<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 11:05 AM, Jim Moskowitz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jim@jimmosk.com" target="_blank">jim@jimmosk.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br>
Hutch is our winner with his detailed pruning-knife definition. The actual word, courtesy of Merriam Webster online: " the headquarters or residence of a Chinese government official or department" More detail is at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamen" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<u></u>Yamen</a><br>
Here's the breakdown. Thanks to all for playing, and take it away, Hutch!<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>[snip]<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">yamen, n. An archaic, long-handled pruning knife of England; now rarely used due to the mass production of shears making them available to the middle class. The word yamen is of northern or Scottish descent; in other areas, the knife is called aler (Herts), haveller (Suffolk/Norfolk), fothering iron (Yorks), or haearn dyludo (Wales). BY HUTCH (11 points total)<br>
3 points from David<br>
3 points from Ranjit "for all the detail!"<br>
3 points from Jean-Joseph<br>
2 points from Jed<br>
Linda: "The archaic pruning knife almost blinded me with science."<br>
Nick: "This seems like a suspicious amount of detail."<br>
Pierre: "Apparently "dyludo" means "fothering", whatever that means"<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Borrowed bits and pieces of this fictionition from two other words' real definitions. I decided it would be a tool and went looking for information about real archaic and obscure tools.<br>
<br></div><div>An "averruncator" is the "long-handled pruning knife" (<a href="http://davesgarden.com/guides/terms/go/2408/">http://davesgarden.com/guides/terms/go/2408/</a>).<br><br>The other regional names are actually names of a device called a "Broadcast Seed Fiddle". The farmer wears a seed bag over one shoulder with the device attached to the bottom (?) of the bag. A long handle is attached to the device and drawing the handle back and forth (like a fiddle's bow) spins something that broadcasts the seed fairly evenly. Apparently the device engendered a specialty job for twenty years or so as the density of seed could be adjusted by the fiddle rate and the walking rate. I did not find any description of what "fothering" means either. Presumably (???), it has some connection with scattering seed or planting. (<a href="http://www.antiquefarmtools.info/page3.htm">http://www.antiquefarmtools.info/page3.htm</a>)<br>
<br></div><div>[snip]<br></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
yamen, n. The sliding weight affixed to the shaft of an atlatl. BY ERIC (5 points total)<br>
3 points from Linda<br>
2 points from David<br>
Nick: "I didn't know there was a weight involved in spearthrowers."<br>
Elliott: "What's it for? Do you use it to adjust the range somehow?"<br></blockquote></div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">In several discussion groups interested in archaic weapons, I found discussions about "sliding weights" of various kinds. The rumor (?) / belief (?) / whatever was that you could somehow make a given weapon increase the damage that it caused by having a sliding weight on it. The concept is (presumably!) that the weight would slide from near the wielder's body to away from the wielder's body as the weapon was swung, thus increasing moment arm. (I think that's the right physical concept?) With an atlatl, presumably this increase in moment arm would allow the wielder to throw the dart farther/with more force.<br>
<br>However, in all the discussions of this I found, the agreement seemed to be that the idea does NOT in fact work. The only described instance of a "sliding weight" on any actual historical weapon is something called "tears of the victim" (unsure!) from a Chinese weapon of some sort and the discussions all seem to agree that these are merely ornamental on a purely ceremonial weapon.<br>
<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Oh, a word? You caught me without anything prepared.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">How about nard ?<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">FYI: This is NOT the nickname for "spikenard", the biblical perfume, nor the plant from which it is made.<br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div>BB,</div><div>Hutch</div><div> </div><div>-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----</div><div>Version: 3.1</div><div>GCM/S d+>- s+:+ a++ C+++$ ULAC>$ P+ L+ !E W++$</div><div>N+ o K? w++++/--$ O? M- V? PS+ PE/- Y PGP- t++ 5?</div>
<div>X-- R !tv? b++++>$ DI++++ D G+> e++ h+ r--?* y++></div><div>------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------</div>
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