I'm back home after a week and a half on the road. The trip was exhausting and exciting - not necessarily in that order.

Master Chef Talula, Lord of the Archive, hosted the First Annual Scrotum of Eunuchs at his rural home. (We all got buttons to commemorate the event.) Guests included Krister, Robby, Riverwind, Uncle Flo, Gem, Plix, Richard Wassersug, and myself (as the only participant with functioning testicles). Even the cats, Rupert and Sam, have been castrated. In addition to the feasting and joking, there was a great deal of serious discussion involved - Paolo joining us by speakerphone for some of it. I am even more convinced that the Mother Ship includes some of the nicest people I have ever known.

Significant work was done toward the first academic paper based on the survey that was conducted on the Archive. A first (very rough) draft of nearly 50 pages of typescript was completed. It should be ready for submission to an academic journal in six or seven weeks. At least one more paper is planned from the statistical data from the survey. It's an incredibly rich data source and all of the participants are greatly appreciated.

After leaving the greater Twin Cities, I went off to destroy Paolo's weekend in “Hell”, Indiana. I got to meet his entire menagerie of kids, the parents of three of them and the (serious) girlfriend of the oldest boy (as well as other, assorted friends and relatives). It was a great “extended family” experience and I was made to feel part of the family. The great turkey dinner with an overflowing house of "family" was an experience I'll never forget.

I came home to boxes of snail-mail, hundreds of emails, and an answering machine full to overflowing. It will take days to dig out from under all of it, but the experience was tremendous. I appreciate all the time that so many were willing to share with me. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Yes, it was quite an enjoyable week, wasn't it (and for you even longer!)? I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

Hmmm...perhaps an "absence" of eunuchs or an "excise" of eunuchs.

my invitation must have been lost in the mail.

Taylor (imported) wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:04 am Hmmm...perhaps an "absence" of eunuchs or an "excise" of eunuchs.

Since "eunuchry" is "the state or condition of being a eunuch," I think it could be used to denote a meeting or group of eunuchs as well: "A meeting of the Eunuchry will be held next Thursday morning." "The king chose only the best of the Eunuchry of the realm to attend him in the royal bedchamber."

Alternatively one could speak of the Anorchiterion, either a meeting place for those without balls, or the group of de-balled ones meeting therein. "Meet me at the Anorchiterion and we will, um, initiate you into our order." "Stories submitted to the Eunuch Archive must meet criteria established by the Anorchiterion."

I guess I had to much of that great wine because I missed the vote.

You are right, it was a great week with

JesusA (imported) wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:20 pm some of the nicest people I have ever

met.

River

Ok that dose it......... if at all possable i am going to do my darndness to get back to the party next year.I know you were thinking of me because i got this great card with all your kind words on it and yes i have meet about nine people from the archive and they are the fineast people i have meet.A few monthes back i had the pleasure of meeting Jesus and River and that is a day i will always remember as we talked for 12 hours stright and could have talked through the night if my wife hadent called me on my cell phone and told me i better get home it was that late.How time can fly when you are amoung such great friends.Any way i hope to be with you next year and until then do take care my friends.

A few more terms for a group of eunuchs, which have been suggested:

A banding of eunuchs (re: elastrator)

A choir or eunuchs (maybe appropriate for castrati)

A cutting of eunuchs (as in a "cutting of hay.")

A nuttin' of eunuchs (as in, for example, "Harry, dear, what you got in that bag?" Answer: "Oh, nuttin', honey.")

Maybe this one is a little inappropriate.

More seriously, this raises the interesting question of whether, in South Asian languages, where eunuchs are a common feature of the social landscape, there are specific words to describe a group of eunuchs, or, more particularly, a group of hijras. As you may know, hijras typically live in groups, and probably can easily be identified as groups of eunuchs, especially since some are symptomatic castrates. I've read both the Nanda and Jaffra books, but can't remember if specific terms for a residential group of eunuchs are mentioned.

Be honest with you, I suspect that a group of eunuchs who had their orchiectomies after puberty, would look essentially the same to an observer as any other group of males their age.