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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:lindafowens@netzero.net"
title=lindafowens@netzero.net>lindafowens</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:lindafowens@netzero.net"
title=lindafowens@netzero.net>lindafowens</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, June 28, 2004 2:35 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Vinaka for the memories</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal>VANOCKA BALLOT—A small but delightful
compendium—RESULTS!!!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>A prize for which the contestants do not know they are competing, and
which they would rather not win.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>(Named after Lillian Vanocka, inventor of Beano®, winner of the first
IgNobel Prize in Medicine [1991], for her research on liquids that prevent
bloat, gassiness, discomfort, and embarrassment.)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">FRAN—0 points.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Fran was at a disadvantage in being
first, but maybe she did not want to win, anyway.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">Pierre: Haven’t heard of this, but
I do know there are experiments where the subjects don’t know what’s going
on.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">JJ: Okay, I’ll have to lookup who
really got this award…later… [And the winner of the IgNobel in 1991 for Beano
was named Alan Kligerman.]</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">Linda: BEANO was also the
substitute word for BINGO, when that gambling game was outlawed for a while<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>[in the 50’s?].</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n. Brandy distilled from honey, lemon peel, and
plums.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JEAN-JOSEPH—4 points<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mine.
Because it looked to me a lot like slivovica and krushkovacha and those other
oddball brandies.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Judith—2 points.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>David R—2 points</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(fr.
Czech, popularized by the Sokol sporting leagues)—A competition involving the
performance of fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups, fifty jumping jacks, and a
fifty-meter dash.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>DAVID R—4 points</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ—Ooh…do I know enough Slavic to know if this looks like the word for
fifty in Czech? What the heck, I’ll give it a point—1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Melissa—2 points for the competition.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Pierre—Don’t know sports, but this doesn’t sound too likely.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Fran—For reminding me of my strong man competition def last time—1
point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(1)
Brand name of a failed candy bar containing white chocolate, raisins, and puffed
rice, introduced by Cadbury in 1978 and withdrawn from production in 1979; (2)
confectioners’ slang for a product difficult to sell.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>MELISSA—obviously difficult to sell this def, sorry--0 points—but 1 point
for Correct Answer!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ—Yeah, sounds good initially, but…I don’t know that I’d want to buy it
more than once.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Confectioners’
slang” sounds a little too specific for me, though. Imagine being baffled down
at the candy shop because you don’t know the argot of the sugar pushers….</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n. [Gerrit van Ocka, Dutch engineer]--A device in a
wind turbine for adjusting the pitch of the blades depending on the wind speed
and desired torque.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>PIERRE—8 POINTS and the WINNER, including 2 points for correct
answer.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ--Hah. Clever. But…do I believe that this is something you’d really
want to do?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Hmm.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You typically have plenty of power on
hand in a wind tunnel, I think, and that’s the usual reason for wanting variable
pitch. Oh, wait, this isn’t a wind tunnel, it’s a wind turbine. Oh. So you’d
change the advance ratio depending on how strong the breeze is. In a light
breeze, crank it way up so that it will be able to move, but in a howler, you
flatten it out, which whips it around faster, but with less oomph. Makes sense.
Although I don’t know about the epigrammatic origin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But I’ll give it two points anyway. 2
points.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Linda—My son teaches applied physics, etc. at Sterling College in VT, and
makes his own home electricity from solar and wind power.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The moaning of the wind generator at
night sounds so lonely.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Unfortunately, he just left for a few weeks vacation with his family, so
I will have to wait to ask him if this def is plausible.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Fran—For using the word, “torque”—2 points.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>David R—1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Ranjit—van Ocka! 1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>An
Eastern European chicken stew with dumplings.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>RANJIT--4 points (2 for Correct Answer).</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Judith-1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Pierre, 1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A
Swedish filled Christmas pastry with the top braided to resemble the swaddled
Christ Child.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>THE JOY OF COOKING, Rombauer and Becker, 1964—A present from my mother. I
was married to my husband David in 1967, and we lived in Frankfurt am Main,
Germany for the first 2 years, courtesy of Uncle Sam.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mom kept sending me cookbooks, which I
loved.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My kitchen became known as
the “Festeberg Cookie Shop”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Luckily I am a better cook than a linguist, as you will see….<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you are at all familiar with the
style of this cookbook, at least in this edition, the authors are constantly
referring you to other pages for more information, which can be a bit
time-consuming and confusing, unless you want specific advice.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The references may have been a bit
misleading, and I may have been remiss in saying that this pastry was of
definite Swedish origin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Actually,
one quote on one quoted page was, “Call them Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian,
these light confections….”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I guess,
rereading it, that “Scandinavian”, which is what I meant to type out, instead of
“Swedish”, could have been referring to another shape than the swaddled Christ
Child, which is what Vanocka resembles, but it wasn’t that clear, and it
certainly never mentioned Czech.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I
was certain it was Scandinavian.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Anyway, as I told JJ, “Good artists borrow, and Great artists
steal.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(Found that on a Salada tea
tag).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Moreover, in many cases, food
that is the least bit exotic, or wishes to appear so, claims a foreign origin,
as a “Japanese” Fruit Cake that is from the Southern USA. Back when this book
came out, most people ate at home, liked fairly plain foods, except at holiday
time, and cooking as a whole was not the international gourmet delight it is
today.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Furthermore, the lowly
hotdog is called a “Frankfurter Wurstchen” in Austria; and in Frankfurt, it is
called a “wiener”, with no one taking credit.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Otherwise, I am sorry for the confusion,
and I am still in the dark about Vanocka’s true origins, for I do not have a
Czech cookbook.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Should I believe
the Internet???<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Linda<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>PS I may ask my neighbor Sonny
Mattscheck.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>PPS By the way, a
weaver (born in Hungary) I know traced a “rose” pattern in weaving from Egypt
through Central Europe to Norway, over 2000 years. Perhaps food ideas travel
from village to village, in a similar manner????</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Melissa—the Norwegian-filled pastries being not nearly as tasty.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Still,1 point.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ—Last time Linda picked a word, I think it was some kind of food. Which
makes these tempting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But I’ll
resist the temptation.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Ranjit—Swedish, hmmm?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have
no choice but to believe that!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>2
points.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ—[Hmmm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, a quick web
search reveals that it’s the baby Jesus bread. But it ain’t Swedish. And that’s
a big part of why I rejected this one, because the word looked more Czech to
me.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Which it is.]</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Pierre—Can you Czech whether it’s really Swedish?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>2 points.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Vanocka, n.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Fijian for “Thank You”.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Linda--I have to apologize for adding a dummy def, too, although<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I later realized it was a true
homonym<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(and I am using this term
correctly) for <I>vinaka</I>, which means “thank you”, one of the two words you
need to know in Fijian.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most people
there speak English to tourists.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I
spent 5 days in beautiful Nadi, Fiji, in 1995, on the way to sing at the Sydney
Opera House with my chorus at an international music festival. (First 300 of us
from around the Pacific Rim performed Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms”, then we
performed separately.)(Because we felt we were on vacation, our chorus did a
Disney “Sing-Along”, the SOH’s first, for fun.)<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Oh, the other word you use constantly in
Fiji is “Bula!” which means “hello!”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It may have been the inspiration for Cole Porter’s Yale fight song, but I
never saw that word spelled.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>JJ—Well, on principle, I don’t think we should be picking words that are
flatly foreign. Or as Elliott once put it, it should need to be italicized when
you use it.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Pierre—“Thank You” isn’t a noun, and AFAIK<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>[?] Fijian doesn’t have “ck”.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Hutch—Okay, Fijian sounds good.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>2 points.</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>