[Fictionary] SQUOYLE results

[Jim Moskowitz]

I’d like to thank the Academy...

Fran was quite right about my def sounding realistic, since there’s a real metalworking tool like this, which has the boring name Hot Cut. I think it deserves to be retermed a Squoyle…

The next round will start in a few days, to allow time for my (and others’?) new-player-recruitment efforts to flower — I believe my friend Liz Heffner has already hopped aboard!




> On Mar 24, 2020, at 10:21 PM, eLLioTT morEton <em at swarpa.net> wrote:
> 
> Dear Fictionary,
> 
> With all votes in, the winner, with six points, is Jim, he of the metal-axe and correct guess (and analytic geometry problem).  Haul it away, Jim!
> 
> This might be an opportune historical moment to recruit new players.
> 
> Regards,
> Elliott
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> General comments
> 
> 
> Jim:  Apropos of very little, I once mused about how to calculate the shape of the path a squirrel would take if it were trying to climb a tree quickly while remaining out of sight of a pedestrian walking in a straight line past the tree. I called the shape a squiral, but didnt actually work out a formula for it...
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Eric
> squoyle, n. 1. A young squirrel. 2. One, esp. a courtier, who has lost the favor of the sovereign.
> 
> 1 = Linda 1
> 
> Pierre:  SQUIRREL
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Jean-Joseph
> squoyle -- n. -- An unexplained high-frequency radio signal observed briefly every 59 days, detectable only within a few miles of the equator.
> 
> 1 = Fran 1
> 
> 
> Fran:  For some reason I like this. 1 pt.
> 
> Pierre:  SQUEAL. I'm aware of FRBs, but they can be detected anywhere on the side of
> the Earth facing the source. There's also a terrestrial signal resembling an
> FRB, but it is detectable only at the radio telescope nearest the source,
> which turned out to be a microwave oven opened prematurely.
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Pierre
> squoyle, n. A network of triangles in which every point, except those on the
> outside, is a corner of five, six, or seven triangles.
> 
> 4 = Linda 2 + Jim 2
> 
> Jim:  2 points for being the sort of slightly silly name I could see a mathematician choosing for this.
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Linda
> squoyle -- an Oregon/Washington state/British Columbian wickiup made from evergreen boughs.
> 
> 4 = Pierre 2 + Ranjit 2
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # OED
> squoyle (v.)  To throw a loaded stick or similar missile (at some object).
> 
> 1 = Jim 1
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Ranjit
> squoyle (v.) - to play a squeaky cork in a bottle neck as an instrument.
> 
> Fran:  Peter Shickele/P.D.Q. Bach award
> 
> Jim:  Im suspicious of all definitions that work in a word starting with squ.
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Hutch
> squoyle -- n. -- (Am. Plains states, especially south central Nebraska)
> correct width of a quarter-section farm field, approx 2,550 to 2,600 feet.
> (For unscrupulous surveyor: Berwyn M Squoyle, notorious for platting
> approximately 600 square miles over a period of five years with short
> measures in order to sell the "extra" sections for his own benefit;
> murdered in July 1898 outside Ansley, Nebraska).
> 
> Pierre: I'm in a metes-and-bounds state, but I had to learn about division of public
> lands, so I'm pretty sure I'd have heard of this.
> 
> Jim:  Well, it can’t be by Elliott, so perhaps David crafted this one? Honorable mention.
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Jim
> squoyle -- n. -- A hand tool resembling a sledgehammer with a blade, used for cutting hot metal.
> 
> 6 = Fran 2 + David 1 + Eric 2 + correct guess 1
> 
> Fran:  This one sounds very realistic. 2 pts.
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # David
> squoyle - n. - contagious achondroplasia
> 
> 1 = Eric 1
> 
> Pierre:  I'm pretty sure that's a contradiction in germs.
> Eric:  One point, because I can't think which def to vote for and this one uses big words.
> ________________________________________________________________________________
> # Nick
> squoyle, n. An embroidery pattern consisting of multiple zig-zagging
> over-under stitches.
> 
> 3 = Ranjit 1 + David 2
> ________________________________________________________________________________