[Fictionary] CATABIBAZON results

[E Cohen]

On 13-Jun-21 12:53, eLLioTT morEton wrote:
> 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.

I got the first announcement. Congratulations Jim, well deserved.


> 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


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-- Eric   |   eac at inbox.com