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November 10th, YDAU - Eschaton Fallout

Page 508

Page 509

Antron
a real company

lividity
brightness of color

escutcheon
a shield-shaped emblem

premie
born prematurely

sprig
small stem bearing leaves or flowers

cumuli
plural of "cumulus," a type of cloud

fluffy cumuli arrayed patternlessly against an overenhanced blue sky, incredibly disorienting ... makes him feel high-altitude and disoriented and sometimes plummeting
this pattern appears on the cover of the book

D.D.S.
Doctor of Dental Surgery

jaunty
cheerful and self confident

insouciant
blithely unconcerned

Endnote 209

Pepperdine
a private university near Malibu, California

Brisbane
the capital of the Australian state of Queensland

kibbitzing
looking on and offering unwelcome advice

Page 510

Jamaica Way six-laner
a parkway in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. It's an undivided road with four lanes of traffic, not six.

Mannington
a flooring company

pro bono
without pay

Page 511

Dr. Dolores Rusk
Allusion to Vladamir Nabokov's Lolita, a novel about the long-term molestation of a 12-year-old girl named Dolores (also known as Dolly, Lolita, Lola, Lo and L). Phiely's 'disappearance into the Humboldt County hill country' on the previous page is probably a reference to the book's narrator, Humbert Humbert (though Humboldt County is a real place)

distaff
the female branch or side of the family, the 'family' in this case being ETA

moppetish
resembling a small, sweet and endearing child

Phielyism
this is in reference to coach R. Bill ('Touchy') Phiely on the previous page

mnemonic
having to do with memory

Brewster's Angle
an angle of incidence at which light with a particular polarization is perfectly transmitted through a surface, with no reflection. Read more [here]

serrated
having a jagged edge

Endnote 211

schelpp
to move laboriously or clumsily

suborn
to bribe or coerce into committing a crime

Page 511 (cont'd)

tulle
a fine, often starched net of silk, rayon, or nylon

surreal
bizarre

Page 512

cyanosis
blueness of the skin caused by deoxygenated blood

Ward Boss
leader of the political machine in a specific city ward

J.D.
Juris Doctor, a law degree

Sinistral
left-handed

Short Beach CT
a suburb of New Haven, Conn., about seven miles to the southeast

Page 513

sidled
walked in a timid or furtive manner

athwart
side by side with

THIRD RAIL
In many subway systems (notably New York's), the third rail is the electrified rail that powers the train(s) and carries an extremely hazardous level of voltage.

from stage right
in the other words, from the left (or "house left," which is equivalent to "stage right")

terry
a pile fabric used to make bath towels and robes

Page 514

fricatives
consonants produced by forcing air through an occluded passage, e.g., f and s

schnauzer
a breed of dog notable for its beard-like facial hair

tousled
untidied

I-93
Interstate 93, which runs from St. Johnsbury, Vt., to the suburbs of Boston

Neponset
a neighborhood of Boston

Page 515

Q.v.
abbreviation for the Latin quod vide, meaning "which see"

corporal
relating to the body, e.g., corporal punishment

VIII-Amendment
The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizens against cruel and unusual punishment.

sub rosa
Latin: below the rose, meaning hidden or secretly

amanuensis
a scribe, someone who writes from dictation

diction
choice of words

booming lowering
play on the phrase "lower the boom on" which means lay down severe punishment

raison d'être
French: reason for being

Page 516

qua
Latin: as being

O.N.A.N.F.L.
Organization of North American Nations Football League

Coatlicue
This is the name of an Aztec goddess, one who gave birth to the moon and stars. The reference here is perhaps to Avril.

fulcra
plural of "fulcrum"

stadia
plural of "stadium"

micological
probably a misspelling of mycological, meaning having to do with the study of fungi

ballyhooed
advertised in a sensationalist manner

75-meter
about 246 feet

Page 517

dot-matrix printer
one of the earliest-generation computer printers

intransigence
refusal to compromise

Ludditism
a philosophy that is strongly against advances in technology, named for Ned Ludd

needly sound
dot-matrix printers are very loud. A dot-matrix printer produces characters by means of fine wires that impact the printer paper and an inked ribbon. DFW is referring to these wires (needles) which make a distinctive and rather unpleasant sound.

bluff
good-natured and direct in speech or behavior

Page 518

Convocation
assembly or act of assembling

Philo IL
town about 150 miles south-southwest of Chicago

microcephalic
possessing an abnormally small head

transverse colon
the part of the large intestine that runs horizontal across the stomach, parallel to the ground

2 m.
about 6.6 feet

Page 519

erumpent
bursting forth or through a surface

Dynamic Duo
usually refers to Batman and Robin

Page 520

sumptuous
magnificent and exuberant

vestibule
lobby or entrance hall

comped by Fila
provided for free (or complimentary)

Page 521

couching
expressing

viscera
internal organs

Page 522

100-mm. rodney
a "rodney" is a cigarette. 100 millimeters is a standard length of a "long" cigarette, and is roughly 4 inches long

tamped
packed down by striking repeatedly

Page 523

Granny Smith
a type of sour, green-skinned apple

to tack body to soul
play on the phrase "keep body and soul together" which means manage enough to get by

distended
swollen in the stomach

complicit
involved in a plot or scheme

ital
italic type

Pawtucket
a town in Rhode Island 5 miles north-northeast of Providence

A.A.A. baseball
a level of minor-league baseball

Page 524

M.M.P.I.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: a common mental health personality test

Nunn Bush
A brand of dress shoes

Fuck the Core
i.e., fuck the (Marine) Corps

Page 525

Slobodan
Endnote 221 tells us that this student is Latvian, but this is a Slavic name, and Letts are not Slavs. A quarter of the population of Latvia are ethnically Russian, however.

Auburndale
a suburb about 10 miles west of Boston

"...best of British luck to you..."
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable comes this definition: 'Best of British Luck' — an ironic expression of encouragement, implying that the required luck may not materialize... an elaborated form of 'the best of luck.'

Sieg Heil
German for "Hail, Victory," this phrase was used by the Nazis, particularly with the right-handed upright salute particular to fascists.

Page 526

malperspectived
a neologism for rendered in bad perspective

respire
to breathe

dithering
trembling

mandible
jawbone

Page 527

dais
a raised platform, like a lectern, for speaking or presentation

seagrass
seaweed that grows in shallow beds

ottoman
a footrest that goes with a chair

laddered
having a run (in a stocking)

sallet
a light helmet, usually with a visor

dolefully
in a sorrowful manner

StairBlaster
neologism or fanciful brand name of an item of home exercise equipment introduced just before Y.o.T.M.P.

urologist
Every single use of the word urologist in IJ is wildly and recklessly wrong. There is nothing else in this book that DFW comes even close to getting as wrong as this. A urologist is a surgeon who does surgery on kidneys, ureters, bladders, prostates, urethras, penises, scrotums and their contents, &c. The person described as a urologist in this novel is, more or less, a clinical pathology technician who specializes in urinalysis.

Pre-dawn & dawn; May 1st, YDAU - Steeply & Marathe discuss myths of deadly pleasure

Page 528

bioluminescent
living organisms emitting biochemically produced light, such as glow-worms, fireflies, & deep-sea fish.

St-Rémi-d'Amherst
a town in Québec about 80 miles northwest of Montreal

M-o-r-t-s
Morts is the French masculine plural for "dead," the s denoting a plural.

Page 529

Endnote 222

cont. id.
probably "contemporary idiomatic" as spelled out in the previous line

Basque
The Basque language, spoken in part of northern Spain and southwestern France, is unrelated to any other European language and possibly any other living language.

obstreperous
noisy or hard to control

coeval
contemporaneous or equally old

Page 529 (cont'd)

discomfit
to confuse or disconcert

Circe
a demi-goddess from Greek mythology, in the Odyssey, she enchanted Odysseus’ men, turning them into swine

pregnancy by rain
referring to Zeus's seduction of Danae

rape by fowl
Zeus's seduction of Leda

Page 530

saguaro cactus
a large, tree-sized species of cactus native to the Sonoran Desert

payloader
a, usually wheeled, heavy machine used to move or load construction materials similar to a bulldozer

phantom pains
refers to pain common in amputees - also can refer to sensations that the amputated limb is still existent, and painful

wens
harmless cysts, especially on the scalp or face, containing the fatty secretion of a sebaceous gland

drawn
displaying fatigue or illness