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My Dictionary of Historical Slang has only one poly-

Polyphemus = the penis because Polyphemus was one-eyed.

But poll- there are several words and phrases beginning with poll:

poll off: to become drunk: low from circa 1860. obsolete.

poll parrot: a talkative gossipy woman: low, mostly London from circa 1870.

poll-thief: A thief, an informer. cant from circa 1890.

poll up: to court, to live in concubinage with: low from circa 1870. Compare with polled up: living in unmarried cohabitation; in company with a woman. 1859. Also molled up.

pollaky! an exclamation of protest against too urgent enquiries. Circa 1870-80 From a series of advertisements in The Times agony column by an Australian detective resident at Paddington Green - one Pollaky.

poller - a pistol circa 1670-1750.

pollrumptious - Unruly or restless; foolishly confident. Circa 1860.

do polly - to pick oakum in jail.

Polly Flinder. Cockney rhyming slang for a window.

polone, palone. A girl or woman. Low theatrical. Often used as an adjective meaning female e.g. Strill Polone - a female pianist. [Og's note: by the 1950s 'polone' meant a homosexual friend. It was used in some BBC comedy programmes such as Round The Horne and not censored because those doing the censoring didn't know its modern meaning!]

drunk as a polony - Exceedingly drunk. Lower class London up to 1909. Presumed derived from the French expression soûl comme un Polonais - (drunk as a Pole).
 
That is quite interesting, Og. All those polls and not one entry to do with voting. Even though poll is a bit ahead of where I was with the polys, I had to see what my dictionary said;

poll(1) - noun 1. HEAD 2.a. the prominent hairy top or back of the head b. NAPE 3. the broad or flat end of a hammer or similar tool 4.a. (1) the casting or recording of the votes of a body of persons (2) a counting of the votes cast b. the place where votes are cast or recorded - usu. used in pl. (at the ~s) c. the period of time during which votes may be cast at an election d. the total number of votes recorded (a heavy ~) 5.a. a questioning or canvassing of persons selected at random or by quota to obtain information or opinions to be analyzed b. a record of the information so obtained

poll(2) - vt 1.a. to cut off or cut short the hair or wool of: CROP, SHEAR b. to cut off or cut short (as wool) 2.a. to cut off or back the top of (as a tree), specif: POLLARD b. to cut off or cut short the horns of (cattle) 3.a. to receive and record the votes of b. to request each member to declare his vote individually 4. to recieve (as votes) in an election 5. to question or canvass in a poll
 
For a thread that is too good to go moribund, even temporarily:

apocrisiary: one who knows or can locate answers to questions posed by other individuals.
Example: Weird Harold is an excellent apocrisiary.
 
Yes, Edward, Harold has come to my rescue several times in this thread, and I thank him for that and appreciate his skills, too.

This one could use an illustration;

polyptych - noun an arrangement of four or more panels usu. hinged and folding together
 
EdwardMidweston said:
For a thread that is too good to go moribund, even temporarily:

apocrisiary: one who knows or can locate answers to questions posed by other individuals.
Example: Weird Harold is an excellent apocrisiary.
Click to expand...
I am not, neither. :p

An apocrisiarius, the Latinized form of apokrisiarios (Greek: ἀποκρισιάριος), sometimes Anglicized as apocrisiary, was a high diplomatic representative during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. The corresponding (purist) Latin term was responsalis ("he who answers").[1] The title was used by Byzantine ambassadors, as well as by the representatives of bishops to the secular authorities.[2] The closest modern equivalent is a papal nuncio; the title apocrisiarius is also still employed by the Anglican Church.
Click to expand...

That or similar is the only definition I can find online, and I am not an ambassador or plenipotentiary. The literal meaning is "one who answers" but the context is almost purely religious or diplomatic.
 
No worries, Edward. I wasn't planning on giving a pop quiz anytime soon. Any word, anytime, is the rule of the day.

Thanks, Harold, for that wonderful explanation. Has anyone ever used this one in their erotica story, I wonder...

polypnea - noun rapid or panting respiration
 
AllardChardon said:
...

Poor Clare - noun a nun of an order founded early in the 13th century at Assisi by St. Clare under the direction of St. Francis
Click to expand...

Going back a few pages...

I had delivered today a statuette of Santa Chiara (Saint Clare) that I bought on eBay for the minimum and only bid. It is of light brown resin about 8 inches high and unlike the kitsch statuettes on sale at St Winifride's Well it is a realistic portrayal of a lady in a nun's costume.

St Clare is apparently the patron saint of television. Perhaps I should put her on top of mine?
 
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oggbashan said:
Going back a few pages...

I had delivered today a statuette of Santa Chiara (Saint Clare) that I bought on eBay for the minimum and only bid. It is of light brown resin about 8 inches high and unlike the kitsch statuettes on sale at St Winifride's Well it is a realistic portrayal of a lady in a nun's costume.

St Clare is apparently the patron saint of television. Perhaps I should put her on top of mine?
Click to expand...

I thought English Law required that a penguin be atop any telly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgoRDYZQMrQ
 
I like this explanation for why St Clare is the patron saint of television:

Why did the pope choose this thirteenth century Franciscan foundress who was dedicated to evangelical poverty and would not have owned a television?

The reason is that Saint Clare, way back in the 1200s, was the first to experience "televised" Masses.

When Saint Clare was too ill to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Spirit would project the Holy Mass on the wall of her room so that she could watch it from her bed.

This just goes to show that our Lord takes care of his faithful brides.

source: http://cantuar.blogspot.co.uk/2011/...arshall+(Canterbury+Tales+by+Taylor+Marshall)
 
Poor Clare ended up being the Patron Saint of Television because she wasn't around to object. That is like our President Andrew Jackson ending up on the popular $20 dollar bill, a man who opposed and ended the National Bank. People, including Popes, I suppose, have no respect for the dead. Why did an electronic device, like the television, need a Patron Saint anyway? Is there a patron saint of automobiles, refrigerators, or ovens?

Expanding on an earlier post of Og's;

Polyphemus - noun a Cyclops blinded by Odysseus in order to escape from his cave
 
AllardChardon said:
Why did an electronic device, like the television, need a Patron Saint anyway? Is there a patron saint of automobiles, refrigerators, or ovens?
Click to expand...

I've never heard of a patron saint of cars (St. Yugo, anyone?) or kitchen appliances, but, according to Wikipedia, Isidore of Seville has been canonized as patron saint of the Internet, computer users, and computer technicians. He never told the world whether he preferred Macs or PCs, since he died twelve centuries before even ENIAC was built.
 
EdwardMidweston said:
I've never heard of a patron saint of cars (St. Yugo, anyone?) or kitchen appliances, but, according to Wikipedia, Isidore of Seville has been canonized as patron saint of the Internet, computer users, and computer technicians. He never told the world whether he preferred Macs or PCs, since he died twelve centuries before even ENIAC was built.
Click to expand...

St.Christopher is a widely popular saint, especially revered by athletes, mariners, ferrymen, and travelers. He is revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers: against lightning; against pestilence; archers; bachelors; boatmen; bookbinders; epilepsy; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; gardeners; for a holy death; mariners; market carriers; motorists and drivers; sailors; storms; surfers; toothache; mountaineering; and transportation workers. From Wikipedia entry on St Christopher.

Many European cars have medallions of St Christopher on the dashboard, or on the key ring.
 
Kitchen Saints

St. Elizabeth- is patron of bakers because she gave food, especially bread to the poor. After the death of her husband she devoted the rest of her life to helping the sick, orphaned and poor. Feast day November 17.

St. Pascual - is patron of cooks, especially New Mexican cooking, the kitchen and domestic animals ( and finding lost animals). He was a lay Franciscan who happily worked in the kitchen.

St. Michael - patron of grocery stores. Saint Michael, one of the Archangels is patron of groceries because he is patron of the police and they protect grocery stores, which used to be robbed quite often.

St. Marta - patron of cooks, she was the sister of Mary Magdalena. She happily cooked for Christ. She is also patron of entertaining, Inn Keepers, and probably Bed and Breakfasts.

St. Lorenzo- is patron of boiled foods ( because of his martyrdom), pasta cooks, candy makers, diets, and graciousness.

St. Urban - patron of wines.

St. Margarita - patron of a good Margarita ( a tequila drink made with lime and salt) because of her goodness and repulsing the devil in the "old stories" this drink was named in her honor.
 
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Most interesting, Og. I knew about St. Christopher, of course, but the rest were brand new to me. St. Michael, Guardian of the Grocery Store sounds like a great New Age comedic novel, Tom Robbins-style.

polyphagia - noun excessive appetite or eating
 
Code: 
User Name          Posts 
AllardChardon      1,235 
oggbashan            380 
Tio_Narratore        267 
trysail              243 
Handley_Page         227 
Xelebes              165 
CarlusMagnus          76 
Weird Harold          69 
ishtat                54
 
Thanks, Trysail, for the update on the top posters. I do enjoy this thread and all the posters that contribute, often or seldom.

I have encountered this next one in the National Geographic on global warming issues;

polynya - noun an area of open water in sea ice
 
EdwardMidweston said:
And that raises the question: is Jeanne d'Arc the patron saint of charcoal broiled foods?
Click to expand...

Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc) is a modern (1920) saint. Because she is modern, she has attracted fewer attributes than saints created much earlier. She is the patron of French Soldiers, and of France.
 
AllardChardon said:
Thanks, Trysail, for the update on the top posters. I do enjoy this thread and all the posters that contribute, often or seldom.

I have encountered this next one in the National Geographic on global warming issues;

polynya - noun an area of open water in sea ice
Click to expand...

One of a very few words one meets in English derived from Russian.

I must go and meet my babuschka over a samovar (or perhaps a vodka) at the bistro. Perhaps we will discuss polynyas there.
 
I have to include paraprosdokians, if only because I love the way they get people leaning inone direction and then suddenly whip them off into unexpected directions.

paraprosdokian: a figure of speech that uses an unexpected ending to a series or phrase, causing the reader or listened to reinterpret the first elementin the context of the final element.
 
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