[Fictionary] BARACHOIS results

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

Bottom line (on the top line): In a close tally, the nod goes to Fran's 
fur-schlepping sled.  Schlep it away, Fran!
_____________________________________

General comments:
Linda: I really like the goat and sheep defs
Andrew: My own submission was eaten by the Dark Ones That Stalk The Web. 
Shame about that. /(I don't think it came in and I missed it, but if I 
somehow did, //I apologize -- J-J)//
/Hutch/: /Goats and sheep. There ought to be a Biblical joke in there 
somewhere, but I'm not finding it. :-)
Elliott: These are actually plausible, for a change.  It's hard even to 
find ones to strike off the list.

barachois - adj. - 1) Thickly forested.  2) Hairy.
by JC.  Ranjit 1, Hutch 2, + 1 correct guess = 4 points
Ranjit: 1 hirsute point
Hutch: I like. Sensible pairing.
Elliott: Wordmeisters sometimes put the real def first to make people 
not vote for it.

barachois - n. - A Greek breed of hair sheep used primarily for milk.
by Pierre. + 1 correct guess = 1 point
Jim: "hair sheep"?  So shearing them is the first part of the wig-making 
process?
Hutch: Hair sheep, but "used" (not "raised") for milk?
Elliott: Could be, sure.

barachois - n. -A relative of the asparagus plant used in French cooking.
by Linda. Nicolas 2 = 2 points
Hutch: I'm not more than moderately familiar with French cooking, but 
I've sure never heard of this vegetable.
Elliott: Maybe, maybe.
Nicolas: 2 points for most likely, and not being afraid to avoid French.

barachois - n. - A transparent sea invertebrate, also known as a sea raft.
by Jim.  Linda 2, Pierre 2 = 4 points
Elliott: Wouldn't a real def say what it was related to?

barachois - adj. - Courageous. Derived from Joseph Barra, hero of the 
French Revolution.
by Nicolas.  Ranjit 2 = 2 points
Ranjit: 2 brave points
Hutch: I'm just doubtful of a foreign language eponym making its way to 
English.
Elliott: Wait, I thought he was the Crippled Atlas of Capua.  And what 
happened to the other r?

barachois - n. - A technique for long-distance semaphore signalling by 
means of a maneuverable kite.
by Elliott.  David VS 1 = 1 point
Jim: Elliott award.  I can't believe kites would ever be controllable 
enough not to have lots of distorted messages sending France to war with 
Luxembourg all the time...
Hutch: I like the idea, but it seems like it would be a bit slower than 
normal flag semaphore, to the point that relay stations would probably 
work just as well. Close, but no cigar.
Elliott: Surely someone, somewhere, has tried sending messages by stunt 
kite.

barachois - n. - A dugout canoe of the Calusa tribe of Native Americans 
(S Florida and the Florida Keys).
by Hutch.  David R 2 = 2 points
Elliott: Never heard of the Calusas, but no reason why I should have.  
Also, are canoes much use off Florida?

barachois - adj. - In the style of a parapet, consisting of a regular 
alternation of merlons and crenels; crenelated.
by a pair of Davids (VS&H).  Andrew 1, Jim 1, Hutch 1, Elliott 1, JC 2 = 
6 points
Andrew: my honest guess.
Jim: 1 point because I have to vote for at least one adjective.
Hutch: Gotta choose something
Elliott: Only a paladin would think of such a def, and paladins never lie.

barachois - n. - A horse/dog/human-drawn sled with slatted sides and 
bent-wood gliders, generally used for transporting furs.
by Fran.  Linda 1, Jim 2, David VS 2, Elliott 2 = 7 points
Hutch: Somebody else was thinking "travois"?
Elliott: Tempting, tempting ... but slashes don't look definitiony to 
me.  (Yeah, sure, definitions don't have to come from a prescriptivist 
dictionary, but still.) What the heck.

barachois - n. - (Atlantic Canada) A coastal lagoon separated from the 
ocean by a sand or shingle bar. Salt water may enter the barachois 
during high tide.  Also "barrasway".
real definition, condensed from wikipedia (see below for more). David R 
1, Pierre 1, JC 1 = 3 points
Jim: Cognate with 'barrier'?
Elliott: The salt-water-may-enter comment doesn't sound like part of a 
definition.

barachois - n. - (fr. French) The pygmy goat of the Savoyan Alps. Now 
extinct in the pure form, although the word is still used to refer to 
descendants hybridized with the domestic goat.
by David R. Andrew 2, Nicolas 1, + 1 for correct guess = 4 points
Andrew: 2 points to the pygmy goat of the Savoyan Alps! Not because I 
believe it, but because that's almost exactly what I tried to submit 
when my Internet died (I didn't come up with the part about extinction 
and hybridization).
Elliott: Aren't there fiber people on this list who would have 
recognized this one at the word-selection stage?  Other than that, it's 
a lovely definition.
Nicolas: 1 point for goats. Sorry, other goats def.
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Elliott: Wikipedia says it's from Basque!  Very nice. The article also 
mentions St. Pierre and Miquelon, which is interesting. I hadn't known 
that France still had any sovereign territory in N. America.  Especially 
not Vichy France.

So, the backstory on how I found this word is that some years ago 
(probably about 15), I went to a folk music festival, and one of the 
acts was a quartet from Prince Edward Island called Barachois. Didn't 
seem like it would be all that interesting, but they were on the main 
stage, so we saw them, and they were fantastic.  I think it was 
fiddle/guitar/keyboards/bass, with some switching of instruments (I 
remember that the guy who I think played bass also switched to tuba at 
some point, and maybe the keyboardist doubled on fiddle). All of the 
lyrics were in French.  And they did percussion with their feet, wearing 
tap shoes, usually seated but occasionally all standing and basically 
tapdancing.  We went back to see them in the dance tent the next day, 
and a month or two later they were touring, and I tried to get somebody 
to go with me, and the only one I could find was my friend Stephen who 
was 2 or 3 years old at the time.  He had to stand on my lap for the 
whole show and he loved it, and during intermission we went up to the 
stage and he asked them to autograph a CD for him (all I could teach him 
to say was "Can you write your name on this?").  I chatted with the 
band, all of whom had the last name Arsenault, and I asked the tuba guy 
if all of the Francophones in PEI are named Arsenault, and  he thought 
for a second, then said, "Yeah, pretty much, either that or Bergeron". 
Anyway, during the stage patter, the lead vocalist talked about how 
pleased they were to be able to come down and play in the USA (we were 
in New Hampshire), and said that people often ask him what "barachois" 
means.  He said it was a French word that translates to "barachois".  
And on to the next song they went.  So last fall I went to PEI with my 
girlfriend Nancy (Stephen's mother), and I had looked up the word, and 
sure enough, there are a number of these lagoons up there.  I had 
brought the CD along to play in the car -- or I thought I had, but it 
was just the case, and the disc wasn't in it (it's probably in the 
cardboard box with the other CDs).  During our trip we visited the 
Bottle Houses, a very weird tourist attraction, and unlike all of the 
gift shops up there, this one had Barachois CDs.  I had figured that 
they were the hottest act to ever come out of that province, but you 
can't find their music, except in the small French-speaking parts of the 
island.  So I bought one, and I was chatting with the kid behind the 
counter, and mentioned that I had seen the band a few times back in the 
late 1990s.  Yeah, he said, they broke up not long after that, the two 
guys still perform, but the two women in the band didn't like touring.  
In fact, he said, Helene is the head gardener here.

Jean-Joseph

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