Sunday, February 19, 2012

What? A Wordsmith Competition on Earwigoagin!

I'm not a wordsmith sort of guy, never have been (crossword puzzles are not my thing). But I have noticed that wordsmithing attracts lots of attention in the bloggosphere. When blogger 'Sweet Bluesette'; put up a post titled Syzygy (a straight line between two celestial bodies), the excitement among certain bloggers in the discovery of this word was almost palpable; the post garnered 17 comments.

So here is Earwigoagin's wordsmith competition: In conversation with Stuart Walker, he mentioned that, in the early 1950's, International 14 sailors considered the following format as lucky when naming International 14's (he thinks this may originally be a Portuguese tradition):

 Seven Letters with Four Vowels

Here are some of the International 14 boat names from that period (1950's) that follow this convention;
  • Joyeuse - Charlamagne's sword
  • Bacalao - Codfish
  • Rio Nina - (which probably isn't a proper Spanish usage - but who cares)
  • Barilea- (I think this may have Scottish origins - not sure)
So have at it, boat names real, or imagined using the format, Seven Letters with Four Vowels. No real prize, just a tip of the hat to the authors wit, wordly knowledge, and intellectual prowess in wordsmithing.

69 comments:

Tillerman said...

Hideous

Tillerman said...

Boobies

Tillerman said...

Wearier

Tillerman said...

Bootees

O Docker said...

What impresses me the most is that Tillerman was able to correctly read six of those new Captcha words in seven minutes.

O Docker said...

Actually, Captcha just came up with a good one:

Elopygu

I think that's Greek for getting married without your parents' permission.

O Docker said...

And if you read one of Tillerman's entries backwards, you get:

Seaboob

Baydog said...

O Docker, I think elopygu is Turkish.

We had an E-scow named Emotion

O Docker said...

Beastie

O Docker said...

We Baaad

George A said...

Ooh La La (my glass Euro)

O Docker said...

For that annoying dude who always wins:

I Blu By U

For that annoying dude who always loses.

O Wo Is Me

Tillerman said...

Bazooka

Baydog said...

So Nauti

Tillerman said...

Iceboat

my2fish said...

O'Banana

my2fish said...

Ukulele

my2fish said...

from one of the WV:

Ualimes

(I thought I already posted this... sorry if it double-posts.)

isleofwightlen said...

******* ... Sorry Rod , mine is probably too rude for your blog !

my2fish said...

Yoko Ono

Baydog said...

Ravioli

George A said...

my2fish: What the hell is an "Ualimes"? I'm inherently lazy and apparently so is google. Neither of us has a clue...

my2fish said...

George - I have no clue.

It was right there in the Captcha word verification, and met the criteria for # of letters and vowels, so I took it as a sign.

Feel free to make up whatever you would like for it.

Under Armour Limes? Tighter than your average lime.

Tillerman said...

Ciriole

Tillerman said...

Unusual

Tillerman said...

Nauseas

George A said...

Say, this Captcha word verification business could lead to an entirely new language. I wonder if "Ualimes" is a noun or a verb??? I'll bet Eskimos have 30 or 40 different words for "Ualimes". (I have confess I'm getting a rather bit tired of proving I'm not as clever as your average robot.)

Tillerman: maybe you'd name a laser "Nauseas" but if Tweezerman ever does that to a Moth Boat I'll drive over to his house and give him a dope slap!

Baydog said...

My Inuit

my2fish said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tillerman said...

Queasier

Yes. I know it has 5 vowels but I like it.

Tillerman said...

Aerious.

Yes, I know it has 5 vowels, but it has all of them - and in the right order - so I like it.

O Docker said...

Let us not forget the Japanese word for disharmony:

Karaoke



Or the Roman God of Texting:

Vacuous

Tillerman said...

This is all very...

Fatuous

O Docker said...

Well, no one said if we had to be genuine or serious, amorous or furious.

That's just where it leads when you begin the beguine.

Tillerman said...

Some of these various words are curious; some of them are devious or just plain noxious. This whole competition is becoming tedious and is making me anxious to know who won.

my2fish said...

Avocado

O Docker said...

I thought there were to be no winners or losers in this game.

It's more like cruising than racing - what matters more than the destination is the journey.

Tillerman said...

I woke up at 3 in the morning last night and thought...

Bilious.

Then I went back to sleep.

Anonymous said...

Rod,
The use of 7 letters in a yacht's name is (was) an accepted custom for a long time ("America" for example). I'm such a Nerd about older yachts that I went through the Lloyds register of the mid 1930s to see how true that was. My own IOD "Flicker" had 7 letters (which was what got me started on this meaningless investigation). Sure enough, a great preponderance of yachts in the Register had 7 letter names.
A funny story about "Flicker" (which was a well known boat around the Bay in the middle of the last century) was when a Gibson Island lady who was accepting registrations for a race and flew into a rage. "These sailors will just name their boats ANYTHING!", she cried. Wondering what the fuss was about, upon closer examination it turned out that FLICKER was written with the L a little too close to the I.....

tillerman said...

Alabama
Arizona
Indiana

O Docker said...

Baggywrinkle

I know, it has 12 letters and 8 consonants, but I like it.

Romain BERARD said...

Earwigo

Tillerman said...

Romaine

O Docker said...

Arugula

O Docker said...

Que Pasa

isleofwightlen said...

O O SEVEN

Doc Häagen-Dazs said...

We eventually named our 1969 Int-14, Wet & Wild. But for some time it was Tres Veces, which I thought was a place in Mexico meaning three reasons for being there: wind, water and sand.

Tillerman said...

Cabarete

I know it's 4 vowels and 4 consonants but I like it.

isleofwightlen said...

LEONARA

Tillerman said...

Aileron

O Docker said...

Alerion

Tillerman said...

Meatier

isleofwightlen said...

SCOOBIE

isleofwightlen said...

Foresee

Baydog said...

Minutia

Baydog said...

Minutia

Tillerman said...

Manatee
Sunapee

my2fish said...

Referee
Beefily
Automat

Tillerman said...

Goalies
Teatime

Baydog said...

Thoreau

Boat Insurance Quotes said...

Oceanic

Tillerman said...

Can we stop this competition now and just declare O Docker the winner?

O Docker said...

O Docker can't be the winner.

It has four consonants.

Tillerman said...

My mistake.

Of course, GEORGE A is the winner.

George A said...

Ooh! (modest blush)--Does this involve a prize or is this one of those lofty " competing is it's own reward" kinda things?

Tweezerman's blogspot is teaching me latin by asking me to practice typing these words: " vedurti inguidi". Sounds impressive. Maybe I'll incorporate them into my family motto if I can figure out what they mean. Hmmm, a new contest?

Bill Parkes said...

I crewed on a Kirby V I14 named Stanley Kowalsky in the early 1970s.

Karl said...

Equalite
Fatuous
Somalia

Karl said...

Seriema

Karl said...

Oh I guess someone else said fatuous. My mistake.

I think Avocado should have won, because Alerion is already a boat name, and therefore plagiarized.