Round 3600 CARPHOLOGY Defs - Vote Now!

[Tim Lodge]

Here we have 13 defs of the word CARPHOLOGY only one of which comes from my dictionary.  Please vote for your two favourites by public reply to this message before the deadline:

        17:00 UTC/GMT on Tuesday 25th November in London
        18:00 CET in France and the Netherlands
        12:00 Midday EST in New York  
         9:00 AM PST in California
        06:00 NZDT on Wednesday in New Zealand

‏I reserve the right to close the round early if all players who have submitted a def have voted.

New players are welcome - just don't look up the word until after you've voted.

--  Tim L

 *** CARPHOLOGY ***

1.  The art of catching fish

 2.  The science and study of snow.

 3.  A branch of the science and art of map making.

 4.  Plucking at the bedclothes by a delirious patient.

 5.  The study of predation on fish in ornamental ponds.

 6.  The study of deposition and stratification of peat.

 7.  The study of the formation and differentiation of seashells.

 8.  The habit of absentmindedly teasing loose fibres of fabric or hair.

 9.  The study of fruit development and seed formation in flowering plants.

10.  A system for cataloging subtle parchment textures in medieval manuscripts.

11.  The ability to read and recognize vinyl recordings solely by visual examination of the grooves.

12.  A means of communication by the cracking of knuckles that was devised by Carthusian monks for use at times when speaking was prohibited.

13.  The study and analysis of ancient writing materials, particularly papyrus, parchment, and early paper, focusing on their composition, preservation, and manufacturing techniques.

[Tim Bourne]

I'm tempted by 9, and shall be cross with myself if that's the true definition, but I can't choose
between 10 and 13, so I'll have to pick them both.
10 and 13, please.

Best wishes,
Tim Bourne.

[Paul Keating]

I came to this list predisposed to discard any definition beginning study of, the only problem with that being that I'm not left with much. But I'm not immune to the temptation to vote for the two similar definitions #10 and #13. But #10, frankly, sounds like an AI. (1) Why subtle? Is there another system that deals with unsubtle textures? (2) Its applicability depends on a value judgement. (3) Surely texture is inseparable from source materials, age, manufacture, etc? Of the two, that leaves me with only #13.

Avoiding further study ofs, and avoiding #4, which hardly needs a word; and #11, which is impossible; I vote for #8 and #13.

On Monday, 24 November 2025 at 11:53:42 UTC+1 Tim Lodge wrote:

 8.  The habit of absentmindedly teasing loose fibres of fabric or hair.

13.  The study and analysis of ancient writing materials, particularly papyrus, parchment, and early paper, focusing on their composition, preservation, and manufacturing techniques.

[Shani Naylor]

11 & 12 made me laugh, so that's a good enough reason to vote for them.

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[Chowie]

10 and 13 for me as well.

~Bending under the weight of His mercies~

​"For we cannot do anything against the truth, 

but only for the truth​." 

II Corinthians 13:8

[Judy Madnick]

I'll vote for these:

 7.  The study of the formation and differentiation of seashells.

and

13.  The study and analysis of ancient writing materials, particularly papyrus, parchment, and early paper, focusing on their composition, preservation, and manufacturing techniques.

Judy Madnick

[France International/Mike Shefler]

I'll go for 8 and 12.

--Mike

[Glenn Thomas Davis]

1 and 12, thank you 

—Glenn

. . .

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

—Plutarch

On Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 10:36 AM 'France International/Mike Shefler' via Dixonary <dixo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I'll go for 8 and 12.

--Mike

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[Daniel B. Widdis]

They are all equally (un)believable.

I'll rule out anything fish (carp) related, map (cartography), parchment (anagram of carph, nice try), and Carthusian (heh). That cuts the list in half.

At a loss for further car(p)(h) relations, I think I can group stratification, shell differentiation, and record grooves loosely with topological features one degree from cartography.

Of the remaining four, the two related habits seem to beat out the two "study of" in believability.

4 and 8 please.

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[Eric Boxer]

I'll vote for 9 and 10.

-- Eric

[nancygoat]

I'll take 10 and its cousin 13.

Nancy