<div dir="ltr">Correction: Fran's def got 2 points. I probably made other elementary counting errors in the ballot that I haven't spotted yet - but I'm pretty sure Nora won anyway.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 29, 2015 at 9:02 PM, Ranjit Bhatnagar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ranjit@moonmilk.com" target="_blank">ranjit@moonmilk.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>The eyes have it! The real definitions are from an article about cheese making. The holes in Swiss cheese are known as "eyes". More details below.</div><div><br></div><div>And the winner is Nora with 16 points - probably one of the largest leads ever won by a definition that wasn't the real one. Take the wheel, Nora - it's your turn to drive the bus!</div><div><br></div><div>(You might notice that Pierre cast three 1-point votes rather than a 2-pointer and a 1-pointer. Is that legal? I'm going to allow it, but I invite you all to glare sullenly at Pierre if you disapprove. I attribute it to youthful high spirits.)</div><div><br></div><div>- Ranjit</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Fran: 1 point</b></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> - n. - wooden disk for pressing fermenting sauerkraut below the liquid level in the frogmouth</span><div style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging - n. - a weight for holding the <span>streuble</span> down, often decorated with carving.</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth - n. - crock for fermenting sauerkraut in</div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: These terms are related, and having to do with German things, and </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> sounds Germanic, so I will give this definition one point!</span><br></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Josh: 1 </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">point (I'm not sure I believe it, but think it deserves credit for something)</span></div></blockquote></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">To quote Weird Al: I. HATE. SAUERKRAUT.</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">I'd love for these to be the words, but I just can't believe the phrasing of the streuble definition.</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">``Crock'' is no doubt meant as a coded hint, which I hereby take.</span></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Nora: 16 points</b></div><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble,</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> n. in lace-making, the finest part of the lace that connects the more substantial and intricate needlework.</span><div style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging, n. large, goffered ruffles, layered about the neck in decorative 18th and 19th century men's clothing.</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth, n. in the industrial process of knitting, the term for the hole created by the machinery as it makes the tubes for sweaters, sleeves, socks, etc.</div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Fran: 2 points</div></div></div></div></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">2 points, on the grounds that I somehow got close to the real def. That or someone else was thinking much like me.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">David: 2 points</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">2 points. related but only distantly. All three definitions are phrased very believably.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Interesting and plausible. In fact, by far the most plausible def of the lot. Two points.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Josh: 2 points</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Linda: 2 points - </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">My great-grandmother was a lace-maker, and I've been neglecting my fiber arts lately. </span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Pierre: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">I'm waffling between ruffles and frills. One point for each.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Jean-Joseph: <span style="font-size:12.8px">One point.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Linda: 2 points</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">, n. A unit of measurement relating to possible voting percentages in an upcoming election.</span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging, v. Trying to bolster a candidate's attibutes by filling up his or her biography with attributes that may or may not be true, but could be true. </div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth, n. A politician who waffles a lot on issues.</span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nicolas: 1 point for picturing the current slate of frogmouths.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Pierre: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">British left waffles on Falklands. Who ate them? One point and fifteen </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">streubles</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Eric: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Cabbaging is a lovely thought, though no points.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hahaha! Gets my laugh votes.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">That last one definitely OUGHT to be right.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>How Does Swiss Cheese Get Its Holes?</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-does-swiss-cheese-get-its-holes" target="_blank">The New Yorker, June 10, 2015</a> - 2 points</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">streuble, n. an overabundance of small eyes</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging, n. overcrowded, irregular eyes</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth, n. spindle-shaped eyes</div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i>“It’s the hardest cheese to make well,” Stephanie Clark, a dairy specialist at Iowa State University, told me. “There are so many steps in the process, and the list of things that can go wrong is almost endless.” In addition to blindness, Swiss cheese can suffer from streuble (an overabundance of small eyes just under the rind); cabbaging (overcrowded, irregular eyes); frogmouth (spindle-shaped eyes); or any one of about a dozen other defects, including dull or dead eyes, in which the eye walls lack what Clark described as the “preferred shiny lustre.”</i></div></div></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Jean-Joseph: 2 points. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">Creepy.</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: Spiders!</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">The eyes have it? No, sorry</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">What's the normative number of eyes? And what kind of eyes are we talking about here? The ones you see with? The ones you stick thread through?</span></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Nicolas: 6 points</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">, n. A high-necked bodice, similar to a dirndl.</span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging, n. A multilayer decorative frill emerging from sleeve or collar; popular in late 19th century Saxony.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth, n. 1. An extremely pronounced grimace or frown triggered by pulling the platysma taut. 2. A historical medical diagnosis, probably thyromegaly.</span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">I'm sorry, Nicolas - I lost track of your sample sentence while compiling the ballot: <span style="font-size:12.8px"> "As everyone knows, improper cabbaging on your </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> can lead to frogmouth."</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Eric: <span style="font-size:12.8px">Two points. Based mostly on the frogmouth. And the ridiculousness of all the other contenders. Although isn't a dirndl a kind of skirt . . . ?</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">This person thinks like me, or is the dictionary because of the clothing reference. Also, I like that frogmouth is a deep frown, which seems plausible, but not as related. But it makes me think of Beeker from the old Muppet Show! Two points</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Pierre: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">I'm waffling between ruffles and frills. One point for each. </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Besides, I'm guessing, some body part that is wide or flat, "platysma" is also </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Lojban for making planned silence.</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Linda: 1 point- </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Need to resume sewing medieval costumes for SCA--my son Greg and his family are very active, with his wife Daphne having quite an input and output. </span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">The first two are great, but how is a grimace or frown related to the other two. Ranjit said the word had related meanings ... I think?</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hmm, another frothy-lace def for ``cabbaging''. Frilly, colorful ornamental cabbages are popular in public spaces now, but were a new one on me when I first saw them in the early 1990s at MIT. Before then, I don't think I would have been able to see any connection between lace and cabbage.</span></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:small"><br><b>Pierre: 1 point</b></div><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">, n. A small dish used to hold water for washing the fingers.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging, n. Decoration consisting of brassicaceous flowers painted on the border of a container or dish.</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth, n. A ceramic container with a lune-shaped opening on the side.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">1 point. But isn't "lune" an old fictionary word?</span></div><div style="font-size:small">Nora: <span style="font-size:12.8px">These terms are nicely related, and I thought about giving this one points, so runner-up points.</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>David:</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> - n. - a six-inch black millipede native to Burma</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging - n. - a Burmese skink with a red-and-yellow argyle pattern</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth - n. - a Burmese carnivorous plant</span></div></div><div><div style="font-size:small"><br></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div><div><div style="font-size:small">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">Sounds too German for a British colony?</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Gets my animal vote; however, this looks like a definition I may have written, so no points. :)</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">It's never scientific/natural history. Which means that one of these days someone is going to pick a word/words like these to throw everybody off. Is this the time? </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">But a skink with an ARGYLE pattern??????</span></div></blockquote><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-size:small"><br><br></div><div style="font-size:small"><b>Eric: 1 point</b></div><div style="font-size:small">streuble, v. To thrash about ineffectively. "As the lieutenant streubled, the NCOs led the retreat under fire."</div><div style="font-size:small">cabbaging, adj. inferior, unpleasant. "I usually like frozen pizza, but this is cabbaging."</div><div style="font-size:small">frogmouth, n. guy-wire from the bottom of the fuselage to the wing in a high- or shoulder-wing monoplane. "Don't tighten the frogmouth, it goes taut once the wing is under load."</div><div style="font-size:small"><br></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div><div style="font-size:small">Elliott: <span style="font-size:12.8px">One point for the illustrative quotations, but I don't believe it.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div><div style="font-size:small">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">This is probably it? I like the WWI def.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Now that I have The Muppet Show reference in my head, I see their little arms streubling around in my mind! </span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">I know a little about planes and I've never heard that guy-wire referred to as a "frogmouth". And I'm not sure why/how it would or could get named so. "Frogmouth" just doesn't seem like it should refer to such a linear thing.</span></div></blockquote><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div style="font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-size:small"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br><b>Jean-Joseph: 2 points + 2 for correct guess = 4</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> - n. - A common-law dentist.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging - v. - Scouring of the teeth and gums with coral.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth - n. - A dental patient whose payments are in arrears.</span><div style="font-size:12.8px"></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Fran: 1 point, because I like it but I don't think it is real.</div></div></div></div><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Eric: <span style="font-size:12.8px">Ah, the phrase "common-law dentist" is alone worth a point. Plus there's the painful, painful cabbaging. One point.</span></div></div></div></div><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px">Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">If you stay with the same dentist for 10 years...</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">"Common-law" dentist? Does he practice law rather than dentistry? Is there law specific to dentistry?</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Pierre: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Common-law dentist? I'm guessing this is Elliott.</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: I</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">s coral safe to use as a dentifrice? It's a bit scratchy, I should think.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div style="font-size:small"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Hutch: 1 point</b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><div><span>streuble</span> - v.i. - to pick vegetables for storage before they are ripe; the intent being to allow them to ripen in storage<br><span style="font-size:12.8px">cabbaging - n. - a storage location (i.e. root cellar) for vegetables picked before they are ripe</span><br></div><span style="font-size:12.8px">frogmouth - n. - a small, usu. ceramic cylinder used to raise stored vegetables out of the reach of vermin</span><br></div></div><div><br></div></div></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div>David: 1 point</div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div>Nicolas: <span style="font-size:12.8px">Veggies might be too on the nose, but how else would cabbaging come up?</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Nora: I</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> like that </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">streuble</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> is a verb, but not quite buying the rest of it.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Hutch: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Mine. Looking at them again now, the concept works but the cabbaging definition is not particularly well-written. I'm guessing that I'll pick up a couple for the "v.i." identification. (That is, I will if I got it right; I still have the worst time identifying transitive versus intransitive verbs.) But anyone who actually reads the definitions carefully will vote elsewhere.</span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elliott: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">Vermin are pretty agile; I'd be surprised if a small ceramic cylinder were enough.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div class="gmail_extra" style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div><br></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>