<html>HI, Nice to be back, if only for a while--techie comes tomorrow nite, at last. Our friend Deck of the KC Moaners jug band makes fiddles and also "spoons" or "bones" which are wooden and joined at the top--you hit them against your thigh, hand, etc. So they are a set, like castanets on a stick, instead of in your hands separately. He also plays the harmonica and washtub base or gutbucket. The band claims we are their only groupies, but they are becoming more well known. Linda PS They now play out once a month or more at local ice cream or coffee shops and have a larger following--great stuff! Mostly family friendly. A lot of old tyme often 30's or Southern music.<BR><BR>---------- Original Message ----------<BR>From: Nicolas Ward <ultranurd@gmail.com><BR>To: fictionary@swarpa.net<BR>Subject: [Fictionary] Flexbone Results<BR>Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 12:20:10 -0500<BR><BR>I figured with the playoffs, I should go for an obscure football term.<BR>I thought some of you might pick up on the seasonality of the def, but<BR>it seems I fooled all of you but Pierre, mwahaha. The reason you<BR>probably haven't heard of "slotback" is that it's a very uncommon<BR>position in American pro football; I also did not know of it as one of<BR>the -backs before using it in my def. The play itself is also much<BR>more common in college ball, where only the top teams have amazing<BR>NFL-bound quarterbacks.<BR><BR>Congratulations go to the avant-garde rubber hose instrument. Take it away, Jim!<BR><BR>Is there some long yurt definition history I should know about? And<BR>when does Ranjit's flexbone album come out?<BR><BR>Jim 7<BR>Linda 3<BR>Elliott 3<BR>Pierre 2<BR>Eric 2<BR>Ranjit 1<BR>J-J 1<BR>David 1<BR>Hutch 0<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>General Comments<BR><BR>Pierre: My first guesses would be cartilage and batten, but I suspect<BR>it has nothing to do with "flex" or "bone".<BR><BR>Eric: I hope we are all mature enough to forgo the phallic definitions.<BR><BR>Eric: Wow, two adjectives. I am impressed. I honestly can find no<BR>definition to give points to because I believe it to be correct. So<BR>all of my points are for entertainment value.<BR><BR>Hutch: I must admit that my first thought was something about my lack<BR>of a sex life as I age.<BR><BR>Elliott: Thank *you* for a lovely word, which called forth many good<BR>defs. I had expected to see variations on ``a flexible trombone'', but<BR>there were none.<BR><BR>Elliott: (P.S. after looking it up on line:) Whoever sent in the<BR>football def was thorough -- they even composed an<BR>authoritative-sounding Wikipedia article to buttress their claims, and<BR>posted comments using the word in on-line football forums. Very<BR>creative. Maybe we should all start doing that every round.<BR><BR>Linda: Stormy weather activates my arthritis -- send me some flexbones, please!<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Ranjit<BR><BR>flexbone, adj. Of a person, satisfied, content; of a transaction or a<BR>product, acceptable. Coined as a mockery of Catalan immigrants in<BR>agricultural southern California c.1920, but soon adopted into local<BR>vernacular.<BR><BR>Pierre: I know of Portuguese immigrants to the Stockton-Tracy-Manteca<BR>area (Manteca was named for a butter, not lard, factory), but I'm not<BR>aware of a sizable number of Catalan immigrants to California.<BR>Elliott: Admirably unrelated to flexion or bones.<BR><BR>Hutch 1<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>J-J<BR><BR>flexbone, n. A wooden batten inserted into the roof felt of a yurt<BR>intended for use in high wind conditions, to reduce flutter.<BR><BR>Hutch: YURT ALERT!!!<BR>Pierre: Yurt alert!<BR>Elliott: How long has it been since our last yurt def? One point for<BR>traditionalism.<BR><BR>Elliot 1<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Wikipedia (summarized)<BR><BR>flexbone, n. In American Football, a running formation using five<BR>lineman and three runningbacks, often used by teams lacking a<BR>quarterback with a strong throwing arm. The ball is optionally run by<BR>the fullback, slotback, or quarterback, depending on the read of the<BR>defensive line.<BR><BR>Pierre: Two points, because none of the defs is believable, and I know<BR>next to nothing about football. Is there such a thing as a slotback?<BR>Elliott: How the heck would I know? I never even heard of a slotback.<BR>It sounds like a kind of piggy bank.<BR><BR>Pierre 2<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Pierre<BR><BR>flexbone, n. (slang) A doctor who treats cancer using shark cartilage or<BR>extracts thereof.<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Jim<BR><BR>flexbone, n. A musical instrument consisting of rubber hoses suspended<BR>from tuned wooden slats, which are played with mallets. It was<BR>invented in 1963 by avant-garde composer Harry Partch, who also<BR>created the instruments Zymo-Xyl, Chromelodeon, and Marimba Eroica.<BR><BR>Ranjit: "I ain't got no matches, ain't got no tobacco, ain't got no chow,<BR>ain't got no money. Hey, Slim, is that blanket big enough for two<BR>points?"<BR>J-J: Well, I know Harry Partch was a real guy who invented instruments<BR>like this, so I'll give it two. And if this isn't real, then Ranjit<BR>should go ahead and invent it.<BR>Elliott: Or was it invented in 2013 by avant-garde composer Ranjit<BR>Bhatnagar? Two points.<BR><BR>David 1<BR>Ranjit 2<BR>J-J 2<BR>Elliott 2<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Eric<BR><BR>flexbone, adj. Possessed of overawing superiority in manners.<BR><BR>Elliott: Admirably unpredictable!<BR>Eric: 'Cause, you know, it has nothing to do with flexibility, or<BR>bones, or even sounding like an adjective.<BR><BR>Hutch 2<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Hutch<BR><BR>flexbone, n. A method of bow construction involving laminating<BR>multiple thin layers of flexible material, originally bone; it creates<BR>lightweight but strong bows with very high pull weight; the modern<BR>name is claimed to be direct translation from the ancient Mongolian<BR>term for a similar process.<BR><BR>Pierre: Horn in compression, wood in the middle, sinew in tension.<BR>Don't know about laminating bone. And another Central Asian origin.<BR>Elliott: Admirably straightforward! Is this a covert yurt def?<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Linda<BR><BR>flexbone, n. One of a wooden set of spoons or bones used in old-time music.<BR><BR>Hutch: "set of wooden spoons" rather than "wooden set of spoons"?<BR>Pierre: One point, though I've just heard them called bones, even if<BR>they are made of wood.<BR>Elliott: ``A wooden set of spoons''? Not ``a set of wooden spoons''?<BR>There's some poetical term for that --- hyperbaton, maybe? Anyhow, it<BR>sounds like something a dictionary editor would have changed.<BR><BR>David 2<BR>Pierre 1<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>Elliott<BR><BR>flexbone, n. Heat-treated mica used as a substitute for spring steel<BR>during the "Little Stone Age" which followed the eruption of the<BR>Thirty Years' War.<BR><BR>Eric: The phrase "Little Stone Age" is, by itself, worth well more<BR>than two points. But that's all I have, so two points.<BR>Ranjit: One point for little stone age.<BR>Hutch: How would rock--heat-treated or otherwise--replace spring steel?<BR><BR>Eric 2<BR>Ranjit 1<BR><BR>--<BR><BR>David<BR><BR>flexbone, n. (Barchester dial.) Someone who has ceased to communicate<BR>with the Anglican Church because he finds it excessively rigid in its<BR>theology.<BR><BR>Eric: One point. I don't know why I find this amusing, but I do.<BR>Elliott: Well, he knew he was right, anyhow. Can you forgive him?<BR><BR>Eric 1<BR><BR>--Nick<BR></html>
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