Folks,
Here are an even dozen possible definitions of ANCON for your viewing pleasure. Please choose two you like for any reason, such as their length being the same as the sum of the digits of your birthday, and announce your choices by a public Reply to this message.
If, on seeing this list, you realize you know what ANCON means, please tell me privately. As a favor and to avoid confusion, I'd appreciate it if anyone who suggested privately earlier that they might know it would confirm that suspicion,
A suggestion: please vote by replying directly to this message, not indirectly to someone else's vote message, even though both go to the group. Replying to someone else's votes puts both sets of votes in your reply. While dealers can figure out which is which, and generally do, reply-replies have historically led to tabulation errors among the 1000+ votes cast during the course of a year. Please help your dealer by not voting by Reply to someone else's vote. I'll try to help you similarly when it's your turn.
The definitions, some with a bit of reformatting for consistency, follow in character count order. (Their visual length in your email display font may differ.)
1. A citadel or fortress.
2. A narrow interior passage linking private rooms.
3. The lead-in to a cadenza or coda in a musical work.
4. [Heraldic] A horse grooming tool, denoting service.
5. A bracket or elbow used as an architectural support.
6. A snake exhibition for public education and awareness.
7. Female short sleeved dress showing the elbows. [Gk. ankon, elbow]
8. A designated threshold requiring immediate cessation of a failing course of action.
9. 1 [Hist.] An ancient measure of length derived from the forearm; a cubit. 2 [Obs.] A corbel.
10. A small fishing boat, easily handled by one man and commonly used for catching squid in Mediterranean waters.
11. A micro‑alignment offset applied during sensor calibration to correct sub‑millimeter drift in imaging arrays.
12. A type of quartz that can be cut to mimic real diamonds and sold at a much lower cost; often called "poor man's diamond."
Votes will be due in just under 48 hours, at 4 pm Western European Time (also GMT, UCT, and UK time) on Tuesday, February 24. Results may not go out immediately, depending on that day's schedule in Casablanca, but I hope to get them out during the subsequent four hours. If you haven't seen them, feel free to vote even if the deadline has passed.
And we wish our friends in the northeast U.S. a safe passage through the expected snowstorms. This was a good time to get away!
Efrem