Just to prove that Asa is wrong I expect a non-moribund enthusiasm to follow.

Answers on a postcard to...


er no... I mean answers by PM.

on the way...

As is mine. Many thanks for picking up the game!

Whoops! I somehow overlooked this new topic. Daffynition is on the way, Bob.

I think we should invite Garrison Keillor to this game. In his column today he made up a terminal illness that I thought was perfect:

"disseminated fibrillation of the fantods"

Well? Can we guess yet?

Sorry for the delay. I was a bit busy earlier and yesterday I just forgot.

Anyway, better late than never, here are the daffynitions.


1. Dialect name for the curlew.

2. a marsh sprite in Ireland, according to legend

3. Marsh gas of particularly foul odour.

4. reluctant enthusiasm

5. Similar to deflexion in that it uses lasers and mirrors in a fascinating way, making it a great abstract game.

6. A fast-running mountain stream.

7. North Eastern Uk dialect word for a herring.

8. A name for a hermaphrodite, being a blend of will for the man and gill (with a soft g) for the woman.

1

Tinman

Ah...8 is just too good to pass up!

After reading mine, I am fairly sure that no one will choose it because of a big faux paus, which of course I hadn't caught.

Oh, well...I am not used to winning at this game anyway.

I may be all wet, but I think it's 6, since fish have gills, and the stream's inhabitants willgills have, as Yoda yould say. However, it could be an Irish curlew that whiffed some foul-smelling marsh gas, passed out, and awakened a hermaphrodite.

2, 3, 6, and 7 all seem to be derived from the same common theme/red herring (if I may be so bold), which disqualifies the lot of 'em..

4, 5, and 8 all seem too farfetched.

Applying Holmes' Law I have to choose 1, albeit reluctantly.(Unless of course a curlew is another water-based thingy, in which case it belongs with the first four and leaves me with no choice whatsoever...)

I'll stick with 1.

Hab, what have you been doing with your Longfellow lately?

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Yup - I'll go with the bird, too - #1 for me, please.

I vote for #2... !

No idea. The one I like best was my own invention.

I'll try... er... um... 7.

and the answers . . . . ?

Now, I only actually have one single reference for this word which appears on my Calendar of Obscure and Forgotten English.

here is the full text of what it says.

quote:

willgill: A very expressive name for an hermaphrodite, will being for the man and gill (with g soft) for Gillian or Juliana, on the woman's part. - Samuel Pegge's alphabet of Kenticisms 1735-1736

I realise that this is hardly an impeccable source and wouldn't pass muster at the OEDILF but there you have it.

willgill - 8. A name for a hermaphrodite, being a blend of will for the man and gill (with a soft g) for the woman.

As for the others -

1. Dialect name for the curlew.
provided by arnie who promptly forgot that he had done so and provided another one later, fooled tinman, haberdasher, Caterwauller

2. a marsh sprite in Ireland, according to legend
provided by haberdasher and fooled KHC


3. Marsh gas of particularly foul odour.

provided by Asa but fooled no-one

4. reluctant enthusiasm

provided by caterwauller with similar success to Asa - i.e. fooled no-one

5. Similar to deflexion in that it uses lasers and mirrors in a fascinating way, making it a great abstract game.

provided by Kalleh, alas fooling no-one, perhaps because, like me, they had no idea what defexion is.

6. A fast-running mountain stream. –

arnie's second definition (get a grip there man) managed to take in asa

7. North Eastern Uk dialect word for a herring.

My own poor effort only caught arnie ("only" !!!)

8. A name for a hermaphrodite, being a blend of will for the man and gill (with a soft g) for the woman.

as I said above, the unlikely correct answer wwhich was guessed by Kalleh

quote:

provided by arnie who promptly forgot that he had done so and provided another one later

I can only plead a brain fart in my defence (see other threads).

At least you didn't pick your other definition because it looked familiar. Now that really would have been embarrassing.

Bob,

I nearly did! It wasn't until after I saw the published list that I realised, and only then after deciding that the curlew one was the best. That's why I remarked above that the one I liked best was my own invention.

I hadn't heard of deflexion, either, but I thought the likes of this board would. However, I made a fateful mistake...I added: "making it a great abstract game." No dictionary would make that kind of judgment. I couldn't leave well enough alone.

Oh, well, I won't complain. I did guess the right answer, all by myself...even outsmarting Arnold. Gifts will be gratefully accepted!

Very good word! This was fun, even if it DID take a month to play!