it looks like yett was just too easy; I’ll have to rectify that..

a) a starchy vegetable related to the sweet potato. primarily grown in Russia [submitted by obihave]
b) the young of the custacea, Kiwa hirsuta or yeti lobster [Candy] voted for by BranShea
c) Scots a nasty person; a jerk [tsuwm] olly, Owlbow [say, are these the same person?!]
d) a tool used to force oakum into the plank seams of a wooden ship [Owlbow] etaoin
e) obs from Old Norse -- to talk or utter rapidly or nonsensically; chatter [Jackie] Faldage
f) a jungle stew and city for which it is named in West Central, Africa; popular among tourists [Luke] Candy
g) a traditional garland of ribbons (yetties) placed halfway on one of the masts of a whaler [BranShea] Avy, Jackie
h) a goat's milk cheese similar to stilton, traditionally made in Northunbria [Faldage]
i) a long-haired ungulate, native to northern Europe and Scandinavia [wofa]
j) chiefly Scotland a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses [wikipedia] wofa, obihave, Luke

_____

obligatory comments:
1) three(3) players sussed the wiki def’n – that’s just too many!
2) Bran and tsuwm each gathered two votes, but there was some hint of irregularity in each case!?
2) only two(2) (sort of) yeti-like def’ns; but I’ll award the Armil Memorial trophy to wofa
3) yes, tsuwm (and Luke), yett is a cognate of gate; but a jerk is a gett/git
4) is there a winner? per usual, and perforce, not in *this game
5) also, per usual, comments/complaints are welcome, but will be roundly ignored by the MGMT

Yes, some evaluation would be fitting here.
Tswum gathered two votes, but as we yàll know that tsuwm and hogmaster is one and the same player I would propose, especially since points don't matter that hogstuwmaster gathers -1 vote.

No, yett wasn't too easy. If it would have been easy I would have guessed it in stead of taking refuge to kiwi, lobster and caviar.
The best guessers among us were after you, is all. The real cream de la cream.

--------------------------________________

As is the host, thus he suspects his guests, the saying goes. No irregularities on my side of the tub. And if you don't know your olly from your Owlbow, well, what do you know?

Thanks for the round and providing the new knowledge that yett means gate. Very nice!

Is that someone we know?

Buffalo Shrdlu

I like D, because you just don't get to say oakum often enough.
_________________________
formerly known as etaoin...


Avy, you have to pay better attention if you want to follow along.

I mighta gone for h but for the slight spelling error.

which I missed, but *was in the original! < whew >

Ahhhh! Buffalo - formerly known as Etoain. NOW I get it.

Ha! so sweet, I bet he did it on purpose.

D'oh! Bit by my own petard.

Anna! Look! They're flirting with each other!

wofa sent me this, in explication of his "fifty-year old memory":

(For when everyone has committed to YETTS one way or another)

I knew the word sounded familiar, and finally unearthed the 1961 memory:

Singing with the Glee Club. A song called One Hundred Pipers. The internet now lets words and music be easily recovered.

From Wikipedia, no less:

...an old Scottish folk song.
(These lyrics are in Scots.)

Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a',
Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a',
We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw
Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.
O it's owre the border awa', awa'
It's owre the border awa', awa'
We'll on an' we'll march to Carlisle ha'
Wi' its yetts, its castle an' a', an a'.

And you can see and hear it here.

Great song! I always found those bagpipe parades irresistable.
Thank you very much! I'll transfer it to FB me.


Flirt alert? Ha!

yeahbut, this one is yet another martial tune, penned for the brave lads of Scotland marching off to fight against the Brits for Lord and Master*. an' a', an a'.

*Bonnie Charlie the King o' us a', hurrah! (from the 3rd verse)
-joe (just the bloody facts) friday

I know, it's absolutely incorrect to find this irresistable, but yeah, the whole combined show of quilts, bagpipe blare, headwear and...eh well..whatever

...and did you catch all those other less-common words?

pibroch
grat (as in "mithers grat when they marched away")
and all, and all

Properly spelled piobaireachd.

[Stupid smile] I just like being amongst love. Anna should look out for her man, but Branny you are fine by me too. As long as he keeps within the Awad family.

Yeah--he called me a petard. And I didn't even bite very hard.

Thanks for your vote Bran.

My Kiwa hirsuta are real sea creatures and discovered in 2005.
But of course its young are not called YETT but they could have been

Now I didn't neither call you no petard. I'm the old petard around here.

romantic...thats what I think

yes. petard is SO romantic. (I think it's the visual that it conjures up, for me.)
-joe (hoist the yardarm, matey) friday

Ah, yes, the sand heart on the beach.....romantic.

It's real! wow !!!! And it's a decapod complete with pereiopods!
And all that hair! I knew it wasn't the real def. but I knew I was onto something special! Thanks back!

Oh, the words! It's because I never heeded the words that I came to this redoubtable confession of loving bagpipe parades. ( can't do no harm to take a closer look now, hm?)

Kiwa hirsuta

I picked up on the etymology right away. 'Te Moananui a Kiwa/Kiva' or 'the great ocean of kiwa', is commonly known amongst maori and polynesian as the pacific ocean. Kiva was a legendary navigator.

I detect a little irony from you Ts

Late reaction: you're fine by me too in spite of a stupid smile and being overproportionedly romantic.

And thanks for your kind vote.

Aw shite you'll have stopped romancing.

yes olly...and a bit more support for us together here 'down under' would be good

I agree!!!! We exist don't forget ... just barely.
Edit: This is a record break for me. Three posts in one day. HALP I've got verbal diarhoea.

We love you!

Australia, New Zealand, India.

aw-shucks

I was serious, in appreciating you-all. This board, and later other places, has taught me that we Americans really ought to get perspectives from other cultures. So thank you, all.

Yeah aw-shucks!
Good to see the ol' tri-colour there.
Eta: I never knew nz and the oz flag have only a 1 (or 2?) star difference. And the oz stars have seven points while the nz stars have five points.

yeah, Avy

Anyone know how many national flags have the southern cross on them?

I found this:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/southern-cross/1/1

And more in the article containing the aforementioned
5 national flags:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/southern-cross/1

so, why did NZ opt to use only four stars where the others all use five?

which lists several more!

Flags that fly the Southern Cross

Depicted either as four or five stars, the Southern Cross features on the national flags of New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. It also appears on the Australian flags of Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, and on the flag of Chile’s Magallanes region. The flag of the Southern Common Market, the South American trading bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, also depicts the constellation.

Somewhere, the flag designer needed glasses ?

"Under the Southern Cross" is the motto of the US Army 23rd Infantry Division, nicknamed Americal, for "Americans in New Caledonia" where it was first commissioned in 1942. See their emblem/crest here , along with more information about its history than you want to know, or to be reminded of.

By a curious quirk, the Division's museum is located about two miles down the road from my home.

Good site, interesting, I am going to spend some time there,
thanks.

so, why did NZ opt to use only four stars where the others all use five?

It was an option for consideration at the time but it was decided that the four stars could also be interpreted as compass points.

and our Australian flag was born in 1901, when Federation occurred. The Flag denotes our global position by the use of the Southern Cross. The brightest star in the Southern Hemisphere. The Federation Star (sometimes referred to as the Commonwealth Star) directly under the Union Jack has seven points representing the States and Territories of Australia.

And in the days when ships used the stars for guidance,
that is a really interesting point for a flag. Thanks.
I really like the way the red stands out.

But not the Federal Capital Territory???

And in the days when ships used the stars for guidance

In the Cook Islands where I am from Celestial navigation is alive and well.

Celestial navigation. olly that is poetry!

As, I am sure are the stars in the night sky.
If only......wish.

My to do list now includes "to see the southern cross in the night sky". I wonder why so many flags contain stars? (In the Indian flag also the wheel in the middle is from a sun temple in Konark.) Maybe we all know deep down that's where we come from. I remember some one saying on TV (carl sagan?) "We are all made up of the material of stars".

Stars were very important on 'coats of arms' distinguishing
one knight from another, on his shield, from the earliest
days. Probably a hang-on from then.

Looking through APOD, I came across this interesting story....

'A new constellation has taken hold of the sky, much to the surprise of many sky gazers. The constellation of Ollie the Owl has suddenly started dominating the southern hemisphere'

APOD usually does something "strange" on 1 April, also on
the anniversary of their launching their site.
How well I remember that one.

olly, it looks just like you, Hon!

Yep, those are my claws alright.

Carl Sagan is my hero. My sister was his secretary for a number of years, until her death in 1992. I never got to meet Carl.

I don't know of Carl Sagan, but I believe what he said is true.

I'll bet she learned a bundle of things, just by association.

My sister was his secretary !!!!!!!!!

He was an American astronomer/planetologist (and philosopher) who made great and successful effort to make science popular and even romantic through books and television. He died in (I think) 1996. His primary motivation was a sense of wonder.

Thanks Peter...I did google him after I posted that.
You should have made the effort to meet him, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded.

I was lucky to attend a lecture once. Remarkable.

he was a brilliant, kind man, who is sorely missed. we need him more than ever.

On those rare occasions when I got to the eastern part of the country to visit my sister, Carl always seemed to be off gallivanting somewhere. When you're in Alaska it limits the number of people your can drop in on. From what I've heard of him, he would have been as honored as I would have been.

Unfortunately, as with so many, we miss and lament them
more after they are gone, than appreciate them when they
are with us.

while I agree, I totally appreciated Mr. Sagan while he was living.