[Fictionary] CATABIBAZON results

[eLLioTT morEton]

Dear Fictionary,

There's usually a burst of traffic on this list after the results are
posted, but it's been strangely silent this time.  I'm re-sending the
results in case they somehow didn't make it the first time.

Regards,
Elliott

On Thu, 10 Jun 2021, eLLioTT morEton wrote:

> Dear Fictionary,
>
> Jim's Laputan translating ear trumpet ran away with the round, funnelling in 
> ten points and blowing away the runner-up, the Oxford English Dictionary, 
> which only got six points (or eight, if it is given credit for a correct 
> guess).
>
> Haul it away, Jim!
>
> Regards,
> Elliott
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Submitted:  Nick, Jim, Linda, Ranjit, Pierre, Hutch, Eric, Jean-Joseph, David
> Voted:  Fran, Jean-Joseph, Pierre, Linda, David, Eric, Ziv, Ranjit, Hutch
>
> Linda:  Nice selection.
>
> Hutch:  I am utterly stumped. None of them seem vaguely realistic.
>
> Ranjit:  This is a difficult one - I love every definition equally.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Nick
> catabibazon, n. A short musical quotation from another Broadway theatrical
> production.
> 2 = Ziv 1 + Ranjit 1
> Pierre:  Other than what?
> Ziv:  One point for Broadway, to give my regards to it
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Jim
> catabibazon, n. A translating ear-trumpet, mentioned in Jonathan Swift’s "A 
> Voyage to Laputa”.
> 10 = Eric 1 + Linda 2 + Jean-Joseph 1 + Fran 2 + Hutch 2 + Ranjit 2
> Eric:  Another great idea.
> Jean-Joseph:  *My first thought was that this is clearly the work of Elliott. 
> But he's running this round. Then I thought, too absurd. But it's not real, 
> it just has to be something Swift thought up. Is Laputa part of Gulliver's 
> Travels? I read that, but it was over 40 years ago. Do I remember this? All I 
> remember is people with little bags of pebbles on sticks that they used to 
> remind the forgetful elite to do normal life activities. Anyway, one point. *
> Pierre:  I've read Gulliver's Travels, and I don't remember such a thing or 
> word. Bezides, "catabibazon" is Greek, not Laputan. [paragraph] Laputan 
> apparently sounded like Italian, so presumably "Flandona Gagnole" is 
> pronounced as if it were Italian. Which word means "astronomer" and which 
> means "cave"? [paragraph] Also, that part of Gulliver's Travels is "A Voyage 
> to [several countries, including Japan]".
> Hutch:  Any mention of Swift is a winner in my book.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Linda
> Catabibazon, n. A Southern Italian street opera featuring various comic 
> characters and instruments like a hurdy-gurdy..
> 0 = ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Ranjit
> Catabibazon, an early online commerce startup focusing on solutions for messy 
> pets, raised $55 million in two rounds of funding in 1998 and 1999 but closed 
> abruptly in May of 2000 just months before a planned IPO.
> 0 = Eric: Cat a bib is on?
> Jean-Joseph:  *Cat bib Amazon?*
> Hutch:  Cat bibs *LOL*
> Ranjit:  Mine, from "cat" + "bib" + "amazon", of course.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Real def:  Oxford English Dictionary
> catabibazon, n.  In Astronomy, the Moon's descending Node; call'd also 
> Dragon's Tail.
> 6 = Eric 2 + Pierre 2 + Ziv 2
> Eric:  I'm a sucker for "call'd", and lovely overall.
> Jean-Joseph:  *Nice gratuitous contraction! [and after peeking: doh! that 
> should have been the giveaway!]*
> Pierre:  Two points for having a sensible cata- (the ascending node is the 
> anabibazon?) and for looking like it's at least a century old.
> Ziv:  Two points because I really hope someone pulled out some cool archaic 
> dictionary that would use "call'd"
> OED:  Greek καταβιβαζόν bringing down, lowering.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Pierre
> catabibazon, n. Suppression of an insurrection by the Byzantine army.
> 4 = David 2 + correct guess 2
> Jean-Joseph:  *Is the Byzantine army the party doing the insurrecting or the 
> suppressing?*
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Hutch
> 1 = Linda 1
> catabibazon, n. An early style of photograph in which images were made of 
> disassembled objects at very close range, occasionally touching the lens.
> Linda 1
> Jean-Joseph:  *Fascinating. I'm not sure that early equipment had macro 
> lenses, though, and lighting may have been a problem as well.*
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Eric
> 3 = Hutch 1 + correct guess 2
> catabibazon, n. A drinking party ending in unconsciousness. Coinage (1655) of 
> John Milton.
> Jean-Joseph:  *Catastrophic imbibing. Sure, why not? Two points.*
> Pierre:  One point for having a sensible cata-. But "bib" meaning "drink" is 
> Latin, not Greek. I know where "symbibazon" is (Acts 9:22, and other forms 
> elsewhere in the Greek Bible).
> Hutch:  In my experience, all drinking parties are such
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Jean-Joseph
> catabibazon - n. - A fire-heated tool for creating waves in hair, predecessor 
> to the modern curling iron.
> 2 = David 1 + Fran 1
> Pierre:  Calamistrum. Once the pastor's wife, Clara (I won't give her whole 
> first name, as it's pretty unusual), came to church with curly hair. "¿Te 
> calamistraste?" I asked. No, she answered, that's how her hair naturally is, 
> and she usually straightened it.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% David
> 0 = catabibazon - n. - a substance untransmutable by alchemical processes.
> Jean-Joseph:  *So... everything, then?*
> Hutch:  My impression is that alchemists thought that EVERYTHING was 
> transmutable ... with the right methods and the Philosopher's Stone.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> %%% Ziv
> No definition
> 2 = correct guess 2