have you seen the film Sideways? it was actually filmed at vinyards in 'wine country' CA.

but the vinyards/movie producers didn't want to use the actual names --One vinyard, it vintages better known as being below box wine quality, was renamed Frass Farms..

Frass.. where have i heard that word before?

Ha!

Here's shellacin' 'em, troy!

Right on, Rock Island!!

Frass, Debris or excrement produced by insects. What was the original name of the winery?

Fess Parker or some such name...
or was it Boone Farms.. (choice of wino's everywhere in US

> shellacin' 'em

whoooosh - that one went over my head at escape velocity! What are you referring to, insel?

<<whoosh>>

To 'give someone a shellacking' is 'old; slang for 'finishing someone off,' as in boxing or street brawling. I suppose, and I will no doubt stand corrected, that the use stems from the fact that shellac is a wood finish. It is made of a kind of frass.

oh, my It is a good week for me, i got one Mav missed!

kisses darlings--
one for each of you!

Thanks insel - yes, I was being led down a blind alley by trying to read it as a soft c! I'd concluded it was some esoteric Nooo Yawk Sqwark ;)

<<soft c>>

My fault, then: missing Ks mislead.

hm, I would have spelled it shellac too, but see that the past forms all take the K, and some other forms in what seem a fairly random scatter to me! Is that to avoid the phonological ambiguity - can one of our traditionalists help out here?

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/
DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861733101

While I've nothing linguistic to add to this noble thread I would like to chime in and say how much I liked this movie. I especially thought it was funny where Paul Giamati's character was prepared to break off the double-date with those two attractive, intelligent women if he was going to have to drink merlot.

What is shellac? http://www.shellac.org/shellac.html

well, no doubt helped by all-y'all's good words I got around to seeing the film last night, and laughed like a drain - there are so many beautifully constructed set pieces of situational irony in the script, and the ensemble is well matched and very sharply characterised... Thanks for the pointer, and I look forward to seeing it again.

laughed like a drain

Never heard that expression before. Anyway I loved the film.

Alex, you'll be glad to hear that last time I brought this up, we had an exaustive discussion that truly got to its etymological roots. Not!

http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=10829&page=&view=&sb=&vc=1

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/224000.html

So I gather that "laugh like a drain" refers to the guffawing or yucking laughter that sounds like the sucking sound of water going down a drain. I think I won't be able to hear water draining from the bath now without getting tickled.

shellac is a wood finish. It is made of a kind of frass.

"Frass" is the excrement or other debris of insects. "Lac" is neither.

Here is a description of "lac" which is a type of resin [not a frass] used in the production of shellac:

"A secretion is exuded from their bodies, which is in essence a protective covering to prevent an attack by predators. This secretion forms hard resinous layers that completely cover their bodies leaving small anal and breathing openings. The insects mature into adults under this protective layer and both the male and female larvae become sexually mature in about eight weeks."

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/animals/exploitation/shellac.php

BTW "shellac" without the "k" is perfectly acceptable. In fact, "shellac" is the usual spelling. The "k" is required with the verb but it is optional with the noun.

Sighting bad pennies like this reminds me of my distant cousin Sam Remington, who for many years ran a little shop outside London where he counterfieted small change. He figured, almost corectly, that no one would know or care if there were a few bad coins floating around the realm.

When he was at last caught in the act he asked the detective, "So, how'd you catch me?"

The detective merely sang the refrain, "Sam, you made the pence too long."

Sam's not the only one who's busted.