Conference thebay::joyoflex

A fanion is one of those little flags that surveyors use.

Scrabble game?

Perry

    Cheers.
    
    No it's a word puzzle ...
    
    You had to put the same three letter word in front of the following
    words to make three new words :
    
    FARE  ION  TAIL
    
    
    
    
    				Jamie.
    

	What's a fantail?

	Dan

    
    Fantail:  a tail shaped like a fan(!); a variety of domestic pigeon
    with tail feathers spread out like a fan; a feature having parts
    radiating from a centre (architecture)
    
    Mat. (and his Chambers English Dictionary)
    *:o)
    

The primary usage of Fantail that I have seen is the aft-most portion of a 
ship - the semicircular (or fan shaped) deck in the stern.

The only Fanion that I remember was Fritz (or was it Franz?) Fanion, a Marxist 
sociologist of the sixties.  I think he wrote "The Wretched of the Earth".

Larry

        I think fantail is the most southerly part of the main deck of
        a ship sailing north. It used to be the place you didn't want
        to pull duty because that's where the garbage was disposed of.

        Now the modern navy ties it all up in plastic bags and saves it
        till port when it can be left to be hauled away.

        Sailors????

   re .6
    This has nothing to do with fanions either but its kinda nautical
    too
    
    I once visited HMS VICTORY in Portsmouth UK (Nelsons ship at
    Trafalgar).The guide said that in days of yore before
    a battle all the good furniture (dining tables, chairs, sideboards
    etc) was put in a rowing boat and towed behind during the battle.
    It seems that there was a gentlemans agreement between combattants
    not to shoot up each others Chippendale.
    
    Since then, whenever I see a painting of a sea battle I look 
    for the furniture but I have never seen any

    You're all wrong, its another word for "SIT".

   RE: 644.5

>The only Fanion that I remember was Fritz (or was it Franz?) Fanion, a Marxist
>sociologist of the sixties.  I think he wrote "The Wretched of the Earth".

    Franz Fanon is the name and _The Wretched of the Earth_ is the book.

    You get partial credit :^)

    Aaron

    re: .8
    
    Careful -- that's rude over here. Funny, but rude.
    
    Richard.

    RE: .10
    
    Where's here?

    Apologies to the rest of Europe -- I thought 'here' would be clear from
    'there'. I meant the U.K. 
    
    Richard.

    If you're looking for a good dictionary, which I expect contains the
    word 'fanion' amongst many others:  the latest edition of the Oxford
    English Dictionary has just been published.  It has 20 volumes, and
    costs �1,500 (that's pounds, not dollars).
    
    Jeff.

    
    
    Back on the nautical theme.....
    
    
    "Fantail", as a name for the flat bit at the back, is, I think,
    strictly American.  Maybe that's because they already had a use
    for the word "POOP".
    
    Honest !
    
    Ian

    There is a type of guppy called a "fantail."  In this variety the
    males have large, showy, colorful tail fins.

    No, no!
    
    A fanion is an enthusiast with a surplus or deficiency of electrons.
    
    ;-)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Re: 16
    
    If you've ever seen some thoroughly charged fans, you would know
    they have a deficiency of electrons.
    
    Fanion is a contraction for fan-anion.

	What's Balderdash?

	Dan

    Fanion is a word of ancient French, derived from "fano", a piece of
    fabric.
    The same root appears in German "Fahne", flag.
    
    Salut,   roger 

    
    
    re: .-2 "What's Balderdash?"
    
    	It's one partner in the legal firm of Poppycock and Balderdash
    	(not to be confused with Dewey, Cheatham and Howe).
    
    Ta-Dum.
    
    -- Glinch

    The "Balderdash" to which I was refering is a game available here in
    the States.  To play the game, a player (or team) reads a word, the
    other players write "suitable" definitions on slips of paper.  Then all
    these definitions, along with the real definition, are read in random
    order, and the players "vote" on what they think is the correct
    definition.  If you guess the right definition, you get a point, if
    someone guesses your definition, you get a point.  If you started this
    whole fiasco off by reading the word and no one guesses it, you get a
    point and if you write the correct definition, you get a point, making
    this game rather pointless, but fun.
    
    Larry

    Also known as "Fictionary", and you don't have to buy a kit to play
    it under either name.
    				-John Bishop

    
    We have a long-running TV programme in the UK based on the same idea,
    called "Call My Bluff".
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

    
    In college, we called it "Bullsh*t".
    
    -- Glinch

    Another variation of the same theme is called "Out of Context".
    Instead of words there are quotes which are attributed to various
    people.  Pick some fake ones and the real one.  Same basic scoring,
    1 for two 2 for the wrong....
    The game somehow seems funnier with a few drinks...
    
    Steve