Splay [S. Worthen

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[Poll #1138453]

This poll brought to you courtesy of the M6.

P.S. This is proving to be an exemplary instance of how easy it is to design bad polls! I completely forgot about the most obvious instance of it, the verb.

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There are 43 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

I think of splayed fingers.

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ditto

(and horses)

Edited Date: 2008-02-14 04:19 pm (UTC)

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I should have specified "noun" not verb or adjective. Even so, I have left off some minor options, I see. These include "A planetary arrangement identified by lack of symmetry and irregularly spaced planets and groups of planets as described by Marc Edmund Jones; symbolic of individualism and nonconformity." and "Discolored visible streaks in the part, typically caused by moisture in the resin."

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Me too.

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My response didn't go in the right place, so I'll explain the 'me too' - I think of splayed fingers!

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I think of a splayed person. Arms and legs akimbo.

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IAWTC.

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Me too.

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I was so caught up in the weirdness of the noun, the verb completely escaped my consciousness.

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same here.

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(f) That it's a verb.

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Darn it. I need a new poll.

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Even if you were to tell me I must think of it as a noun, there's an internal set of lights and buzzers going Predicate, Will Robinson! PREDICATE!

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That would have been such entertaining poll option.

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The only term for it I know (besides the above two responses) is in astrology. Natal (birth) charts are 'splay' when there are planets all over the place, such as in mine (as opposed to see-saw charts, for instance, where there are two groups of planets that are separated from each other).

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Now I know it's also a medical calculation having to do with kidneys.

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I hope the kidneys remain healthy even if they are splayed.

M6? I know it's a big highway, not sure where it goes. And it has splays?

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The police posted a sign advising use of its splays, so indeed it must.

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I wanted an "other" choice... to me it is primarily a verb.

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It is to everyone else too. I managed to completely overlook the most obvious version of the word (verb). Polls are hard.

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None of the above. I think of splayed fingers.

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I didn't pause to think about the word before looking at the answers, so I really just picked #1 because it seemed like the use that made the most sense to me. #2 makes sense too though ... and maybe even #3.

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Well, as I didn't even know it could be used as a noun, I'm going for the "funny looking word. I *do* like it as a verb, though. Splayed thighs, especially.

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indeed, your poll fails me, as the only meaning of the word I was even aware existed is the verb. (My horse performed a good demopsntration of the position of the verb speaks of with his front legs last night - at a speed rapid and forceful enough that his hoof bruised the side of my foot a bit! I was standing well off to one side of him when something fell off the stable door in front of him. So he jumped suddenly on the spot and came down with his legs splayed way out to the sides. Rather glad he didn't manage to do what he did once... when he came down with considerable force with one of his hooves out to the side and right on top of my foot :-( )

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A just-in-time Pico! How obliging of him to demonstrate without injuring you.

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None of the above. I associate the word with "splayed toes" and see an image of a kid's feet on a beach with sand rising between the toes as the child sinks slowly into the wet sand.

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Much as it is evidence of a poorly-designed poll, I never would have found out what body parts each of you defaults to in association with splay if I had remembered it, and I'm finding it the most interesting part of getting feedback on it!

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I was thinking of plastiscene :O)

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In what context?

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In the way that when it spreads out it often cracks and seperates but still remains in one piece/lump....

Does that make sense?

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Yes, it does. Thank you.

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Yes, I'd be in with the verb usage as well, I'm afraid :)

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me, too on the verb

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I can't think of any uses unrelated to the verb, and don't understand the ones about roads at all.

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Neither does anyone else who has answered this poll, which delights me. Even if I wrote the poll incorrectly for answering the question I posted, the lack of people who recognize its use with regards to roads entirely justifies me posting the poll, as that's how I encountered it on the road on the M6 on Sunday - a sign encouraging irregularly-sized vehicles to pull over into the splay. Which implies that one knows what a splay is, which I didn't.

Edited Date: 2008-02-14 06:17 pm (UTC)

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It seems that the signage was pretty much a failure, then.. and did it refer to "irregularly-sized vehicles"? I'm not sure what they would be either, unless they're just particularly wide or tall ones.

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The word was probably "irregular", but I'm not certain at this point. I don't think it anything so usual as merely "oversized" or "tall" or "slow".

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Another vote for the verb.

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this!

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I get an image of a small rat or vole flopped on the ground with its front and hind legs stretched out on either side. I think this is also because the word looks a little like "splacknuck,"(spelling?) a Brobdignagian small vermin creature - about the size of a human.

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I've never thought of it as a noun, really.

And I've read too much fanfic using the verb. So I'm not saying what it makes me thing of. *g*

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none of the above-- the verb. The first image that comes to me is someone who has just tripped on a banana peel and has arms and legs in all directions on the floor

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None of those-- I think of the verb.

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