Pages 219-258
- 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!
Contents
☽ November 7th, YDAU - Joelle goes to Molly Notkin's party
Page 219
striated
marked with stripes or streaks
Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (1899-1983) was an American film director.
Murnau in Méliès's fiberglass lap
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888-1931) was a German expressionist filmmaker who later worked in Hollywood. He made the classic vampire film "Nosferatu" (1922). Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (1861-1938) was a French filmmaker, famous for the 1902 silent "A Trip to the Moon" (featured in Martin Scorsese's 2011 film "Hugo").
cummerbund
the band of fabric worn around the waist with a tuxedo
M.I.T.-crested
see right
Page 220
low-pH chemist
i.e., he worked with acids
piebald
having patches of black and white
G.W. Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1885-1967) was a Bohemian-born Austrian filmmaker.
sorghum
a type of grain used in the production of molasses, alcholic beverages, and animal feed
tumefies
swells
sororal
another word for "sisterly"
sub-rosa
From the Latin "under the rose," this word means secretly held.
Page 221
sienna-glazed
glazed with an earth-based pigment
polyresin
a resin compound used to make figurines, among other things
staccato
in music, notes that are sounded in a detached and distinct manner
cataract
In the non-ophthalmic sense, this word means "waterfall."
Page 222
NOTRE RAI PAYS
Notre pays is French for "our country." I don't know what "RAI" is supposed to mean; apparently, in French, it's a type of Algerian music.
.473-liter
16 ounces, a pint
Big Red Soda Water
a real brand similar to cream soda, only red. This was originally only sold in Central/South Texas and Kentucky and is still popular in that region, though available elsewhere.
Chore Boy
a brand of scrubbing pads. The copper version of these pads can be used as a filter for smoking crack.
two-k. square
0.77 square miles
selvage
the finished edge of a piece of fabric, so done to prevent fraying
delimits
establishes the boundaries of
Page 223
Chronology of O.N.A.N.'s Revenue-Enhancing Subsidized Time™
Page 223
See Subsidized Time.
Endnote 78
G.F.R. Co.
perhaps Global Food Resources
Zanesville OH
a town 55 miles east of Columbus
Vienna VA
a suburb of Washington, D.C., about 15 miles due west of the city
Joelle, cont.
Page 223
Colonel Shaw and the MA 54th
Robert Gould Shaw was a Bostonian killed in the Civil War while commanding the all-black Massachusetts 54th Regiment. A relief sculpture memorial to him is located on Beacon Street (not Boylston Street) in front of the Massachusetts State House.
Page 225
tumbrel
a cart for hauling manure or for hauling victims to the guillotine during the French Revolution
imprecated
called down curses upon someone
Delphina
name of a beatified Catholic virgin
Endnote 79
Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar
Page 225 (cont'd)
Veedersburg, Indiana and Powell, Wyoming
Veedersburg is about 70 miles west-northest of Indianapolis; Powell is about 90 miles south of Billings, Mont.
parallax
This is "the difference between the view of an object as seen through the picture-taking lens of a camera and the view as seen through a separate viewfinder" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
Page 226
8-gram
a bit over a quarter of an ounce
wildly carbuncular wife
This is a reference to Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879-1964), wife of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor.
P.M.U.K.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Lend-Lease
a program between the beginning of World War II and U.S. entry after the bombing of Pearl Harbor whereby the U.S. government provided materiel to Britain (and later the Soviets) in return for military bases
scopophobic
scopophobia is the morbid fear of being seen or stared at by others
he was indeed inebriated...while she...would tomorrow still be hideously and improbably deformed.
Many versions of this witty exchange between Winston Churchill and a woman have been propagated over the the years. It may or may not have actually occurred.
Helen P. Steeply's (putative) c.v.
Page 227
1.98 M., 104 KG., A.B., M.J.A.
1.98 meters is about 6'4" tall. 104 kg is around 230 lbs. She's enormous.
A.B. is the older Latin equivalent (Artium Baccalaureus or Artium Baccalaureatus) of B.A., i.e., Bachelor of Arts. M.J.A. is Master of Justice Administration.
Decade Magazine
probably not a real publication
Southwest Annual
probably not a real publication
Ladies Day
also not a real publication
Erythema AZ
not a real town, but erythema is a real disease
Joelle, cont.
Page 227
A.B.D.
"All But Dissertation," a term used to refer to people who have completed their doctoral studies with the exception of their dissertations.
Homburg
A homburg is a stiff felt hat characterized by a single dent running down the center of the crown and a brim fixed in a tight, upwards curl. It is superficially similar to the trilby or fedora; trilbys and fedoras, however, have soft, "snappable" brims and can have various designs "pinched" into the crown, whereas the shape of a homburg is fixed. (see right) Wikipedia
Wiesbaden
a city of Germany above 25 miles west of Frankfurt (Main)
Page 228
the A.M.'s interruptus
Presumably this means the end of the morning, although the only common English usage of "interruptus" is in the Latin phrase coitus interrruptus, i.e., "pulling out." (See the Consummation of the Levirates.)
The A.M.'s interruptus could refer to her "quitting" her drug use that morning.
Maya Deren
Born Eleanora Derenkowsky, Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Ukrainian-born American director [1].
Page 229
glycine
one of the 20 amino acids found in proteins
Rutherford Keck and Crosby Baum
These both seem to be invented people....
Smothergill
...as does this...
Miriam Prickett
...and this.
Franciscan bald spot
The Orders of Friars Minor were known to shave the tops of their heads in medieval and early modern times.
Page 230
paps
breasts or nipples
diphthong
In linguistics, a diphthong is a vowel combination involving a smooth transition from one vowel to another. English has three diphthongs: /ay/ as in "papaya," /oy/ as in "boy," and /au/ as in "Bauhaus." Technically "beautiful" doesn't have a diphthong.
febrile
feverish
scopophiliac
sexually attracted to pornography [ummm, let's get right with the scopophilia/-phobia, y'all—Merriam-Webster Medical online says "a desire to look at sexually stimulating scenes especially as a substitute for actual sexual participation"]
Boaz
the name of cities in both Alabama and West Virginia
Page 231
Vogelsong
"Vogel" = German for "bird", i.e. something like: bird song ("song" is not German)
Emerson College
a college in Boston
ectoplasm
the supposed emanation of the soul from the body; here used as a metaphor for vomit
afflatus
gas
dithers
behaves in a nervous or agitated way
jaundice
yellowing of the skin caused by liver disease
b & w
black and white
Bouvier
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's maiden surname
f-stop
This is "the ratio of the focal length (f)) of a lens or lens system to the effective diameter of its aperture" (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition).
Berliner
Technically, it's called the Berliner Pfannkuchen (doughnut).
Page 232
Ich bein ein Berliner
Bein is the wrong word. It's a noun in German and means "leg". The first-person singular of sein ("to be") is bin. Still, the wrong spelling may be related to Kennedy's wrong pronounciation of this sentence. And yes, it's true "Berliner" is a German word for a special kind of pastry. [You find a quite interesting episode related to this topic in Pychon's "Against the Day"...]
TA
Teaching Assistant
À du nous avons foi au poison
French (roughly): We have faith in poison
Eve Plumb
She played Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch.
Henderson
Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady
Davis
Ann B. Davis, who played Alice, the maid
Peter
the middle son, played by Christopher Knight
Greg
the eldest son, played by Barry Williams
De gustibus non est disputandum
Latin: There's no accounting for taste (literally, "tastes are not disputable")
Eisenstein and Kurosawa and Michaux
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898-1948) was a Latvian-born Russian-Jewish filmmaker, famous for his film Battleship Potemkin. Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) was perhaps the most prominent Japanese filmmaker of the twentieth century. Oscar Micheaux (1893-1951) was an African-American filmmaker whose ouevre can be viewed here.
draw a bead
slang for taking aim at a target with a rifle
ten m.
Ten meters is equal to 32.8 feet.
Page 233
Heideggerian
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a prominent twentieth-century German philosopher and proponent of existentialism.
a priori
From the Latin for "from what comes first," these are assumptions made before observations are made.
wraith
another word for "ghost"
labile
unstable
The Incision
I could locate no film by this name.
qua
From the Latin ablative case of the word for "who," this word means "in the character of capacity of."
dopamine
a neurotransmitter, primarily responsible for movement and cognition
blinis
Russian crepes
tartines
a type of French open-faced sandwich
sweetbreads
thymus gland or pancreas of young animals (calf or lamb)
glacé
French for "iced"
Morris Mini
another name for the Morris Minor
ipecac
derived from the ipecacuanha plant, a syrup produced to induce vomiting
clapper
the tongue of a bell
Dishmaster
see Subsidized Time
Makavajev
Born in 1932, Dusan Makavejev (probably misspelled) is a Yugoslavian-born film director.
Page 234
Shiny Prize, Kentucky
not a real town
1.7 meters tall
a little over 5'6"
48 kilograms
about 106 pounds (This makes her about 15-30 pounds below her ideal weight.)
phalloneurotic
a portmanteau of phallus and neurotic, probably intended to mean a mental disorder involving obsession with one's penis, or perhaps with penes more generally; uncertain as to which "phalloneurotic" New Yorker this refers
EZ-Widers
a brand of cigarette rolling papers
Cyrillic
employing the Cyrillic alphabet, as with Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.
mollified
softened in feeling and temper
soft rock's grim dental association
which is to say, it's the kind of music you'd hear in a dentist's office
Kinski as Paganini
Klaus Kinski (1926-1991), Danzig-born German-American actor, played Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), the Italian violinist and composer, in his final film, Kinski Paganini.
Léaud as Doinel
Jean-Pierre Léaud (born 1944), a French actor, played the fictional character Antoine Doinel in five films.
Peterson's The Lead Shoes
An 18-minute film by Sidney Peterson (1949), preceded by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's great The Red Shoes(1948) with Moira Shearer.
pomander
This is "a mixture of aromatic substances, often in the form of a ball, formerly carried on the person as a supposed guard against infection but now placed in closets, dressers, etc." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
Page 235
dicky
impaired
bathetic
appealing to bathos, i.e., insincere pathos (emotion)
neat bourbon
bourbon without ice
Vittoria
a reference to Santa Maria della Vittoria, where the mentioned work by Bernini hangs
recumbent
reclining
Gleem
a brand of toothpaste
NoCoat scraper
Presumably refers to NoCoat LinguaScrapers (tongue scrapers) mentioned on Page 151.
NeGram
a brand name of nalidixic acid, used to treat urinary tract infections
depilatory
for removal of hair
Monostat
brand name of a treatment for vaginal yeast infections
Parapectolin
a mixture of kaolinite and pectin, used to treat diarrhea
Page 236
Kodachrome
a brand name of camera film
Reynolds Wrap
a brand name of aluminum foil
baking soda
Joelle is making crack, as opposed to 'freebase cocaine' which requires ether. Crack production is procedurally distinct (and safer) from that of purer 'freebase cocaine,' but the freebase products are the same: the baking soda serves to free the cocaine base from the pure cocaine hydrochloride. Both methods produce crystals that can be smoked. The production method of Joelle's earlier "home made freebase cocaine" is uncertain, but conventional terminology suggests she makes the ether-based variety at home.
C knob
the knob for cold water
Page 237
Paducah
a city in Kentucky about 175 miles southeast of St. Louis, Mo.
Qantas
an airline serving Australia and New Zealand
Page 238
fillips
a sharp tap
mâché
i.e., papier mâché
S.O.P.
Standard Operating Procedure
imperial
a case for luggage
"...darkness dance on the face of the deep..."
a play on Genesis 1:2
"...that skull fragment out of the Hamlet graveyard scene..."
i.e., "infinite jest"
Mad Stork
the nickname for former NFL linebacker Ted Hendricks
Page 239
banal
hackneyed or trite
Prettiest G.O.A.T.
Though G.O.A.T. stands here for "Girl Of All Time," it's an oxymoron, because "goat" is a slang term for an ugly person.
slew-footed
with the foot turned on the axis of the ankle
Page 240
white- party-noise
which is to say random noise generated by the party outside the bedroom
'We've Only Just Begun'
a song by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols first recorded by the Carpenters in 1970
mercuric red
red as the color made by MercuroChrome
☽ - Enfield, MA
Page 240
Note: Most of these places exist but there is no such town (anymore) as Enfield, Mass.
Dicalced
Apparently there is a misspelling. The correct term would be Discalced Carmelites, which means they go barefoot or wear sandals.
Page 241
RCC
Roman Catholic Church
les trebuchets noirs
French: the black catapults
5 km
about 3.1 miles
brachiform
in the shape of an arm
75 hectares
almost 900,000 square yards
palisades
fences
guano
feces, particularly of birds or bats
four-km.
almost 2.5 miles
coaxial
having common axes
Page 242
Ø's
perhaps zeros, but maybe several of the internationally recognized graphic prohibition sign,
i.e., the No symbol, although the graphic incorporates a red circle with a slash from top left to bottom right, rather than bottom left to top right, as for the zero symbol
A.D.E.
one of ATSHCME's Air-Displacement Effectuators
November 5th, YDAU - Hal and Orin discuss Himself's suicide
Page 242
Endnote 82
Page 243
caroms
rebounds
1100 meters
a little over 3,600 feet
Superstition mountains
a real range east of Phoenix
precipice
a cliff with a vertical face
propitiate
to conciliate, appease or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit
apotropaic
intended to ward off evil
Popogatapec
probably a reference to Popocatépetl
Ahts of Vancouver
another name for the Nuu-chah-nulth, the indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island, Canada
Micturation
urination
Page 244
200-kilo
about 441 pounds
apposite
pertinent
Page 245
decamp
to depart secretly
domino-mask
This is "a large, hooded cloak with a mask covering the eyes, worn at masquerades" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
lacuna
a missing part
frothy biblical saw
a trifling or empty biblical proverb
Page 246
rodneys
obviously some kind of impulse buy: cigarettes
refracted
illuminated indirectly
Cardinal Stadium
The Arizona Cardinals now play in the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Page 247
Royal Victoria
This is the name of one of the docks of east London, but probably not what's being referred to here. Victoria is also the capital of British Columbia, and an island in the Pacific off the B.C. coast. The Royal Victoria College was a women's college created as part of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
Page 248
Rog and Wilc,O.
"Roger Wilco, Orin" - Roger Wilco is a radio communication meaning Roger - "I received your message./" and Wilco - "I will comply."
'20 for 28 is what, 65%?'
It's a little over 71%.
Page 249
telemachry
Maybe not the word Hal was looking for, but Telemachus was a monk who tried to stop the Roman gladiator fights and told the Romans to stop worshiping false idols instead of Christ. He was stoned to death, though his death is sometimes said to have ended the Gladiatorial games. So, "telemachry" could be interpreted to be trust in a higher power.
telemetry
the transmission of something automatically and at a distance -- here, Hal's toenails to the wastebasket
Page 250
Page 251
magnitron
a misspelling of "magnetron," which is "a two-element vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons is under the influence of an external magnetic field, used to generate extremely short radio waves" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
kg.s.cm.
kilograms per square centimeter, as a measurement of pressure, like pounds per square inch
Page 252
synclinal
sloping downward from opposite directions to meet in a common point or line
Adriatic
the sea between the west coast of Italy and the Balkan peninsula
Page 253
StairMaster
a brand name of exercise machines
Kübler-Ross, Hinton
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (1926-2004) was a Swiss-born American psychiatrist and specialist on death and dying. John Hinton is a British contemporary expert in the field.
Kastenbaum and Kastenbaum
Robert J. Kastenbaum is another prominent scholar in the field of death and dying. I can't find another person by that name, so perhaps Hal is referring to multiple volumes by the same Kastenbaum.
Elizabeth Harper Neeld's Seven Choices: Taking the Steps to New Life After Losing Someone You Love
A real book, it's actually 343 pages. (The 1997 edition is 343 pages, but an earlier publishing may have been 352.)
Wyclif and 14th-century langue-d'oc French
John Wyclif was a 14th century English theologian. He made the first translation of the Bible into English, thus his importance to etymology in general. Langue d'oc is another name for the Occitan language. The OED actually dates the word's (acceptance) earliest usage to 1596 by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice.
Hindi
a national language of India and one of the most widely spoken
Gila monster
a venomous lizard native to the Southwest U.S. and Mexico, known for its tenacious bite
hypertensive
having high blood pressure
Page 254
Leaves of Grass
the most famous volume of poetry by Walt Whitman
Page 255
unfazable
incapable of being disturbed
paroxysmic
characteristic of an outburst of violent emotion
Page 256
half a meter
about 1.64 feet
Page 257
dewlaps
loose flesh as under the jaw of a cow
"...when Luke removes his high-tech targeting helmet..."
Hal is referring to a scene from Star Wars; Luke is Luke Skywalker.
coccyges
plural of coccyx, i.e., the tailbone
Page 258
jonquil-yellow
another name for the flower known as the narcissus or daffodil
