Pages 736-755
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Contents
Joelle Cleans Her Room
Page 736
B.Y.P.
Brookline Young People's (a previously mentioned AA group)
YYY tapes
apparently recordings of radio-station WYYY broadcasts
Page 737
Pokie
apparently a childhood nickname for Joelle
fifth wall
The "fourth wall" is a term used in theater to describe the imaginary wall that separates the stage from the audience. The "fifth wall" could be an extrapolation of this concept, meaning a wall separating an actor from a critic, or separating two people sharing the same experience notably when viewing projected or broadcasted media. Or possibly simply a reference to the fact that rooms tend not to have fifth walls, meaning that his face was never there.
Page 738
futon
a Japanese-style pallet or mattress that can be folded into a sofa or open like a bed; many futons have adjustable frames, but some simply fold up along a wall for seating until unfolded when needed for sleeping
amniotic
taking place in utero
greebles
Here, Joelle means little wads of paper resulting from worrying the wet tissue. There is another use of greeble, but she is not referring here to background treatments for films. The "little bits of sleepy goo you got in your eyes' corners" (two paragraphs following) are the thin mucous discharges ('eye boogers') known as rheum.
basso
having a very low voice
Page 739
Carefree
a brand of sanitary pads
Chore-type supplies
e.g., stainless-steel or copper scouring pads now branded as Chore Boy, after some years as Chore Girl; ironically, the pads are often used in homemade crack-cocaine pipes
talking batons and low-pH chemistry
batons presumably in encouragement of Joelle's amateur career as a twirler and low-pH chemistry (the chemistry of acids) because of his career?
disdain
dislike or hatred
Page 740
rancid-cinnamon smell
possibly the odor of the stink bug (see right); ironically, cinnamon itself can be used to dispel rancid odors
oeuvre
body of work
Job-like protagonist
referring to the title character in the Old Testament book
dunk-tank
a carnival attraction (see right) in which the participant pays to hurl one or more balls at a target that, if hit, will trigger a mechanism that unseats a victim into a receptacle of water
inbent
directed inward
Page 741
s-boarded
story-boarded
anality
anal-retentiveness
Everclear
a brand of pure grain alcohol
Shoats
young pigs
Boosters
members of a booster club
H.S.
high school
YardGuard
a brand name of insect repellent
Page 742
Vittorio's Bernini Room
this would seem to be a museum name, but there is no museum by that name in the Boston area
Bernini's sculpture 'Ecstasy of St. Teresa' is located in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
herring
i.e., a red herring — a distraction
Page 743
Legal Seafood up in Brookline
Legal Sea Foods, a chain that got its start in Inman Square, has a restaurant at 43 Boylston St., at the border of Brookline and within five miles of ETA.
Endnote 309
boniface
an innkeeper
Page 743 (cont'd)
grouper
a family of fish including sea basses
Page 744
obtruding
pushing something forward without invitation
tri-faceted
three-sided
Albertan champagne
an oxymoron — champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France
Page 745
Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) was an American actor.
two meters
about 6.6 feet
heliotropes
plants that turn toward the sun
Candela
From the SI: The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540×1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.
freezing point of platinum
If the melting point of platinum is 3214.9 ° F, then at any temperature below this, it will be solid, i.e., frozen.
Bazin
André Bazin (1918 – 1958) was an influential French film critic and film theorist.
Thomist
ascribing to the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas
personalistes
One of the main currents of the non-conformist movement in France in the 1930s, the personalistes school's main organ was Emmanuel Mounier's jouranl Esprit, in which Bazin published film criticism. The aesthetic theory of the personalistes was formulated by Jacques Maritain. For a discussion of Bazin's relation to Mounier see this article.
Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (1934-1996) was an American astronomer and host of a television show called Cosmos.
Haplology
the elimination of a syllable in a word when two consecutive, identical syllables occur, e.g., "probly" for "probably"
Page 746
'the vapors'
a euphemism for hysteria
Spielberg's old computer-enhanced celluloid things
the Jurassic Park films
Page 747
Kahlua
a coffee-flavored liqueur
blancmange
a thick milk pudding
chickory
usually spelled chicory, is used as a coffee substitute or additive in some places
thymus
a bodily organ that plays a role in immune function
Marathe at Ennet House, cont.
Page 747
subaltern
a subordinate
"He had the great fatigue..."
A less literal translation would be: "He was very tired..."
Page 748
"...to smack, to scag, and to H..."
all the same thing, being street names for heroin
Page 749
bolt of death
i.e., a deadbolt lock
Chit Chat Farms
This is a real detox in Wernersville, Pa., about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Page 750
chez
a French preposition meaning "at the home of"
Page 751
comment-on-dit?
French: How do you say?
45 kph
almost 28 miles per hour
Caisse de Dépôt et Placement
French: Fund for Registration and Placement
Joelle Continues to Clean
Page 751
katexia
Just like when Joelle referred to CA newcomers as "catexic" on pg 707, there's no word "katexia" in any American dictionary, although Freud used "katexis" to refer to the process by means of which libido energy is tied or placed into the mental representation of a personality, idea, or thing." What would make more sense in context is cachexia, the weight loss and muscle atrophy caused by some chronic diseases.
Page 752
Feeling Good
One of the key books on cognitive therapy for depression by David D. Burns, M.D., an American psychiatrist.
Marathe's Intake, cont.
Page 752
volubly
to speak readily
M./Mlle.
French: Monsieur/Mademoiselle, i.e., Mr./Ms., used because of Steeply's disguise
restenotic
refers to restenosis, or the re-narrowing of blood vessels after initial stenosis
Page 753
spire
steeple
manche à balai
French: broom handle
chanteur-fou
French: crazy singer
calculus
here meaning simply "calculation"
Lopate
The name is perhaps taken from Philip Lopate (born 1943), an American film critic.
transpercé
pierced through
Page 754
Endnote 315
malentendu
mishearing
Page 755
