Revision as of 02:11, 26 October 2013

Editors: Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel. And please pay attention to formatting and grammar. Preview your changes before saving them. Thanks!

Mario longs for M.P., goes for a walk

Page 589

Revelation of John
the last book of the New Testament

Carpenters
a 1970s soft rock band shown here

Dysautonomia
any disease or malfunction of the central nervous system

zither
a string instrument showcased here

Page 590

XL
extra-large

preverbally
before speaking

Concupiscence
strong desire, especially sexual

Page 591

ONE DAY A
"One Day at a Time," an AA slogan

Year of the Wonderchicken

Page 592

Page 593

Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School - the only public high school in Cambridge MA.

Life as an Ennet House Staff Member

Page 593

picayune
trivial

lithium
used to treat bipolar disorder

Sylvia Plate
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was an American poet and novelist who suffered from depression and took her own life in 1963.

Page 594

diverticulitis
a painful disease involving the formation of pouches within the bowel wall

narc
a narcotics officer or a snitch

verbatim
word for word

baroque
bizarre or complex

ideation
the act of forming new ideas

collate
collect and combine in proper order

Page 595

Page 596

decoct
extract

street-canny
streetwise

accretes
accumulates

Orin & the "Swiss" hand model, cont.

Page 596

tamping
packing down the tobacco

Page 597

cuckolds
men whose wives cheat on them

zaftig
a Yiddish word meaning, roughly, "voluptuous"

pectorals
chest muscles

Page 598

'Plus or minus three percent sample.'
This is the margin of error on the supposed survey Orin is about to take.

Pisser
remarkable, alternatively, disappointing

yarmulke
a small round cap worn by Jewish men

Page 599

CO²
a misprint, likely, for CO₂, i.e., carbon dioxide

winsome
attractive and engaging due to a childlike nature

gas range
a gas powered oven and stove

omnissent
Orin means "omniscient."

Schmeisser GBF
Schmeisser doesn't appear to be a gun manufacturer anymore, but it was in Germany until the fall of the Third Reich. GBF may stand for "German Battle Force."

retromandibular
behind the lower jaw

Sermonette
a short sermon

Evensong
the evening prayer of the Episcopal church

megahertz
a measurement of cycles per second

Page 600

vapidity
lack of engaging or challenging qualities

Actors' Guild
a reference to the Screen Actors Guild

Jeannie, Samantha, Sam and Diane, Gilligan, Hawkeye, Hazel, Jed
characters from, respectively, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Cheers, Gilligan's Island, M*A*S*H, Hazel, and The Beverly Hillbillies.

surcease
cessation

Page 601

comme on dit
French: as they say

Canadians chase Lenz to Ennet House

Page 601

Endnote 247

the Hole
prison slang for solitary confinement

hangdog
shamefaced

Page 602

cribbage
a type of card game

Endnote 248

Natick
a town in Massachusetts about 20 miles west of Boston

Page 602 (cont'd)

third year of Subsidized Time
i.e., the Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar

Mass Rehab Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission

Page 603

skivvies
underwear

per diem
Latin: per day

klaxon
a loud metal horn

Page 604

B.U. or -C. students
i.e., students of Boston University or (Boston) College

constitutionally
meaning "psychologically" (or even "physiologically")

a kind of idolotry of uniqueness
i.e., a worship of individuality

Page 605

rack
bed (perhaps a bunk, here)

over-ebullient
excessively cheerful

chuffing
producing or moving with noisy exhaust or exhalations, e.g., a chuffing train

seventh sense
implying that Gately also possesses the sixth sense (i.e., extrasensory perception or at least uncommonly keen intuition), and suggests an ability to recognize that someone else is under the influence (although some of the first five could probably tell him that)

Sergeant at Arms
a figurative use, probably suggesting that the drugs Lenz took have commanded him to keep moving (in the manner of a drill sergeant)

Nietzschean
the Substance can make any man feel like an Übermensch (superhuman)

incognitoizing
Gately's mental neologism for "rendering incognito," i.e., disguising

regentrifying
Lenz means "regenerating" rather than "refurbishing (again)"

fish-in-a-gaff
e.g., fish on a hook

L-Dopa
abbreviation for levadopa a chemical precursor to dopamine, adrenaline, and other neurotransmitters

scrotum-tightening
An epithet first used by James Joyce in Chapter 1 of his 1922 novel Ulysses. Buck Mulligan is gazing at the Dublin Bay: "--God, he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a grey sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks. I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look." (Epi oinopa ponton is Homer's famous descriptor for the Aegean Sea from The Odyssey: the wine-dark sea.)

Page 606

Duster
the Plymouth Duster

lacteal
milky

rear-mount engine
all Volkswagen bugs have rear-mounted engines

prostrate
lying flat on the ground (or, here, a bed)

kosher
Here Gately means "OK," whereas this literally, in Yiddish, refers to food "prepared according to Jewish Law."

Endnote 252

boilerplate
standard text entered identically, as into contracts

oubliette
a dungeon with an opening only at the top

Page 606 (cont'd)

Daytona
i.e., the Daytona 500, a yearly auto race

Page 607

Simonize
to shine or polish to a high sheen

Premium
high-octane gasoline

adtorsion
turning inward of both eyes

Hoits
i.e., "hurts"

Page 608

high-B#
Equivalent to the pitch of C, and vocally, the high C is two octaves above middle C.

sotto
i.e., sotto voce meaning in a very quiet voice

SHUCO-MIST M.P.S.
Shuco-Mist Medical Pressure Systems (mentioned on page 198) is perhaps the fictional manufacturer a brand of nebulizer (actually spelled "Schuco Mist") for use by asthma patients.

Page 609

imprecating
calling down curses on others

in tandem
together as a unit

Weaver stance
a popular technique for firing a handgun

Made Guys
members of the Mafia in full standing

at bay
facing attackers

Page 610

wicks
draws off (liquid) by capillary action

wadcutter
special bullets with a flat front

dum-dums
bullets that mushroom on impact for maximum bodily damage

lending weight to another cliché
presumably E.M. Security is "never there when you need them."

cordite
similar to gunpowder

Page 611

Pomade
a substance men used to use to style their hair

Page 612

sans-Crist bâtard
French: Anti-Christ bastard

Pépé or Bébé
apparently the name of the dog that Lenz just killed

maricones
Spanish: homosexuals (note that Brazilians actually speak Portuguese, not Spanish)

two meters
about 6.6 feet

Canadian
i.e., Québecois French

Page 613

breezeblocked
a breezeblock is a cinder block

Page 614

appointments
furnishings

ailanthus
a common form of urban plant

two meters
an apparent exaggeration

Page 615

winged
shot in the arm

three meters
about 9.8 feet

Copernicanly
Apparently in the manner of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), famed for theorizing that the Earth orbits the Sun rather than vice versa, but this raises the question of why or how in the manner of Copernicus. It does not seem that Erdedy has a telescope, but perhaps he is "staring...up her [the veiled girl's] flapping robe" looking for the center of the universe.

Serenity Prayer
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Page 616

loafers
shoes that slip on, rather than tie with laces

desisted
stopped (but Wade McD. probably meant 'deceased')

Page 617

'The straight and narrow? '
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14

'By doze is fide.'
"My nose is fine" said by someone with a broken nose, i.e., Green

Clearasil
a brand name of benzoyl peroxide, for acne

'I'b dot touchig dothig, dud worry.'
Again, Green speaking with his broken nose: "I'm not touching nothing, don't worry."

shock
insufficient blood flow to the body's organs and tissues, often following an injury but sometimes following an emotional shock

Page 618

Shylock
He means "Sherlock." Shylock is the Jewish "villain" in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Supervised
on supervised probation

Madame Psychosis is in charge.
This is the first time Joelle has been positively ID'ed as M.P. (She is referred to as "a.k.a. Madame P." much earlier on page 225)

Secyotty!
"Security!" screamed with a thick Boston accent

chanties
He means "shanties," i.e., songs.

Page 619

oddering
i.e., ordering

collops
rolls of fat

fish-eye lens
a type of wide-angle lens

And lo
a reference to the opening of the M.P. radio show