<html><head></head><body><div dir="auto">Since Pierre didn't fully explain...<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Linda's and my definitions were based on the fact that "yegg" is a slang term for a safecracker, the kind of thing that shows up in crossword puzzles. I had, before sending in my definition, said that maybe I knew it if it was related to that, and Pierre told me that it wasn't. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">And the real definition comes from the fact that some calculators used to display "Error" if you did something like divide by zero, which looks like the meaningless word "yeggog" to people who use the Cyrillic alphabet. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Jean-Joseph<br><br></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote" >On Aug 26, 2018, at 03:24, Pierre Abbat <<a href="mailto:phma@leaf.dragonflybsd.org" target="_blank">phma@leaf.dragonflybsd.org</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre class="blue">I just entered the word at <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeggogology">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeggogology</a> .<br><br>I've dabbled in yeggogology on two occasions. First my father had an HP-45, <br>which if you press certain three keys at once turns into a stopwatch. Later I <br>had an HP-34C and learned how to enter numbers with digits beyond 9. The <br>method had something to do with entering instructions and then changing the <br>amount of memory allocated to programs versus registers, if I remember right. <br>It displayed sixteen characters, "0123456789rFoPE ", using the last six to <br>display error messages (P was for "Pr Error", which meant that it lost power; <br>I don't know what F was for). Another guy at my dorm in Case Western had come <br>up with bleem, an "irrational integer between 6 and 7". I proceeded to enter <br>the number 5.dccbeafff in my calculator; the first digit after the point being <br>greater than 10, it is in a way between 6 and 7. Trying to calculate with this <br>number in decimal resulted in strange behavior.<br><br>Pierre<br>----<br>J-J: On the off chance that my duplicate answer gets any votes, and the even <br>more slim chance that I win, I would recuse myself since I had the extra bit <br>of knowledge that it _isn't_ about safecracking...<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of cycles and repetition, particularly with regards <br>to natural phenomena.<br>by Nicolas Ward. 5<br>David 1<br>Eric: One point.<br>Ranjit: 1 point, plausible yet not about yeggs<br>Linda: 1 point for cycles of repetition, ugga bugga, ugga bugga!<br>J-J: Most ordinary definition award (and therefore likely to win).<br>Elliott: Because the ``g'' keeps recurring? Nice. One point.<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of undocumented features of calculators.<br>by Russian Hackers. 4<br>J-J: I'm amused. Two points.<br>Elliott: Or, formerly, undocumented features of slide rules. (``The cursor is <br>sharp enough to use as a cigar cutter.'' Two points.)<br><br>yeggogology, n. 1. The use of meaningless neologisms, improvised on the spot, <br>as swear words. 2. A word invented for this purpose.<br>by Elliott Moreton. 4<br>2 for the hidden stopwatch<br>Linda: 2 points for the meaningless neologisms, ugga bugga!<br>J-J: Probably right. But I'm not going for it.<br>Elliott: Come on, doesn't ``yeggog'' sound like a swear word? Nearly all of <br>the defs on the ballot involved something reprehensible.<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of oafs.<br>by Eric Cohen. 3<br>Ranjit: 2 points for resisting the urge to write "oaves"<br>J-J: I'm sure somebody gets a doctorate in this. One point.<br>Elliott: Is that a subdiscipline of history, or vice versa?<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of safecracking techniques.<br>by Jean-Joseph Cote. 2<br>2 for counting to infinity<br>Elliott: Safecracking def #2. What in the world does this have to do with <br>safecracking? Are ``yeg'' and ``gog'' underworld slang for ``clockwise'' and <br>``counterclockwise''?<br><br>Yeggogology (trademark, properly styled "The Yeggogology Personal Growth <br>Nexus"), pr.n. An internationally-franchised publishing and retail chain, <br>founded in 2006 by Santiago Cazorla.<br>by Ranjit Bhatnagar. 2<br>Eric: Two points.<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of criminals who specialize in safe-cracking.<br>by Linda Owens. 2<br>David 2<br><br>yeggogology, n. The study of the Elder Ones.<br>by David Randall. 0<br>Elliott: Gog, Magog, and Yog-Sothog.<br><br>J-J: OK, so googling after the fact reveals that my amusement hit the mark, <br>and that the etymology of this is hilarious. And as a side note, when I was <br>in eighth grade, my classmate Neil Page had a calculator that did something <br>really bizarre if you divided by zero and then pressed the button to display <br>additional decimal places (I think the display was only six digit wide). I'd <br>have to see it again to come up with a theory as to what it was doing, but <br>what it appeared to be doing was rapidly counting upward, as if it was <br>searching possibilities on its way to infinity.</pre></blockquote></div></body></html>