status: sick

[eub]

But I found a bunch of cool words in the dictionary.

hobblebush: /Viburnum lantana/, also moosewood, hoarwithy, witch hobble, American wayfaring tree.

kebbuck: a cheese.

kanone: (slang) a hot-shot skiier. [< G.]

kaput: [< G. /kaputt/, < Fr. /\^etre capot/ to take no tricks in a game of piquet.]

kalamein door: a wooden door cladded in galvanized steel, previously used as a fire door. [Trade name of a New York company (still extant), said to be < /calamine/, zinc oxide, so named for the zinc used to galvanize. But Century Dict. has |kalamain| "a compound of tin, antimony, bismuth, lead, and nickel used in the manufacture of a particular form of galvanized iron."] (Our garage has this as a fire door.)

wenchman: a fish of the snapper family, /Pristipomoides aquilonaris/. [< Malay, /ikan lutjan/]

woadwaxen: the plant /Genista tinctoria/, dyer's broom or greenweed, used as a yellow dye which in combination with woad made Kendal green. [< /woodwax/, prob. < /wood/ + /wax/ to grow.]

wind of 120 days: a windy summer period in eastern Iran, and in nearby areas.

windlestraw: a dry stalk of grass.

gulgul: a preparation of crushed shells, applied to the bottom of a ship to protect against the teredo. [< Hindi /galgal/.]

hogmanay: in Scotland, the last day of the year; an oatmeal cake given to children on that day; the cry which they use to solicit it door-to-door. [OF. /aguillaneuf/, used identically, though its connection to /hogmanay/ is unknown.]

linstock: a staff used in gunnery, holding a lit match and pointed at the base to stand in the ground.

blind seed: a disease of rye, due to the fungus /Gloeotinia temulenta/.

biofog: a steam fog caused by animal moisture in cold air.

winterbourne: a stream which flows only in winter.

wire-wove: a type of paper with fine uniform surface, a wove paper.

wove paper: paper made in a mold whose wires are woven into a mesh.

laid paper: paper made in a mold whose wires run parallel.

wire side: the side of the paper that was on the bottom, pressed against the wire mold and acquiring its texture.

felt side: the side of the paper that was on the top, generally smoother.

dandy roll: a metal stamp roll used to apply a watermark to paper.

wiretapper: a swindler who claims to tap the wire transmitting horse-race results in order to place winning bets (at the last minute?), and is willing to place a bet on the mark's behalf.

cassareep: a syrup made by boiling down the juice of bitter cassava, used as an antiseptic and as a flavoring. [< a Carib language.]

withywind: bindweed, especially /Convolvulus arvensis/.

snake fence: a fence made of rails laid horizontally, each section interleaved with the previous and set at an oblique angle to it.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

In "The Sting" they're trying to scam a rich gangster, so they set up a pseudo-wiretapper, whom they claim is in the middle (he claims to work as a retransmitter.) However, they don't bother with actually doing the wiretapping: they instead set up a fake gambling den with the results delayed long enough for them to know what happens in horse races, which are quick enough the delay isn't noticeable, so they demonstrate what appear to be wiretapped predictions of wins and get him to bet a bundle.
It's a good movie, with an amazing soundtrack. There are a couple minor technical flaws with the scam mechamism, but if you just enjoy the interplay of characters, it's a great movie.