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November 14th, YDAU - Ruth van Cleve & Kate Gompert go for a walk

Page 698

Page 699

Endnote 285

catachresis
misuse of words, as in a mixed metaphor

Page 699 (cont'd)

Norfolk County
a county of Massachusetts bordering Rhode Island to the southwest

'...operating a pharmaceutical company without a license.'
i.e., he was running a meth lab

Page 700

Troeltsch Gets Ready for Prime Time

Page 700

screwed
i.e., left the room

Pemulis's hiding spot

Page 700

drop-ceiling
a ceiling where, instead of meeting sheetrock at the top of the walls, you reach a series of tiles (often fiberglass-filled) that are hung a few inches below the actual ceiling, sometimes for aesthetic reasons, sometimes to facilitate lighting, etc.

Lyle meditates

Page 700

hovers
hangs in air

Mario and Schtitt go to get confections

Page 701

sidecar
a passenger car for a motorcycle, usually to the right side of the cycle driver

The Moms Makes a Phone Call

Page 701

stern
i.e., the back end

More With Hal Watching Himself's Movies/Segue to Addiction

Page 701

wimple
a cloth that goes over the head, frames the face, and is tucked under the chin, worn by nuns

in violent medias res
In medias res is Latin for "in the middle of the thing, meaning, like many epic poems, the work begins in the middle of the story (e.g., the Iliad begins nine years into a ten-year war).

recumbency
DFW is making up this noun (as he also does on Page 888). Recumbent means “sprawled out” or otherwise sitting comfortably. So you add the suffix -cy to that to get an “action” noun from an adjective, in this case a couch where one can be recumbent. From Dictionary.com -cy: a suffix used to form abstract nouns from adjectives with stems in -t, -te, -tic, and especially-nt (democracy; accuracy; expediency; stagnancy; lunacy), and sometimes used to form action nouns (vacancy; occupancy).

rheostat
another name for a "variable resistor," which is something that alters the value of a circuit without interrupting it--in this case, this is in reference to a light switch with a dial, which allows for dimming the lights

50-point


THIS BIG compared to the usual 12pt font.

Page 702

emetics
drugs designed to make one vomit

descants
A descant is an ornamental melody or counterpoint sung or played above a theme.

banks
makes something (here, the spoon) glance off a surfaces (or more than one; here, the insides of her cheeks)

Page 703

hanuman
a monkey held sacred in India

scuttly
scampering

Endnote 288

The Continent's Best Yogurt
It actually stands for "The Country's Best Yogurt," but given the formation of O.N.A.N., the change seems fitting if not necessary.

Page 703 (cont'd)

cognoscenti
people having superior knowledge

wont
accustomed

Page 704

Langesque
in the style of Fritz Lang

tremulous
fearful and shaking

osteoporotic
suffering from osteoporosis, a bone disease that can cause pain, decreased height, and skeletal deformity (e.g., curvature of the spine, as suggested by Hal's imagining)

Indian-style
in the lotus position of yoga

Page 705

Hawg
a Harley-Davidson motorcycle

novenas
In Roman Catholicism, a novena is a devotion or set of prayers said over nine days.

crank cocaine
Methamphetamine and cocaine (the use of ether and baking soda implies freebase cocaine and crack cocaine, respectively; both of these freebase products are water insoluble and therefore cannot be introduced to the bloodstream via injection or snorting).

stelliform
star-shaped

coiffure
hairdo

Endnote 290

stock
commonplace

Page 705 (cont'd)

sacristy
an anteroom or outbuilding of a church, used to store vestments, serving implements for communion, etc.

matins and vespers
two of the nine prayer services a day in Catholic abbeys and monasteries; essentially, the daybreak and twilight services, respectively

MSNBC news anchor Rachel Maddow

severe and somewhat lesbianic haircut
a "butch" cut (see right)

Trappists
members of the Order of Cistercians of Strict Observance, who do not, by the way, all take vows of silence

montage
a film sequence in which a period of time is quickly covered with short (a few seconds) scenes, usually underscored with music

Page 706

lantern jaw
a mandible that protrudes beyond the maxilla, or one that is long and thin

Promethean
suggestive of Prometheus, probably in the sense of bold and defiant

'Getting to Know You'
a song from the 1951 musical The King and I, by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics)

saccharine
sickeningly sweet

entrepreneurism
usually entrepreneurship

Wild Turkey
a popular bourbon whiskey

Lorimar's Dynasty
Lorimar was a production company and Dynasty a prime-time soap opera that aired in the 1980s.

shibboleths
A shibboleth is any language usage indicative of one's social or regional origin, or more broadly, any practice that identifies members of a group. (See Judges 12:4-6 and the Wikipedia entry.)

Page 707

Endnote 291

aperture
a small opening

Page 707 (cont'd)

catexic
this is likely a misspelling of "cathexic," which means "emotionally charged."

sloe
Plum-brown.

Endnote 292

Endnote 292a

covalence-hungry isotopes
Isotopes of certain atoms combine with others to form covalent bonds.

gnomes
aphorisms

Waterloo
a city in Belgium where Napoleon suffered his final defeat — the term has come to mean "final defeat"

Page 707 (cont'd)

sloe
likely refers to a type of North American plum tree, which can produce dark purple, yellow, or red fruit, depending on the sub-type of tree

tannin
any of several vegetable compounds tending to have a reddish-brown color, widely used in leather- and winemaking

Page 708

Raytheon
a major American defense contractor

float
i.e., the money keeping them afloat (figuratively)

rye
whiskey made from rye grain

Page 709

Ford Mystique
See one here.

pluck
resourceful daring in the face of great difficulty

Endnote 294

apostrophe
direct address of an absent person, in rhetoric

Page 710

autodidactic
self-taught

Logan
the major airport of Boston

Page 711

Blood Sister Synopsis Continued

Page 711

novitiate
a novice of a religious order

recidivism
the state of falling back into a life of crime

de-mufflering
removing the muffler from her motorcycle, thus making it extra loud

Harley Hawg
a repetition in terms

jiggers
measures of 1.5 ounces; in Utah, a shot is also defined as 1.5 ounces, although a shot glass may have a capacity of 2 ounces

Endnote 296

ferric oxide
i.e., iron oxide, or rust

F/X
a show business term for special effects

Page 711 (cont'd)

inimical
adverse in tendency or effect

accretes
increases

censer
a device for burning incense, especially in religious services

mace
a medieval weapon, basically consisting of a stick with a ball covered with spikes at the end

verger
a church official, such as a caretaker

Page 712

Marseillese
more properly Marseillaise, i.e., from Marseilles, France

Bing Crosby
Boston-area slang term for Cocaine.

octogenarian
in one's eighties

Confiteor
a penitent prayer said by Roman Catholics

Endnote 297

cowled
hooded

Page 712 (cont'd)

Kabuki
a form of Japanese theater

habitements
a neologism, probably just referring to the habits the nuns wear

Page 713

Champlain-era
of the era of Samuel de Champlain

Huron
the more common name for the Wyandot Indians

mahogany Christian object
i.e., the aforementioned crucifix

lapsarian
Pertaining generally to the Fall of Man from innocence (into sexual awareness) and specifically to Adam and Eve's lapse from God's favor after disobediently partaking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:8 through 3:24); see the usages below on page 713 of lapse and pre-saved.

obeisance
a bow, curtsy, salaam, or similar gesture or movement of the body symbolizing obedience and possibly also devotion

nave
the part of the church with the pews on either side, facing the altar but not on the altar

tympanum
the recess between the top of the door and the arch above it

"...with a sword and a plowshare..."
A plowshare is the blade of a plow; the reference is from Isaiah 2:4; they are symbols of war and peace, respectively. The syringe and soup-ladle mentioned in the carving could be symbols of similarly opposed addiction (or poison, but probably not medicine) and sustenance.

Coat of arms Niels Bohr

CONTRARIA SUNT COMPLEMENTA
Latin: Opposites are complementary. The motto appears on the coat of arms of Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885-1962), the 1922 Nobelist in physics; the coat of arms (see right) also incorporates the taijitu (yin-yang symbol), which perfectly illustrates the concept. At this blogpost, the motto continues, "...and wholeness leads to clarity." See also this interesting discussion of the good-evil dichotomy in the paragraph on Composition in the Wikipedia entry on the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as well as the note on lapsarian above.

Page 714

Smothergill
i.e., Phillip T. Smothergill, the former E.T.A. who starred in Himself's movies and whose name Hal couldn't remember

Kate & Ruth Continued

Page 714

gargoyle
a small statue of a monster used to adorn churches and other buildings to ward off evil

Page 715

deft
dexterous or nimble

mafun ho
i.e., mother-fucking whore

Page 716