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View Full Version : [Dixonary] Round 2398: YIRN - The Results


Dodi Schultz
May 27th, 2012, 11:20 AM
I am about to tell you just how bizarre this round has been—and that's
ASIDE from the double and triple copies of vote messages that have shown up.

First of all, the bottom line: The high scorer for this round, and our next
dealer, is Dave Cunningham, by virtue of four votes for his def (#1, the
Old Norse "years") plus his zeroing in on the real one for another two
points, a total of six.

"The dealer rules" is our bottom-line mantra, right? And the official rules
call for possibly combining defs if two players submit similar ones, the
decision being up to the dealer. Well, this time the dealer was in a series
of strange positions, with a series of decisions to make, and at one point
I even contemplated killing the word and starting over. I don't think
anything like it has ever happened before.

Here's how it went. You may have decided differently. Or not.

The actual definition of YIRN, verbatim from Merriam-Webster Int'l II: "to
whine; complain; also, to grimace." (There was more to it. It can also be a
noun. But that's the part I chose to use.) Here's the def Chris Carson
submitted: "to snarl or grimace." Here's Tim Lodge's: "to grimace; to pull
a face." And here's Johnny Barrs': "to make grotesque faces." (None of
these folks confessed to actually knowing the word, and I have no doubts
about their honesty.) My decision, since I concluded that Johnny's was
essentially a definition of part of the real definition: to subsume all
three under the real definition (#8). And according to the official rules,
all three players (and the dictionary) get credit for any votes for that def.

Stats for the round, below. Any inaccuracies are the fault of the
bewildered dealer.

(There will be a slight delay in posting of the rolling scores; Mike has
advised me that he'll be offline through Monday.)

—Dodi

================================================== ====

1. [ON] years.
Submitter: Dave Cunningham | Votes: 5 & *8* | 6
Voted for by: Abell, Barrs, Hart, Madnick

2. a tree spirit.
Submitter: Jim Hart | Votes: 1 & 12 | 1
Voted for by: Stevens

3. a civil servant.
Submitter: Bill Bensburg | Votes: 4 & 10 | No score

4. a funeral pyre.
Submitter: Guerri Stevens | Votes: 2 & 9 | 4
Voted for by: Abell, Bensburg, Dixon, Wetzstein

5. to twist or bind in a spiral.
Submitter: Mike Shefler | N/V | 4
Voted for by: Cunningham, Hale, Morgan, Wetzstein

6. to twitch; to tickle or pinch.
Submitter: Judy Madnick | Votes: 1 & 13 | No score

7. to beat or thresh (as, grain).
Submitter: Tony Abell | Votes: 1 & 4 | 2
Voted for by: Morgan, Zorbas

8. to whine; complain; also, to grimace.
Submitter: Dictionary et al. (see text above) | D4
Submitter: Johnny Barrs | Votes: 1 & 12 | 4
Submitter: Chris Carson | N/V | 4
Submitter: Tim Lodge | N/V | 4
Voted for by: Bourne, Crom, Cunningham, Zorbas

9. the angle of twist built into wire rope.
Submitter: Chuck Emery | N/V | 4
Voted for by: Dixon, Graham, Hale, Stevens

10. a flaking yeast that forms on a cow's udder.
Submitter: Steve Graham | Votes: 9 & 11 | 2
Voted for by: Bensburg, Weltz

11. a wooden device for pressing designs in butter.
Submitter: Toni Savage | N/V | 2
Voted for by: Graham, Weltz

12. [Obs.] to entice or persuade by soft, flattering words.
Submitter: Millie Morgan | Votes: 5 & 7 | 4
Voted for by: Barrs, Bourne, Crom, Hart

13. the edge of a glacier, where icebergs calve into the sea.
Submitter: Jim Zorbas | Votes: 7 & *8* | 4
Voted for by: Madnick, Quinton

14. an obsolete measure of time, thought to be roughly four months.
Submitter: Keith Hale | Votes: 5 & 9 | 1
Voted for by: Quinton

15. the point at which the arms of a Y-shaped broadcast antenna diverge.
Submitter: Dick Weltz | Votes: 10 & 11 | No score

NO DEFINITIONS, BUT VOTES:
Tim Bourne, *8* & 12 | 2
Scott Crom, *8* & 12 | 2
Steve Dixon, 4 & 9 | No score
Paul Quinton (WELCOME!), 13 & 14 | No score
Fran Wetzstein, 4 & 5 | No score

Chuck
May 27th, 2012, 11:26 AM
Dodi -

My vote was clearly late, not to mention 2 minutes after the results,
and an unnecessary contribution to your interesting deal.
I have no objection to it being ignored.

Thanks,

Chuck

PAUL QUINTON
May 27th, 2012, 11:44 AM
And I purposely discounted "to grimace" as it is far too close to the verb
"to girn", which means more or less the same as yirn. [?]

John Barrs
May 27th, 2012, 01:02 PM
Um

Dodi, I think you did very well under the circumstances

I thought my def hadn't been included becasue girning (or gyrning) is an
annual competition held somewhere "oop north" where the prize is awarded to
the most grotesque face pulled - I didn't associate it with whine and only
vaguely with grimace - I did think about voting for the appropriate def
but changed my mind.

(Wiki says girning is a geordie dialect word - I have some doubts about
that, while it is found in the North-East I think it is much wider than
that - I first came across it in Gloucestershire some 50 years ago - and
they claimed it as a dialect word too. I have also heard it in Cumberland -
and again also claimed as local dialect)

JohnnyB



On 27 May 2012 17:20, Dodi Schultz <DodiSchultz (AT) nasw (DOT) org> wrote:

> I am about to tell you just how bizarre this round has been—and that's
> ASIDE from the double and triple copies of vote messages that have shown up.
>

Dodi Schultz
May 27th, 2012, 02:55 PM
On 5/27/2012 2:02 PM, John Barrs wrote:

>
> Dodi, I think you did very well under the circumstances.

Thanks, Johnny. You have no idea how much I agonized over that: three
different players coming up with the right def by guesswork! Well, educated
guesswork. I finally decided that killing the word and starting over would
be even more trouble.

> I thought my def hadn't been included because girning (or gyrning) is an
> annual competition held somewhere "oop north" where the prize is awarded
> to the most grotesque face pulled - I didn't associate it with whine and
> only vaguely with grimace - I did think about voting for the appropriate
> def but changed my mind.
>
> (Wiki says girning is a geordie dialect word - I have some doubts about
> that, while it is found in the North-East I think it is much wider than
> that - I first came across it in Gloucestershire some 50 years ago - and
> they claimed it as a dialect word too. I have also heard it in Cumberland
> - and again also claimed as local dialect)

My 1934 Merriam-Webster gives the origin as "Both Scot. & Ir."

P.S. I received no extra copies of the above message from you, nor did I
get more than one copy of the distribution of my final report for the
round. It seems that the site is extremely selective in sending around
these duplicates. And, based on Scott's confirmation of playing by e-mail,
it's got nothing to do with THAT. The mystery may remain forever unsolved.
And hey: extra copies are a lot better than none at all, which has
occasionally occurred in the past.

Hugo Kornelis
May 27th, 2012, 03:08 PM
Dodi, I can only echo what Johnny said: Combining the defs was the
correct decision under the circumstances.

And FWIW, I've been neglecting the extra copies all the time, my delete
key is very patient.

Cheers,
Hugo - not playing much anymore, but still hanging around

Op 27-5-2012 21:55, Dodi Schultz schreef:
> On 5/27/2012 2:02 PM, John Barrs wrote:
>
>>
>> Dodi, I think you did very well under the circumstances.
>
> Thanks, Johnny. You have no idea how much I agonized over that: three
> different players coming up with the right def by guesswork! Well,
> educated guesswork. I finally decided that killing the word and
> starting over would be even more trouble.
>
>> I thought my def hadn't been included because girning (or gyrning) is
>> an annual competition held somewhere "oop north" where the prize is
>> awarded to the most grotesque face pulled - I didn't associate it
>> with whine and only vaguely with grimace - I did think about voting
>> for the appropriate def but changed my mind.
>>
>> (Wiki says girning is a geordie dialect word - I have some doubts
>> about that, while it is found in the North-East I think it is much
>> wider than that - I first came across it in Gloucestershire some 50
>> years ago - and they claimed it as a dialect word too. I have also
>> heard it in Cumberland - and again also claimed as local dialect)
>
> My 1934 Merriam-Webster gives the origin as "Both Scot. & Ir."
>
> P.S. I received no extra copies of the above message from you, nor did
> I get more than one copy of the distribution of my final report for
> the round. It seems that the site is extremely selective in sending
> around these duplicates. And, based on Scott's confirmation of playing
> by e-mail, it's got nothing to do with THAT. The mystery may remain
> forever unsolved. And hey: extra copies are a lot better than none at
> all, which has occasionally occurred in the past.
>
>

Dodi Schultz
May 27th, 2012, 03:54 PM
On 5/27/2012 4:08 PM, Hugo Kornelis wrote:
> Dodi, I can only echo what Johnny said: Combining the defs was the
> correct decision under the circumstances.
>
> And FWIW, I've been neglecting the extra copies all the time, my delete
> key is very patient.
>
> Cheers,
> Hugo - not playing much anymore . . .

Come back! You've been missed!

P.S. Only one copy of this message from you.

Millie Morgan
May 27th, 2012, 05:21 PM
Welcome to Dixonary, Paul Quinton!

Best wishes,
Millie




----- Original Message -----
From: "Dodi Schultz" <DodiSchultz (AT) nasw (DOT) org>
To: <Dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 2:20 AM
Subject: [Dixonary] Round 2398: YIRN - The Results


>I am about to tell you just how bizarre this round has been—and that's
>ASIDE from the double and triple copies of vote messages that have shown
>up.
>
> First of all, the bottom line: The high scorer for this round, and our
> next dealer, is Dave Cunningham, by virtue of four votes for his def (#1,
> the Old Norse "years") plus his zeroing in on the real one for another two
> points, a total of six.
>
> "The dealer rules" is our bottom-line mantra, right? And the official
> rules call for possibly combining defs if two players submit similar ones,
> the decision being up to the dealer. Well, this time the dealer was in a
> series of strange positions, with a series of decisions to make, and at
> one point I even contemplated killing the word and starting over. I don't
> think anything like it has ever happened before.
>
> Here's how it went. You may have decided differently. Or not.
>
> The actual definition of YIRN, verbatim from Merriam-Webster Int'l II: "to
> whine; complain; also, to grimace." (There was more to it. It can also be
> a noun. But that's the part I chose to use.) Here's the def Chris Carson
> submitted: "to snarl or grimace." Here's Tim Lodge's: "to grimace; to pull
> a face." And here's Johnny Barrs': "to make grotesque faces." (None of
> these folks confessed to actually knowing the word, and I have no doubts
> about their honesty.) My decision, since I concluded that Johnny's was
> essentially a definition of part of the real definition: to subsume all
> three under the real definition (#8). And according to the official rules,
> all three players (and the dictionary) get credit for any votes for that
> def.
>
> Stats for the round, below. Any inaccuracies are the fault of the
> bewildered dealer.
>
> (There will be a slight delay in posting of the rolling scores; Mike has
> advised me that he'll be offline through Monday.)
>
> —Dodi
>
> ================================================== ====
>
> 1. [ON] years.
> Submitter: Dave Cunningham | Votes: 5 & *8* | 6
> Voted for by: Abell, Barrs, Hart, Madnick
>
> 2. a tree spirit.
> Submitter: Jim Hart | Votes: 1 & 12 | 1
> Voted for by: Stevens
>
> 3. a civil servant.
> Submitter: Bill Bensburg | Votes: 4 & 10 | No score
>
> 4. a funeral pyre.
> Submitter: Guerri Stevens | Votes: 2 & 9 | 4
> Voted for by: Abell, Bensburg, Dixon, Wetzstein
>
> 5. to twist or bind in a spiral.
> Submitter: Mike Shefler | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Cunningham, Hale, Morgan, Wetzstein
>
> 6. to twitch; to tickle or pinch.
> Submitter: Judy Madnick | Votes: 1 & 13 | No score
>
> 7. to beat or thresh (as, grain).
> Submitter: Tony Abell | Votes: 1 & 4 | 2
> Voted for by: Morgan, Zorbas
>
> 8. to whine; complain; also, to grimace.
> Submitter: Dictionary et al. (see text above) | D4
> Submitter: Johnny Barrs | Votes: 1 & 12 | 4
> Submitter: Chris Carson | N/V | 4
> Submitter: Tim Lodge | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Bourne, Crom, Cunningham, Zorbas
>
> 9. the angle of twist built into wire rope.
> Submitter: Chuck Emery | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Dixon, Graham, Hale, Stevens
>
> 10. a flaking yeast that forms on a cow's udder.
> Submitter: Steve Graham | Votes: 9 & 11 | 2
> Voted for by: Bensburg, Weltz
>
> 11. a wooden device for pressing designs in butter.
> Submitter: Toni Savage | N/V | 2
> Voted for by: Graham, Weltz
>
> 12. [Obs.] to entice or persuade by soft, flattering words.
> Submitter: Millie Morgan | Votes: 5 & 7 | 4
> Voted for by: Barrs, Bourne, Crom, Hart
>
> 13. the edge of a glacier, where icebergs calve into the sea.
> Submitter: Jim Zorbas | Votes: 7 & *8* | 4
> Voted for by: Madnick, Quinton
>
> 14. an obsolete measure of time, thought to be roughly four months.
> Submitter: Keith Hale | Votes: 5 & 9 | 1
> Voted for by: Quinton
>
> 15. the point at which the arms of a Y-shaped broadcast antenna diverge.
> Submitter: Dick Weltz | Votes: 10 & 11 | No score
>
> NO DEFINITIONS, BUT VOTES:
> Tim Bourne, *8* & 12 | 2
> Scott Crom, *8* & 12 | 2
> Steve Dixon, 4 & 9 | No score
> Paul Quinton (WELCOME!), 13 & 14 | No score
> Fran Wetzstein, 4 & 5 | No score
>

Chris Carson
May 27th, 2012, 07:44 PM
Johnny seems to have hit the explanation. I co-opted the AHD's def for girn for my submission. AHD's entomology traces the origin back to the Middle English _girnen_, a variant of _grinnen_ from which we get grin. The other sense is 'to complain'. There was no mention of yirn so it seems to be one of those odd coincidences.

Chris

Sent from my iPhone

On May 27, 2012, at 10:20 AM, Dodi Schultz <DodiSchultz (AT) nasw (DOT) org> wrote:

> I am about to tell you just how bizarre this round has been—and that's ASIDE from the double and triple copies of vote messages that have shown up.
>
> First of all, the bottom line: The high scorer for this round, and our next dealer, is Dave Cunningham, by virtue of four votes for his def (#1, the Old Norse "years") plus his zeroing in on the real one for another two points, a total of six.
>
> "The dealer rules" is our bottom-line mantra, right? And the official rules call for possibly combining defs if two players submit similar ones, the decision being up to the dealer. Well, this time the dealer was in a series of strange positions, with a series of decisions to make, and at one point I even contemplated killing the word and starting over. I don't think anything like it has ever happened before.
>
> Here's how it went. You may have decided differently. Or not.
>
> The actual definition of YIRN, verbatim from Merriam-Webster Int'l II: "to whine; complain; also, to grimace." (There was more to it. It can also be a noun. But that's the part I chose to use.) Here's the def Chris Carson submitted: "to snarl or grimace." Here's Tim Lodge's: "to grimace; to pull a face." And here's Johnny Barrs': "to make grotesque faces." (None of these folks confessed to actually knowing the word, and I have no doubts about their honesty.) My decision, since I concluded that Johnny's was essentially a definition of part of the real definition: to subsume all three under the real definition (#8). And according to the official rules, all three players (and the dictionary) get credit for any votes for that def.
>
> Stats for the round, below. Any inaccuracies are the fault of the bewildered dealer.
>
> (There will be a slight delay in posting of the rolling scores; Mike has advised me that he'll be offline through Monday.)
>
> —Dodi
>
> ================================================== ====
>
> 1. [ON] years.
> Submitter: Dave Cunningham | Votes: 5 & *8* | 6
> Voted for by: Abell, Barrs, Hart, Madnick
>
> 2. a tree spirit.
> Submitter: Jim Hart | Votes: 1 & 12 | 1
> Voted for by: Stevens
>
> 3. a civil servant.
> Submitter: Bill Bensburg | Votes: 4 & 10 | No score
>
> 4. a funeral pyre.
> Submitter: Guerri Stevens | Votes: 2 & 9 | 4
> Voted for by: Abell, Bensburg, Dixon, Wetzstein
>
> 5. to twist or bind in a spiral.
> Submitter: Mike Shefler | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Cunningham, Hale, Morgan, Wetzstein
>
> 6. to twitch; to tickle or pinch.
> Submitter: Judy Madnick | Votes: 1 & 13 | No score
>
> 7. to beat or thresh (as, grain).
> Submitter: Tony Abell | Votes: 1 & 4 | 2
> Voted for by: Morgan, Zorbas
>
> 8. to whine; complain; also, to grimace.
> Submitter: Dictionary et al. (see text above) | D4
> Submitter: Johnny Barrs | Votes: 1 & 12 | 4
> Submitter: Chris Carson | N/V | 4
> Submitter: Tim Lodge | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Bourne, Crom, Cunningham, Zorbas
>
> 9. the angle of twist built into wire rope.
> Submitter: Chuck Emery | N/V | 4
> Voted for by: Dixon, Graham, Hale, Stevens
>
> 10. a flaking yeast that forms on a cow's udder.
> Submitter: Steve Graham | Votes: 9 & 11 | 2
> Voted for by: Bensburg, Weltz
>
> 11. a wooden device for pressing designs in butter.
> Submitter: Toni Savage | N/V | 2
> Voted for by: Graham, Weltz
>
> 12. [Obs.] to entice or persuade by soft, flattering words.
> Submitter: Millie Morgan | Votes: 5 & 7 | 4
> Voted for by: Barrs, Bourne, Crom, Hart
>
> 13. the edge of a glacier, where icebergs calve into the sea.
> Submitter: Jim Zorbas | Votes: 7 & *8* | 4
> Voted for by: Madnick, Quinton
>
> 14. an obsolete measure of time, thought to be roughly four months.
> Submitter: Keith Hale | Votes: 5 & 9 | 1
> Voted for by: Quinton
>
> 15. the point at which the arms of a Y-shaped broadcast antenna diverge.
> Submitter: Dick Weltz | Votes: 10 & 11 | No score
>
> NO DEFINITIONS, BUT VOTES:
> Tim Bourne, *8* & 12 | 2
> Scott Crom, *8* & 12 | 2
> Steve Dixon, 4 & 9 | No score
> Paul Quinton (WELCOME!), 13 & 14 | No score
> Fran Wetzstein, 4 & 5 | No score
>
>

Jim Hart
May 27th, 2012, 10:47 PM
Most unusual to combine so many but of course the dealer is right.

And incidentally, let's see if you get this message more than once.

Jim

Tim B
May 27th, 2012, 11:59 PM
,
> And here's Johnny Barrs': "to make grotesque faces."

If that bit had been in the list, I'd probably have DQ'd, since like Johnny I'm familiar with the
word girn.

BTW, my participation will be erratic for the next few weeks, due to two holidays close together,
both with doubtful internet connections.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne.

Dodi Schultz
May 28th, 2012, 12:04 AM
On 5/27/2012 11:47 PM, Jim Hart wrote:
>
> Most unusual to combine so many but of course the dealer is right.
>
> And incidentally, let's see if you get this message more than once.


I did, because it was (apparently) sent to Dixonary with a cc: to me.
That's what the header indicated. I can't imagine why Google would do that.
It LOOKED as if YOU had done it.