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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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OK, already. I was waiting for a couple of late entries. Actually, I had sorta let this slip through the cracks, but it sounds better to put the onus on someone else. I'm learning how this place works!
I'll give a week for posting guesses. Good luck!
A. Skytale (n) (from Greek Sky-tala, to change shape) - A greek spy, especially one who disguised himself as a citizen of the city being spied upon.
B. The form of communication commonly known as "smoke signals" when used in conjuntion with ritualistic prayer.
C. another name for a caduceus, the winged staff of Aescalepius the Healer
D. A Greek encryption device, composed of a stick and a long strip of paper which is wrapped around the stick. The message is written lengthwise on the stick. When unwrapped, it cannot be deciphered without a stick of similar diameter on which to wind the paper. It was considered very high security (VHS) until some idiot included in plain text on the end of one of the tapes: Please rewind.
E. A device similar to a shoulder plane for cleaning out rough-sawn dovetail joints in fine cabinet joinery. From skive, Norwegian term for bird tail, plus tale, an alternative but obsolete spelling of tail.
F. (n.) Northumbrian dialect, 19th c., referring to a secondary mash of beer which considerably reduced the flavour and body of the brew.
G. Slang - originating in 1920’s Oxford University. An affectionate term for Russian literature
H. a basketball term applied when, on an inbounds play, the ball is thrown the length of the court before being received; used when the game or shot clock provide insufficient time in which to dribble or pass the ball to the front court.
I. a celestial oddity in which the sun is setting at the same time the moon is rising and the North star is in perfect alignment with them both
J. obs. The distinctive, intricate carving on a scythe used to identify the tool's owner.
K. ME scytale fr. ON skytael. Covered with dung.
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Oh, these are great! [putting on thinking cap]
Edit: TEd, you ever notice how often you see/hear "slip between the cracks"?
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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One is 33 times more likely to fall through the cracks than to slip between the cracks, according to a google search. Remember, Betsy, that I was raised by prescriptivists who taught me that there is good English and the rest, which is below abysmal.
Had I said slip between the cracks they would have corrected ne quite firmly, with ruler cracks across the knuckles. Well, not really, but there were a couple of nuns at the Catholic grammar school who might well have. I'll never forget Sister Agony of the Sisters of Perpetual Menses.
Edit:
And I have, of course, made an imperfect fool of myself by googling "fall through the cracks" when I had actually used "slip through the cracks." But the latter still gets 67KG, even though in thinking about it I would have been more likely to use fall and just slipped in this case.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I like carpentry, so I'll go for E.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK, lemmme grab this by the tail and give it a good shake…
I like K, but I think it was generated from association with ‘shite’ – did Nordic /k/ morph to ME /c/ … Perhaps this was from Fong?!
J: Good try, but it looks like it came from the letter combination of s+c+y+t+e (and anyway, there has never yet been one of these “intricate decorations” come true, has there?!) Was this you, Ms J, or perhaps oftroy...?
I: Very good! But whoever it was, you missed out mention of Uranus :)
H: hmmm, I’m only a Limey but I played a bit of semi-serious basketball when a kid… don’t remember this one… Delightfully phrased, straightfaced, sports mad ~ gotta be Spartakiss, surely?
G: Very cunning. You can almost hear John (Fish Called Wanda) Cleese seducing someone with this…. Hmmmm… We all know the associations this side of the pond, but would it travel? I suspect Dixbie!
F: Did this just come from the ale ending? But the sound seems right – sort of Viking English… Is beer mashed? But mebbe that’s American for brewed, given mention I saw somewhere of including chocolate and cherries in beer!!
E: Very clever! Yes. Far too clever? I think so. Good try, Nordic Monkey? Maybe!
D: Well, this one has TEd’s paw prints all over it!
C: ah, another classical pickup. Well, I guess it does sound Greek maybe, but is that how the old doctor’s name is spelled? And isn’t the caduceus only a medical symbol in the States (did we discuss that ages ago?), because I seem to remember it as the symbol for Hermes, messenger god… so who made this up… Betsy maybe?
B: mmm… well, I’m bound to be wrong, but I can’t buy this. Smoke signals and prayer – and did the tribes recognise prayer, really? Don’t know.
A: ooo, nice. Another git bearing Greek! This is good. But hang on, you’d kind of have to be disguised as a town native, wouldn’t you? And weren’t their cities so small they would know all individual inhabitants?
OK, a final reflection or seven before I choose. :)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I heard this arrangement whispering in my ear a few times in the past, but methinks maverick has just orchestrated some new harmony for this swine song.
Edit attempted to reduce confusion... but, alas, it is too late...
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
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I have a confession to make. In addition to my duties as subMaster, I put forth the definnitions sent in to me as well as the correct definition.
But I also added one of my own. There is clear precedent for the subMaster's doing this. I did it once before.
TEd
Roooools? We don't need stinkin' rooooools.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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you are correct, TED; although this particular rool was never actually codified in the (now long dormant)official-unofficial roolz, the precedent was set long ago -- perhaps even in the first round.
[gosh, I wish I had a list of all the words that have been played here..]
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