Difference between revisions of "Pages 127-156"

Revision as of 14:07, 22 May 2009

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!

128 · Junkie Narrative

Page 128

boosting
stealing

onnings
awnings

Page 129

elemonade
eliminate

Copley
Copley Square, a neighborhood of Boston

aile
aisle

Bow&Arrow
a reference to the Bow and Arrow Pub at 1 Bow Street. Closed in 2000 due to building renovation and the rent being raised.

foran
foreign

Cheap-O Records
a reference to Cheapo Records (no hyphen) in Central Square, Cambridge. It was located at 645 Mass Ave when the book was written, but the building has since been demolished. It now resides at 538 Mass Ave. http://www.cheaporecords.com/

trancemission
transmission

Page 130

supperst
supposed

pernts
points

Page 131

kwai9
quinine

Page 132

stoal
stole

Page 133

Page 134

thearized
theorized

Page 135

methadoan
Methadone

135* · Orin Calls Hal

Page 135

Y.D.A.U.

Page 136

Phoenician
Orin uses it to mean a native of Phoenix, but the Phoenicians were actually an ancient culture who founded the city of Carthage.

Page 137

Advent
the four Sundays preceding Christmas

137 · TK

Page 137

Year of the Whopper

Walpole
a suburb of Boston about eighteen miles from the city

Page 138

138 · State Farm E-mail

Page 138

Year of Dairy Products From the American Heartland

Page 139

blood-alcohol of .3+
If "legally drunk" is now .08 in many states, it's fair to say this guy was hammered

900 kg
fifteen pounds short of a ton

75 kg
about 165.3 pounds

Page 140

30 kg
a little over 66 pounds

140 · Hal's First Film Commentary

Page 140

Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken

Page 141

Viz.
Latin abbreviation for videlicet, meaning "that is to say"

Mirandized
read his or her rights, from the Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona (1965)

Page 142

142 · Helen's Only Published Article

Page 142

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

Jarvik IX
undoubtedly named for Robert Koffler Jarvik (born 1946), inventor of the first artificial heart placed in a human being

Page 143

Etienne Aigner
a fashionable leather goods manufacturer

Page 144

Brigham and Women's City of Boston Hospital
a real hospital, now affiliated with Harvard Medical School

144 (1) · Québecois Terrorist Groups

Page 144

Les Fils de Montcalm
French: Sons of Montcalm. Probably referring to Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran (1712-1759), French general during the French and Indian War who presided over the fall of Québec.

144 (2) · Decline of Videophony

Page 144

homuncular
of or pertaining to a diminutive human being

Page 145

straw boater
a type of hat (a "boater") made of straw

tumescent
swollen

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

Freddie-Mac
common name for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Company

trivalent
having a chemical valance of three

Page 146

vectored
To vector is to direct the position of (an airplane).

gumlet
By context, it would seem this word is a synonym for aglet.

Page 147

furtive
shifty or sneaky

Physiognomic Dysphoria
Loosely, it means "feeling badly about how one looks."

Page 148

snafus
plural of "snafu," a military acronym for "situation normal: all fucked up"

Page 149

ostentatious
pretentious or showy

Page 150

verve
enthusiasm or vigor

precipitant
sudden, hasty, or rash

micro-econometrist
An econometrist is an economist who uses statistical methods. A microeconomist is an economist who studies a smaller level of economics, i.e., firms and businesses rather than nations or international business.

Ludditism
Named for Ned Ludd (born Ned Ludlam), the Luddites were 19th century opposers of the Industrial Revolution.

retrograde
moving backward

Page 151

electric zirconium jewelry
Jewelry made of zircon. Electricity can be applied to a zircon to make a lamp.

NoCoat LinguaScrapers
tongue scrapers designed to remove a film coat

and c.
Et cetera or etc. is Latin for "and other things." Here Wallace has translated et and left c untranslated.

panagoraphobia
fear of going outside (agoraphobia) in any place (pan-)

151* · Urine Testing

Page 151

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

widow's peak
a hairline that dips down to a V-shaped point in front when the hair is pulled back

Page 152

Endnote 52

spectrometer
an optical instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum

E.M.I.T. and AbuScreen/RIA
Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique; Abusecreen is a brand name of drug test, and RIA stands for radioimmunoassay, "a procedure that measures minute amounts of a substance, such as a hormone or drug, by quantitating the binding, or the inhibition of binding, of a radiolabeled substance to an antibody" (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition).

Page 152 (cont'd)

cc
cubic centimeter, equal to 0.001 liters

wienerman
hot-dog salesman

Page 153

Yarmouth sail
a type of boat sail, seen here

Pepperdine
a university in Malibu, Calif.

derrick
A derrick is "a jib crane having a boom hinged near the base of the mast so as to rotate about the mast, for moving a load toward or away from the mast by raising or lowering the boom" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).

foot-treadle
a level worked by foot

f/x
special effects in film

Bolex
a Swiss camera manufacturer

undulating
moving with a wave-like motion

Page 154

petrochemical
a chemical derived from petroleum or natural gas

spronging
sprong is Dutch for "to leap or bound"

Eschatonic
The name of the game is based on the same root as eschatology, i.e., the study of the end of the world.

pünch
There is no such German word.

serpentine
snake-like

Page 155

dento-dermal
by the skin of his teeth

brine
salt water

emulsion
Emulsion is colloidal suspension of one liquid in another.

differentials
first derivatives in calculus

three Canadians copulating on a snowmobile
high-water
pants hemmed too high

gratis
free of charge

ex cathedra
Latin for "from the chair" and referring to the doctrine of papal infallibility on matters of faith and morals

éclat
great brilliance or conspicuous success

Page 156

dewy-eyed
exhibiting childlike simplicity

FIENDS IN HUMAN SHAPE
how a Memphis newspaper described Union soldiers during the Civil War

Brighton
a section of Boston

natal
of or pertaining to a person's birth

Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (85-42 BC) was the most famous assassin of Julius Caesar (100-44 BC).

vade mecum
Latin for "go with me," this is a book for quick reference

172 · TENNIS AND THE FERAL PRODIGY

Page 172

Year of the Yushityu...

Page 173

stevedore
a person who loads and unloads cargo from boats

40 km.
almost 25 miles

Schnell
German: Quickly

Page 174

formants and fricatives, trochaically stressed
A format is, according to Wikipedia, "a peak in an acoustic frequency spectrum which results from the resonant frequencies of any acoustic system." A fricative is a phoneme produced by forcing air through tight lips. In English, fricatives are /s/, /z/, /th/, and /zh/. Trochaically means spoken in trochees, or a metrical foot on two syllables with the stress on the first (the word "trochee" is a trochee).

aperture
An aperture is an opening; here it is probably referring to the anus.

Page 175

8 1/2
a film by Federico Fellini

intensile
incapable of being stretched

Page 176

Noxzema
a skin cleaner marketed by Procter & Gamble

Contracol
not a drug currently marketed in the U.S.

Epsom salts
Magnesium sulfate, used to relieve pain, among other uses.