David Foster Wallace Wiki - User contributions [en]

Pages 198-219

2014-02-20T16:49:45Z

Cbrinker: /* Page 208 */ added "magiscule"

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=November 6th, YDAU - ETA Weight Room=

==Page 198==

[[Subsidized Time|Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment]]

'''Kornspan''' 
German: corn chip ["Korn" means corn or grain, "Span" means chip or flake, but "Kornspan" makes no sense in German]

'''isometrics''' 
While this is just another name for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_exercise isometric exercise], it's not clear how Pemulis would be making his face stronger. ...Perhaps he is just making faces as a result of his trying to eavesdrop and in response to the other shouts in the weight room.

==Page 199==

[[Image:Bacon.jpg|thumb|caption|Bacon's ''Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X''|right|150px]]

'''like one of Bacon's popes''' 
Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was an Irish artist. His portrait of Pope Innocent X can be seen to the right.

==Page 200==

'''rosin''' 
another spelling of "resin," this resin being used to provide a better grip in weightlifting

'''mesomorphic''' 
having a muscular, husky body type

=Facts About Addiction and Tattoos=

==Page 200==

'''D.S.S.''' 
Department of Social Services

'''papular''' 
having papules, i.e., inflamed, raised elevations on the skin not filled with pus

'''''tecato gusano''''' 
a worm from Tecate, Mexico, a small city in Baja California, bordering the U.S.

==Page 201==

'''Flents''' 
a brand name of [http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/flents.html earplugs]

'''subsonic''' 
of a speed less than that of sound

'''arpeggio''' 
in music, a chord played in parts (i.e., one note at a time) rather than together

'''''pace''''' 
a very loose translation from Latin would be "with due reference to"

==Page 202==

'''Human Immuno-Virus''' 
HIV, i.e., the virus that causes AIDS

'''datum''' 
a piece of information; usually used in its plural, i.e., data

'''nexus''' 
a means of connection

'''glans''' 
the end of the penis

'''D.E.C.''' 
Digital Equipment Corporation, now a part of [http://www.dec.com/ Hewlitt-Packard]

==Endnote 70==

'''N.R.A.''' 
National Rifle Association

'''including 12-Step fellowships themselves''' 
See Chuck Palahniuk's novel ''Fight Club''.

==Page 202 (cont'd)==

''''Texas Catheter'''' 
This is "a condom-like device with a plug where the condom's reservoir tip would be, and an adhesive at the base. This device allows for urinary catheterization without the insertion of a true catheter" (Wikipedia).

==Page 203==

'''colloquia''' 
Plural for "colloquium," these are akin to academic conferences, albeit slightly less formal.

'''50 proof''' 
i.e., 25 percent alcohol

'''unalloyed''' 
pure

'''O.C.D.''' 
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

'''epiphanic''' 
adjective form of "epiphany," a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization (Oxford Dictionary of English).

'''insipid''' 
without any interesting qualities

==Page 204==

'''Billerica''' 
a town in Massachusetts, about 25 miles northwest of Boston

'''''vig''''' 
short for "vigorish"

'''argot''' 
slang

==Page 205==

'''pancreatitis''' 
inflammation of the pancreas

==Page 206==

'''Scrofulous''' 
Morally degenerate; corrupt.

'''Sauvignon''' 
one of two types of wine made from two related sorts of grapes

'''Purple-Hearted''' 
A soldier receives a Purple Heart when s/he is wounded

'''Store 24''' 
A New England chain of convenience stores that often include both self-service gasoline and a deli, the website of which is [http://www.tedeschifoodshops.com/our-history.php here].

==Page 207==

'''200 kilos''' 
over 440 pounds

'''Scooter Puppies''' 
This is likely a term that DFW coined, although Spin magazine used it in a blurb in 1996. I suspect that they were inspired by DFW. ?? Spin does provide one of the reviews in the front of the 2006 edition.

'''Gothic script''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rudolf_Koch_gebrochene_Schriften.png Click here] to see examples.

'''undulating''' 
moving in a wavelike motion

'''necrotic''' 
dead

==Page 208==

'''magiscule''' 
A misspelling of "majuscule," meaning a script in which all letters are the same hight

'''hyperemic''' 
erect

'''palmate''' 
having four or more leaves emanating from a single point

'''Watertown''' 
a suburb of Boston, ten miles to the west

'''half-m.-long''' 
a half-meter, or nearly 20 inches

'''gonfalonish''' 
resembling a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonfalon gonfalon]

'''mucronate''' 
having a projecting point

'''St. Vitus's dance''' 
a nickname for the disease [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorea_%28disease%29 chorea]

'''''HOW DO YOU LIK YOUR BLUEYED BOY NOW MR DETH!?''''' 
Misspelling and slight misquotation of the last line of the poem "Buffalo Bill's/defunct," by e.e. cummings: "how do you like your blueeyed boy/Mister Death". The full poem appears here: [http://www.madeinwyoming.net/profiles/extras/BBPoemCummings.pdf]

'''gestalt''' 
Gestalt is "a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts" (''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'').

==Page 209==

'''crocodilic''' 
White Flag reference to senior AA members, who sit under a picture of crocodiles sunbathing on a riverbank

'''St. Columbkill''' 
a place name here, named for an actual Irish saint. There is a real Roman Catholic parish in Brighton called St. Columbkille.

'''St. Elizabeth's Hospital''' 
St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is a real hospital in Brighton. Its Web site is [http://www.caritasstelizabeths.org/ here].

'''cantankerous''' 
disagreeable, argumentative

'''Rita Hayworth''' 
The era of [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000028/ Rita Hayworth] would be the '30s and '40s.

'''''SUBIKBAY'62USN4-07''''' 
SUBIKBAY is probably [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subic_Bay Subic Bay]. USN would be U.S. Navy.

'''''SEMPER FI''''' 
Short for ''Semper fidelis'' ("always faithful"), motto of the U.S. Marine Corps

'''autolyzed''' 
having undergone autolysis, i.e., the breakdown of tissue over time

'''BLTN''' 
Better Late Than Never

==Page 210==

'''phylum''' 
A taxonomical term just below Kingdom (in humans, Animal), the phylum of mammals is ''Chordata'', which means they have a spinal cord.

'''foment''' 
To foment is to instigate or stir up but the proper word here would be "ferment"

'''M.D.C.''' 
Massachusetts Department of Corrections

'''Talwin''' 
brand name of pentazocine, a narcotic painkiller

==Page 211==

'''cribbage''' 
a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribbage card game]

'''canted''' 
set at an oblique angle

=The Incredibly Potent DMZ=

==Page 211==

'''film-noir''' 
According to Wikipedia, ''film noir'' (French for "dark film") is "a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s."

'''psychosensual''' 
Whereas ''psychosensual'' would have a more sexual connotation...

'''psychosensory''' 
...''psychosensory'' would be more nearly precise, as it would apply to sensory stimulation, not necessarily sexual.

==Page 212==

'''CIA-era military experiments''' 
probably a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MK-ULTRA MKULTRA]

'''hydrangea''' 
several species of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrangea flowering plants]

'''gistless''' 
having no essential heart of the matter

'''Decoct''' 
as opposed to "concoct"

'''spectrometer''' 
an optical instrument used to conduct spectroscopic analysis on matter to determine its constituent elements

'''Ram Das''' 
This is probably a reference to Baba Ram Dass (born 1931 as Richard Alpert), an American-Jewish spiritual leader, author of ''Be Here Now'', and large influence on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Townshend Pete Townshend].

==Page 213==

'''frustum''' 
A frustum is a truncated cone or pyramid, or specifically "the part of a conical solid left after cutting off a top portion with a plane parallel to the base" (''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'').

'''Lamb's Breath cannabis''' 
a type of potent marijuana

'''20-g.''' 
a 20-gram amount (about .7 ounces)

'''Sierpinski gasket''' 
Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński (1882-1969) was a Polish mathematician and one of the innovators of set theory. The Sierpinski gasket is a fractal, also called the Sierpinski triangle. See picture at right. [[Image:Sierpinski_Triangle.jpg|caption|Sierpinski gasket|right|150px]]

'''mullioned''' 
having separate panes, when used for a window

'''philatelic forceps, a loupe''' 
Philatelic refers to stamp collecting. A loupe is used primarily by a jeweler to view flaws in diamonds.

'''Bunsen burner''' 
a laboratory [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunsen_burner burner] invented in part by Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (1811-1899), a German chemist.

'''titration''' 
the process of determining the strength of a compound

'''WATS''' 
Wide Area Telecommunications Service: "bulk-rate telephone service that enables a subscriber to make an unlimited number of long-distance telephone calls within a given service area for a fixed monthly charge or to receive calls from given areas with no charge to the caller" (''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'')

'''cross-key''' 
to type in at the same time as search terms on a computer

==Page 214==

'''monograph''' 
a scholarly study on a particular subject, usually published as a book

'''Leavenworth''' 
the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Disciplinary_Barracks U.S. Disciplinary Barracks] at Leavenworth, Kan.

'''Ethel Merman''' 
an American [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0581062/ actress], primarily known for her roles in Broadway musicals [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Merman wikipedia]

'''AWOL''' 
Absent Without Leave, a military term

==Page 215==

'''Motrinish''' 
I.e., like Motrin, the original brand name of ibuprofen

'''fools-rush-in''' 
A reference to ''An Essay on Man'', a lengthy poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), a British poet of great renown:
No Place so Sacred from such Fops is barr'd, Nor is Paul's Church more safe than Paul's Church-yard:
Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead; '''For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

'''Zen''' 
referring to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen Buddhism] ultimately, although here it applies more to perfection or transcendence

'''Nuck''' 
a pejorative term for a French-Canadian, presumably shortened from "Canuck"

'''dumbshow''' 
Here it means sign language or mime, but the term has a longer history in theater, where it refers to a preview of a part of a play done without lines.

==Page 216==

'''Tenuate Dospan''' 
Tenuate is a brand name of diethylcathinone, an appetite suppressant and mild amphetamine; Dospan is used for the time-release pills.

'''otiose''' 
idle, superfluous or useless

[[Image:Quaker.jpg|right]]

'''"... the way W. Penn in his Quaker Oats hat in like the 16th century must have felt trading a few trinkets to babe-in-the-woods Natives for New Jersey..."''' 
William Penn (1644-1718) was the British-born founder of the colony (and later state) of Pennsylvania. For the hat, see right. Penn obviously lived later than the 16th century and he had no involvement in the founding of New Jersey, which Pemulis seems to be conflating with the purchase of Manhattan by the Dutch for about $24 worth of jewelry.

'''opportunity-cost''' 
In economics, this is what one loses in income, pleasure, etc., from engaging in another activity rather than the one that would have paid said income, pleasure, etc. Wallace (or Pemulis) is using the term incorrectly.

'''rotator cuff''' 
the group of muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder

'''stolid''' 
unemotional or impassive

'''''contre-pied''''' 
Literally French for "against-foot," this term is used to apply to a direction taken (mistakenly) by dogs in pursuit of an animal who has taken a different direction.

'''purgatorial''' 
referring neither to heaven nor hell

'''128-256 Alphabetville''' 
Because of his injury, Schacht was ranked in the lower 128 seeds in the tournament just after his hurt his knee. Alphabetville could refer to a ranking convention. A common 'Equal Point Score' guideline for when two or several players have the same Ranking point score decides the position according to the player with most tournament participation within four years, and if these conditions should apply with both or several players then the Ranking position is arranged alphabetically after the surname.

'''11/5''' 
November 5th, [[Subsidized Time|Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment]]

'''arachnodactylic''' 
having fingers like spiders

==Page 217==

'''Order but not the same Family''' 
Like "phylum," these are also taxonomical terms. Human beings are ''Homo sapiens'', with ''Homo'' being the genus and ''sapiens'' being the species. Dogs and cats are in the same order: ''Carnivora'' (meat-eaters); but they are in different families: Dogs are in ''Canidae'' and cats in ''Felidae''. However, the hyena, which resembles a dog, is actually in the ''Felidae'' family. Q.e.d.

'''Acton''' 
town in Massachusetts about 25 miles west-northwest of Boston

'''the Xerox Inc. of North American tennis academies''' 
This demonstrates that Port Washington Academy is big, but Xerox is far from the biggest corporation in the U.S.

'''Port Washington''' 
It's made clear here that this is the town on Long Island. This is the "East Egg" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby,'' in Nassau County on the north shore of Long Island, very close to New York City.

'''vivisected''' 
cut apart while still alive

'''the weekend right before Thanksgiving week and the Whataburger Invitational''' 
Hal and Permulis set a date for a 'window of opportunity' to take DMZ. Compare Page 16, where Hal says that the only other emergency room he has ever been in was exactly one year back from November, Year of Glad.

==Page 218==

'''twins Siamese''' 
The Vaught twin-sister tennis players are actually conjoined at the head.

'''Akron''' 
a city in Ohio and rubber capital of the world

'''Charleston''' 
the dance, not the city

'''bell-lap''' 
a term from track, this is the final lap of a race

'''12/12's Boards''' 
probably SATs or something like them

'''meninges''' 
the tissues that encase the brain

'''glade''' 
a clearing in a forest

==Endnote 76==

'''Attention Deficit Disorder''' 
old terminology for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. Hal's objective symptoms describe the Inattentive Type.

'''port or starboard''' 
left or right

'''bell curve''' 
the curve formed by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution normal distribution] of IQs -- a concept fraught with problems of political correctness, racism or racialism, and different concepts of what "intelligence" is

'''glabrous''' 
having a surface devoid of hair

'''RAM''' 
Random Access Memory

==Page 218 (cont'd)==

'''halcyon''' 
prosperous, happy

[[Subsidized Time|Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken]]

==Page 219==

==Endnote 77==

[[Subsidized Time|Y.P.W.]]

'''H. Bosch's triptych ''The Garden of Earthly Delights''''' 
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) was a Dutch painter. You can view the aforementioned triptych [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights here].

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B

2014-02-20T16:31:51Z

Cbrinker: added a third entry for Bonk, Mildred L.

'''B., Louise''' 
348; White Flag Group member and attempted suicide

'''Bacon''' 
199; "Bacon's popes"

'''Bain, Kevin''' 
800; Marlon's older brother, at Inner Infant group Hal happens upon; parents killed in traffic helicopter accident, 803; "short thick person with a dark swart face" 805;

'''Bain, Marlon''' 
46; ETA student in Orin's dream; Orin's affair with his sister, 47; 246; ETA student when Orin attended, 284; 296; had O.C.D., 1039; excessive sweating, fn.234/1039; in''Death in Scarsdale'' , fn.234/1039; never leaves home, which is one room, "practically lived" with the Incandenzas in Weston AZ, fn.234/1043; letter to Steeply, fn.269/1047; mother "decapitated by a plummeting rotorblade" 1051; in Himself's films, 687; dislikes meeting people outside his home and office, 663

'''Balbalis''' 
726; A.F.R. member making rounds of halfway/rehab houses; haven't located veiled performer as of 11/19/YDAU, 845; going to place large mirror on highway to commandeer Québec team's bus, 846;

'''B&E''' 
435; breaking & entering;

'''Baraka''' 
186; poem

'''Barbicide''' 
95

'''Bash, Jennie''' 
114; ETA student; 551

'''Baum, Crosby''' 
229; "academic" at Notkin's party

'''Bay Bank''' 
130; "off Sherman Street" in Boston

'''Bazin''' 
491; 745

'''Beak, Peter''' 
97; 12-year-old student at ETA; sleeping with eyes open, 110; 460; rooms w/Whale and Virgilio, 757;

'''Beatles''' 
32; "I Want To Tell You"; 243; Dr. Robert, 927; ''See also'' [[M#McCartney|McCartney, Paul]]

'''Belbin, Jennifer''' 
207; Ennet House resident w/teardrop tatoos; 363; 596;

'''Benny, Jack''' 
828; American entertainer

'''Bernini''' 
235; "Ecstacy of St. Theresa"

'''Better Late Than Never''' 
209; AA group at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, 2 blocks from Ennet House; 534; "St. E's" 540;

'''Bewitched''' 
834; 60s TV sitcom

'''Big Book''' 
360; AA's book

'''Big Buddy''' 
66; "big-brotherly type support and counsel" given by upperclassmen at ETA to the younger students; "Each E.T.A. player in 18-and-Unders has four to six 14-and-Unders kids he's supposed to keep his more experienced wing over" 98

'''Big Red Soda Water''' 
222; Joelle's favorite soft drink from childhood

'''Bill''' 
3; Dean of Athletics at Univ. of AZ, "interviewing" Hal

'''Bing [Crosby]''' 
545; slang for cocaine; "the 'Express Elevator to AA'"; 712; fn.27/994

'''Bioavailable Five''' 
582; rock band

'''Birch, Herbert G.''' 
fn.24/987; plays the dentist in Himself's''Fun with Teeth''; plays son in Himself's''Low-Temperature Physics'', fn.24/991;

'''bit''' 
204; metro Boston for a jail sentence

'''blackouts''' 
464

'''Blanchard's Liquors''' 
546; "off Allston's Union Square"

'''Bloom, Professor H.''' 
fn.366/1077; "turgid studies of artistic''influenza'' "

'''Blott, Kent''' 
97; 10-year-old student at ETA; father "a cutting-edge E.N.T. oncologist" 111; confessing anxiety re masturbation to Lyle, 390; "humanities-type kid" 668;

'''Bly, Robert''' 
806; American poet and author of''Fire In The Belly''; "The fire in the belly" fn.321/1066;

'''Bodine, Jethro''' 
1007; "Ass't Mailroom Technician for the N.O. Saints"; 1014;

'''Bogart's''' 
20; headshop in Porter Square, Cambridge, MA

'''Bollettieri, Nick''' 
79; in Sarasota, tennis camp

'''Bonk, Mildred L.''' 
38; beautiful 8th grader; 179; 207; the name Bruce Green has tattooed on his right triceps

'''Bonk-Green, Harriet''' 
39; daughter of Mildred Bonk and Bruce Green; 180

'''Boone, Bridget C.''' 
49-50; ETA student; introduced Hal to marijuana, 67; 633;

'''Boston AA''' 
343; Betty Crocker Cake Mix trope, 467;

'''Boston Univerity''' 
284; Terriers, 286;

'''Bouncety-Bounce, Mr.''' 
35; host of Interlace Spontaneous-Dissemm. children's program; "-brand bow-biters" 111; 520; "appears in his old cloth-and-safety-pin diaper and paunch and rubber infant-head mask" 648; 878; Gately loves the show, 922;

'''Bow&Arrow''' 
129; gay bar in Harvard Squar[e], Boston

'''bradyphrenic''' 
314.1-3; lost or impaired ability to make decisions or act independently, abulic.

'''Brady-theory''' 
232;

'''Brando, Marlon''' 
157; American film actor who ruined two generations "with their own bodies and everyday objects" 157;

'''Brandt, Otto''' 
32; janitor at ETA; "Submoronic-to-moronic" 873; appeared in''Zero-Gravity Tea Ceremony'', 874;

'''Bread & Circus''' 
478; organic, chi-chi grocery in Inman Square, Cambridge MA; shopping carts with calculators attached, 623;

'''Brecht''' 
944; compared to Himself

'''Bresson''' 
185; Parisan-French filmmaker compared to Himself; 944

'''Brewster's Angle''' 
10;

'''bricklayer''' 
138;''See also'''''Glynn''', Doony

'''Brighton Fence & Wire''' 
607; where Glynn Doony worked;

'''Briggs electrode''' 
470; implanted in brain to prevent seizures

'''Brigham and Women's City of Boston Hospital''' 
144

'''Brighton Best Savings Bank (B.B.S.B.)''' 
542; 708;

'''''Bröckengespenstphänom''''' 
88; (fn.38) "Goethe's well-known"; 641

'''Brookline Young People's Mtg. (B.Y.P.)''' 
555; AA group "on Beacon neary the Newton line"; 736

'''Broughton''' 
185; ??

'''Broullîme, M.''' 
127; member of Les Assassins; Marathe's superior, 420; 722; lectures on Trans-3-methyl-2 hexenoic acid, a material present in "the sweat of grave mental illness" 733-34;

'''Brutalism''' 
185;

'''B.S.''' 
140; Before Subsidization; last year B.S. Was 2001

'''B.S.S.''' 
Québecois Sepératiste Left term for Office of Unspecified Services; ''See'' [[U#Unspecified-Services|Unspecified Services]]

'''Bud, Uncle''' 
221; Joelle's; 239

'''Bulat''', Doshka (?) 
447; Gately's missing Estonian father

'''Bunyan, J.''' 
322; author of''Pilgrim's Progress From This World To That Which Is To Come''

'''Buñuel''' 
185; French ?? filmmaker

'''Burns, Major''' 
642; M*A*S*H character

'''Burroughs, William''' 
21; American writer of the "Beat" generation; 212

'''Burton''' 
695;''melancholia'' ;

'''Bush, G. (George)''' 
63; American president, 1988-92; 230; 473;

'''Byrne, F. X. ("Follow That Ambulance")''' 
512; "rapacious personal-injury J.D."

'''Byzantine Erotica''' 
Hal's interest in, 29; "a triptych of high-quality" 35; 950

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