Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2004-04-01 07:50:00
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Skazlorls
I have, with John M. Ford's gracious permission, managed to insert the following sentence into Lyflode "The sky was black with skazlorls" and then a little later "Did you see the skazlorls?"

When that's in print, the word will be in print in two places, and we can start to agitate to have it accepted as an official Scrabble word. Mike says it makes him feel like a member of the Greater Tlon Public Works and Civic Advancement Association...

For this to make any sense, you need to have read "Scrabble With God" in John M. Ford's collection from NESFA Press From the End of the Twentieth Century.

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[info]polyfrog
2004-04-01 06:02 am UTC (link)
I should have known that Scrabble With God was one of his. I remember it fondly from $digest, but I wasn't really so good at remembering author's names back then Still not, truth be told....

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[info]jazzfish
2004-04-01 07:10 am UTC (link)
I find it amusing even without having read the story. But then, I'm also inordinately amused by the phrase "The gostak distims the doshes."

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[info]supergee
2004-04-01 07:40 am UTC (link)
I hadn't known that it originally came from The Meaning of Meaning. Thank you.

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Skazlorls!
[info]kate_nepveu
2004-04-01 09:18 am UTC (link)
They could be the new Devera. Vlad reflects on his travels back East, where the Furnace was once blotted out by skazlorls. Skazlorls possessed by escaped demons, to be freed by saints of the Bastard. Kate and Cecelia write of the odd creature named "skazlorl" seen in a zoo on the Continent. A skazlorl comes to Earth on a wizarding exchange program and bonds with Carl & Tom's pets, who miss Peach. (Papersky, I know you don't read book excerpts, but for those who do, the first bit of Wizards at War is up.) The Baudelaire orphans find clues about V.F.D. in a skazlorl's abode. Peter Crossman thwarts evildoers attempting to use the flesh of a virgin skazlorl in a rite to raise the Devil. Hagrid brings a skazlorl to Care of Magical Creatures class.

Skazlorls!

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]rysmiel
2004-04-01 01:36 pm UTC (link)
The problem with all of that, cool though it is, is the number of additional assumptions one makes about skazlorls. To me part of what's so delicious about them is that one knows nothing at all about them save that the sky can be black with them. For them to be definitively identified as some manner of flying creature would to me take some of the fun out of it.

That said, [info]papersky and I both had an "Oooh! Skazlorls!" reaction to the trailer for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and have been tending to refer to it as "the skazlorl film" since, because for some reason that title will not stay in my head.

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]kate_nepveu
2004-04-01 02:01 pm UTC (link)
Hmmmph. Grumble. Pfui.

 . . .

Vlad recounts his travels back East, where the Furnace was once blotted out by skazlorls. A saint of the Bastard thinks, while chasing a demon-possessed creature, that it's a good thing god-sight works in the dark, since she'd certainly lose the demon under this sky black with skazlorls. Cecelia writes to say she's not sure yet if the fabric Kate sent for the shawl is suitable, as those skazlorls have made the light all wrong. A wizard on Ordeal turns and makes a stand against the Lone Power beneath a sky black with skazlorls. The Baudelaire orphans find the phrase "black with skazlorls" scribbled on the wall of a ruined home and wonder if it's a clue to the V.F.D. mystery. Peter Crossman whispers, "skazlorl," and is admitted into the Templar vaults. Hermione tells Harry that according to an ancient book in the Restricted Section, the key to defeating Voldemort can be found only beneath a sky simulatenously black with skazlorls and red with barbscel.

 . . .

Better?

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]rysmiel
2004-04-05 07:32 am UTC (link)
Better ?

Oh yes. That's lovely.

[ Damn it, there's the perfect spot for a mention of the sky being black with skazlorls in V.10, too. ]

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]kate_nepveu
2004-04-05 07:41 am UTC (link)
Good, because I spent far too much time on that. =>

(And V.10? Go for it! Assuming Mr. Ford agrees, of course.)

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]rysmiel
2004-04-06 08:40 am UTC (link)
Good, because I spent far too much time on that.

If it's any consolation, the image of you going "Pfui" has exactly the right incongruity with my more normal Wolfean associations for the word to be completely impossible to unstick from my head.

(And V.10? Go for it! Assuming Mr. Ford agrees, of course.)

I should not feel comfortable asking as an unpublished writer, though.

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Re: Skazlorls!
[info]redbird
2004-04-17 12:33 pm UTC (link)
You could, however, ask as a friend of Mike and Elise.

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[info]goljerp
2004-04-01 10:03 am UTC (link)
I was going to say that this reminded me of "Calamity" Jane Austin, but then I went to the top-ranked Google page for that and realized why :-)

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[info]redbird
2004-04-01 12:26 pm UTC (link)
Skazlorls....would it be cheating to convince someone to name a fossil bird or pterodactyl that?

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[info]radiotelescope
2004-04-01 01:33 pm UTC (link)
I love all of this.

Pteranodon skazlorl... if I ever get to name a
dinosaur, I'll let you know.

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