[Fictionary] YANNIGAN results!

[J-J Cote]

>  yannigan, n. A suction rake for removing sludge from the bottom of a
tank.

By way of explanation, the heating oil company recently came out to inspect
the oil tanks in my crawlspace, and deemed them unsatisfactory (not
surprising, since all indications are that they date back to the building
of the house in 1950), and I need to get them replaced with an outdoor one.
Not an inexpensive proposition, and roughly half the cost will be due to
the removal operation of the old tanks, which are too large to fit through
the trap door and will have to be cut into pieces first, and there will
undoubtedly be 75 years with of tarlike sludge in them to be dealt with.
One friend, upon hearing the cost estimates, says I should do it myself and
he can help. This very much does not sound like a good idea, but it hasn't
stopped me from musing about what sort of equipment might be required.

I'll get a new word candidate out in the next day or two..

Jean-Joseph

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 9:28 PM E <e2836 at gmx.com> wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> Votes were pretty spread, but y'all did well on finding the real def,
> the baseball one, with five total points. The winner is Jean-Joseph with
> his suction rake, six points including two for voting for baseball.
>
> Welcome Wesley, and welcome back Kir!
>
>
> Elliott
>
> yannigan, n. A brush used to clean other brushes.
>
> 2 David = 2
>
> Kir: Maybe kind of like a wire bristle one? No that would really mess up
> some of the nice sables. Soap and water or turpentine and a fine comb
> work pretty well (Depending on what people have been painting with.)
>
> Elliott: Well, what *do* you clean a brush with?
>
> David: "The Mandelbrush."
>
>
> Joshua
>
> yannigan, n. A thin piece of wood forming a right angle, commonly used
> for mending post-and-rail fences.
>
> 1 Pierre = 1
>
> Kir: Good fence building can be a cool specialty. But how do you use a
> right angle piece of wood with post and rail? Why wouldn't just a wedge
> work if the rail is loose? Or new rail… Or a new post . . .
>
> Pierre: I'm having a hard time visualizing this, but I'll give it a point.
>
> Elliott: Does it grow that way naturally? I read somewhere that
> age-of-sail navies used to harvest ``knees'', naturally-bent pieces of
> wood, for some shipbuilding purpose that I have since forgotten.
>
> Eric: To attach things together at an angle. Grown knees are much
> stronger than steamed or otherwise bent knees.
>
>
> Ranjit
>
> yannigan, n. A crocheted capelet.
>
> 1 Jean-Joseph, 2 for correct vote = 3
>
> Kir: I can't tell if the connection to the word afghan is intentional as
> part of a newly invented definition or the actual definition because of
> the connection the afghan made up by fiber workers. What a puzzle. When
> and where was crocheting invented? How did we get the word Afghan?
> Couldn't we have been making crocheted capelets before that?
> I am clearly putting too much time into this.
>
>
> David
>
> yannigan, n. (Yamasee) Flooded scrubland.
>
> 2 Kir, 2 Pierre = 4
>
> Kir: 2pts. I mean, it's probably not, but I like the idea of a scrubland
> that floods periodically and gets its own name because probably you can
> harvest different stuff while it's flooded than you can when it's not
> either because of seasonal availability or access via little rafts or
> canoes or . . . Maybe I just wanna explore such a place. (The nearby
> Salisbury Swamp probably doesn't qualify because it floods like this,
> but it's not scrub so much as it's actual trees…)
>
> Ranjit: Bonus point (no retail value).
>
>
> Jean-Joseph
>
> yannigan, n. A suction rake for removing sludge from the bottom of a tank.
>
> 1 Wesley, 2 Elliott, 1 Ranjit, 2 for correct vote = 6
>
> Kir: In all my tours of wastewater treatment plants I never saw a
> suction RAKE for the BOTTOM of tanks, but I kinda like it.
>
> Elliott: "Suction rake" is a lovely collocation. Two points.
>
>
> real
>
> yannigan, n. A young, rookie, or bush-league baseball player.
>
> 1 Kir, 2 Jean-Joseph, 2 Ranjit = 5
>
> Kir: I could see a baseball story involved here. One point.
>
> Elliott: Sounds plausible. One point.
>
>
> Pierre
>
> yannigan, n. A lively Breton dance in 3/4 time, accompanied by a chorus
> of bombards.
>
> 2 Wesley, 1 David = 3
>
> Kir: Kind of like morris dancing to the 1812 overture?
>
> Eric: This is clearly ridiculous but I'd pay to hear it.
>
> Elliott: Bombards being the most diuretic instrument ever invented, I'm
> sure the dance is lively if there's a chorus of them. But the word just
> doesn't sound very Breton to me, somehow.
>
> Ranjit: I would like to hear this.
>
> David: "Kornog-Tchaikovsky Award."
>
>
> -- Eric
>
>
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