagus?  How would that work?"


Elliott: "Everyone was so serious this time!  Weird."
Jed: "And I have no points to give (pa-rum-pum-pum-pum) to these two, 
but I do admire them:
>  hyetal, adj. Both spiny and rugose.
>  hyetal, adj. Lasting 12 synodic months (364.367 days)."



-Jim