[Fictionary] BARACHOIS results

[Fran Poodry]

I will have to do some research as I look for a suitable word and some
alternates for when my first choice is recognized. Go on about your
business, I'll get back to you.
-Fran


On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 10:33 PM, Jean-Joseph Cote <jjcote at alum.mit.edu>
wrote:

>  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.
> _____________________________________
>
> 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
>
>


-- 
Fran Poodry
Physics Educational Technology Specialist
Vernier Software and Technology
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