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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
fike, choose one:
a) [Irish] a small measure of liquid, approximately equivalent to the Scottish dram
b) a river fish trap
c) a long, thin spear with a barbed tip used for fishing (heavier and thicker versions became the standard for whaling)
d) to produce income, derived from the word ficus (It.), fike was a noun to describe the annual income from a single fig tree
e) [M. Flemish] a ring-shaped harness piece that connects the bit to the reins, usually of oak, sometimes ornamentally carved
f) a unit of volume equal to one-half kilderkin
g) [Scot.] to move restlessly, bustle, fidget: fig. to be fussy or restless
h) a deep-water fish; denizen of the Indian Ocean
i) a tool used in the process of cleaning horses' feet in preparation for reshoeing
j) a staff with a hook at one end, used to steal articles from hedges, open windows, etc. [obs.]
k) to hammer a camming device into a suitable fissure (mountaineering term)
l) /feek/ a gaff for spearing fish from the riverbank [regional dial. fr. Northumberland]
m) an artificial tree, esp. the type found in hotels and waiting rooms [from ficus, the genus of a typical potted natural tree]
n) a Scandinavian word for knife, unique for showing evidence of extreme consonantal drift
---
there you have it, courtesy of stalwart regulars dxb, TEd, themilum, Faldage, Zed, musick, Owlbow, wofa, and Wordwind; plus entries from a couple of old friends, maverick, and Sparteye as well as the usual weak entry from the hogmasterŪ, and one more from someone who wouldn't ask us to use it.
and per usual, I remain unapologetic for all attempts to standardize entries (or not).
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
I'll vote for " L" only because it *seems so much different from 'c'. 
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389 |
I,'i.
many very good ones, very difficult to guess.
thanks tsuwm
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Well! Three candidates (or is it six?) for the Golden Armil Award.
I don't even see the difference between C and L. A and F are close, but I can tell the difference anyway. D and M both rely on the fig tree. I've got to vote for C and L for GAA. Sorry to the perpetrators of A and F, but y'all just got edged out.
Meanwhilst, my attualŪ vote for the best fake (or correct answer (as if (I gots to do double duty for Max here, being how his hip boots were in the cobblers for repair))) has got to be I.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 95
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 95 |
I'm going with H. I like semicolons.
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
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veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
Wait! Sorry, it is now too late for AniamL, Faldage, owlbow, and Musick, but for the rest of you I ask....
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR VOTE. I KNOW WHAT A FIKE IS!
It is (b) a river fish trap. and I submitted it.
Four years ago a lady in Leeds, Alabama reported to the Bham News that she had found an old indian fike in a creek on her property. The News published a photo of the fike and asked for help in confirming the carved rock as a indian fike.
I went to the site and saw that the so called "fike" was actually a peculiar series of eroded joints in the jutting Chickamauga Limestone and reported this back to the paper.
Before then I didn't even know what a "fike" was, but now I do and it is (b).
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1 |
I'll invoke my own armillary principle and say that anything represented more than once has evoked the same loose association in more than one of us, and is therefore made-up and to be discarded. Thus
-- a, f: a small shot-glass by any other name
-- b, c, h, l: something fishy about all those
-- c, j sounds like "pike." Maybe that's where all the fish came from too, come to think of it. [aside: anybody heard from shona lately?]
-- d, m - I never did care all that much for figgy pudding
-- k - that's just "spike." See c,j above.
-- n is just too silly. Besides, everyone knows that "consonantal drift" is just another word for plate tectonics.
Doesn't leave too much to choose from, does it...I'll take E over g and i; it has the right ring to it.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
b...Because it's simple and to the point. But I wonder how this fish trap might be different from, say, a seine. I hope this is really a river word and not a, uh, just another Milolateral trap.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Anyone care to share a J with me?
TEd
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
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