h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oxford Dictionaries hit the headlines this week when they announced their ‘Word of the Year’ for 2015, and, well, it wasn’t even a word. It was the ‘tears of joy’ emoji character - the first time they’ve selected something you can’t even render on a typewriter.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/17/oxford-dictionary-emoji-word-of-the-year-crying-face

I fully expect a backlash from this in future years - it was clearly a publicity stunt

Anyway, while we’re on the subject of new words in the dictionary, can you identify the correct meanings of these new words which entered the OED for the first time recently? Answers tomorrow.

***

1. athame

a) a knife used in pagan rituals
b) a psychological condition
c) an Amazonian rodent
d) at home

2. belayer

a) a statistical anomaly
b) an Asian motorcycle
c) someone who holds the rope for a mountaineer
d) to construct in layers, e.g. when making a tiramisu

3. tellinid

a) a burrowing mollusc
b) a camera used in astronomy
c) a fish bone
d) a TV addict

4. water blue

a) a lifeguard
b) a pale shade of blue
c) a seaweed
d) a soluble dye

***

I know the first two
Not at al sure of 3
4 sounds like .......

I am not going to spoil it for others looking forward to the answers

I'd make some guesses, but I know better. There is a panel/game programme on NPR where they play a similar game. Guests are challenged to pick the real definition for an arcane word. One of the panel of three comedians has the true definition and the two others are prompted to fake a definition. All three will elaborate on the word origin further obfuscating which is the real definition.

As a I play along at home, I'm right, at best, maybe a bit more than a third of the time (so about as often as random choice).

That show ran for many years on UK TV - it was called 'Call My Bluff'.

I only chose newly added words, but it's true that sometimes they're just newly discovered words in old documents.

Call My Bluff wish they would bring it back even reruns

1. athame - a) a knife used in pagan rituals. (As in 'Pass me the athame. I think we're now on page 57 of 'Crowley's Most Ridiculous Retrograde Rituals', and you'd better remember the chant this time: it's Evoe, not Evelyn.')
2. belayer - c) someone who holds the rope for a mountaineer? As in nautical, 'to belay'? One could imagine Johnny Depp as a belayer, but not a trustworthy one.
3. tellinid: a) a burrowing mollusc, I'm guessing. As in, 'The scuba divers observed many colourful tellinids.'
4. water blue: now, that's just silly. An Oxford Blue is a rower, but I'm guessing this is b) a pale shade of blue? 'Water blue, promise to love you forevermore...'

Ok. I'll give it a go.

Athame
Icy's Scottish ancestry coming out? At home is too simple.
I believe I'm fairly clued up on my wildlife, so an Amazonian rodent is out.
And I think a psychological condition is out, so...

A knife used in pagan rituals

Belayer
It seems that it should be someone who holds the rope for a mountaineer, but that is too easy for one of Icy's quizzes.
As is d) to construct in layers, e.g. when making a tiramisu.
I doubt it is an Asian motorcycle, although I know they do have anglicised names for a fair amount of their vehicles.

so knowing how Icy's mind often works, I'll go for:
A statistical anomaly

Tellinid
I know a telling is a bivalve (my grandfather used to make victorian ladies from shells we collected on Ramsgate beaches).
I also doubt it is a fish bone. Think the words teleost.
And a TV addict is too poor a pun.

So lets go for a camera used in astronomy

Water blue.
What the?
I can't see it as a soluble blue dye, or a pale shade of blue. And definitely not a lifeguard so
A seaweed?

Probably way off.

MMF

I'd sat that belayer would refer to putting layers on layer cakes.

Tellinid sounds like a burrowing mollusc.

water blue should be a dye of some kind, obviously in a particular color. I don't understand why there would be two options for this rather than one.

[Yes, I keep jumping into these quiz threads. I have no sense, do I? ]

I'm for at home, ropeholder, fishbone, seaweed. Only confident about (2) but confidence doesn't mean I'm right.

The good part of these is the selection of red herrings

Communist anchovies?

Better than Greek caviar.

To be honest, you can have Greek Yogurt as well .

I love Greek yoghurt in Greece...made with sheep's milk...best stuff in the universe, especially with Greek honey...

Now, Bulgarian feta is best.

Wasn't he in Star Wars? They had a speech problem, constantly calling him Bubba Feta?



MMF

His sister made gowns. She was Taf Feta.

I'll go for the knife, the rope-holder, the mollusc and the dye.

Sounds like Colonel Mustard with the candlesticks in the library.

Found this thread on the FP, hope you don't mind if I join you? (read a few of your quizzes already during the last weeks)

my guesses:
1. athame
a) a knife used in pagan rituals

2. belayer
a) a statistical anomaly

3. tellinid
a) a burrowing mollusc

4. water blue
d) a soluble dye

In Germany they so far only revealed the 'youth word' of the year, which is Smombie. I never heard it before but that's obviously what they call a person who walks down the street only looking at their phone (smartphone zombie).

Last year's Austrian word of the year was 'situationselastisch' (situation elastic), a creation by one of our politicians. Meaning something can be adapted to the situation (for instance rules).