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April 30th/May 1st, YDAU - Marathe & Steeply on the A.F.R.'s motives

Page 418

Page 419

capricious
subject to acting on a whim

Caillou Bay
caillou = quail in French. You can see a map of southern Louisiana here.

Cajun
a corruption of Acadian, a French-speaking people dwelling in the woods of Louisiana, having emigrated there from French Canada two hundred years ago

Taurus PT9
You can see this pistol here.

unsafetied
The gun's safety is off.

longshoremen
Dock workers who load and unload ships.

caricaturesque
neologism: pertaining to a depiction of someone that exaggerates certain facial or bodily characteristics

Page 420

subsumption
the act of placing something under a more comprehensive category

rôle
This is how we used to spell "role" in English and how it's still spelled in French.

Edmonton
the capital of Alberta

Page 421

Ragheads
derogatory term for people who wear keffiyehs or turbans

malice
desire to do harm

delineatable
exactly describable

Page 422

vacuous
lacking in ideas or intelligence

Shining Path
Maoist guerrilla group in Peru (Wikipedia)

Maxwell House
a brand of coffee

M. Kemp
as in Monsieur Kemp, i.e., Jack Kemp, implying he was assassinated with a bomb in his house

Very Large Satan
or "Great Satan," if you will

Page 423

utilitaire
utilitarian, i.e., providing the greatest good for the greatest number

Comme on dit
French: Like they say

burning some k. down
what is k.?? presumably kilometers (kerosene or kindling fits the context better, I wot)

Page 424

sacrosanct
inviolable

Bien sûr
of course

chasm
a gorge or deep cleft in the earth's surface

Page 425

Habitant soupe aux pois
Habitant is Québecois French for "farmer," though it seems like a brand name here. Soupe aux pois is pea soup, very popular in Québec. Habitant is in fact a Canadian brand of soup made by the Campbell Company of Canada.

parodically
in a sarcastic or mocking way

Page 426

Safeway
a chain of supermarkets

burrs
rough and prickly seed husks prone to sticking to hair or fur

Page 427

ami
French: friend

un autre
an other, i.e., an outsider

pursuivre le bonheur
French: (properly poursuivre) pursuit of happiness

declivity
downward slope

idylls
simple and tranquil scenes of nature

supine
on one's back

Page 428

ponderous
awkward or unwieldy

Endnote 173

Endnote 304

Notes and Errata - Endnote 304

Page 428 (cont'd)

Veuillez Recycler Ce Contenant
French: Please Recycle This Container

en ce moment
French: at this moment

Page 429

D'éclaisant
not a real French word
"éclairer" is French for enlighten, so we can assume this is intended to mean enlightenment.

mafficking
boisterous celebration, back-formation from Mafeking (now Mafikeng), from the rejoicings at the relief of the siege there during the Boer War in 1900 — Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition. Probably no connection intended with Tantivy Mucker-Maffick, a character in Gravity's Rainbow

Page 430

Entre nous
French: Between us

gendarmes
usually denoting the police force of France or a formerly French nation, here simply meaning law enforcement agencies

The Rest of the Eric Clipperton Story

Page 430

perfunctory
performed with minimal effort or care, done just out of routine or duty

Page 431

slider
in tennis, a slider is a sliced serve with side spin. Refer here.

Year of the Whopper

Forest Lawn NNY
a town in New York state, on Lake Ontario

cuirass
a piece of armor covering the heart

PowerBook
an Apple brand of laptop computer, preceding the MacBook

vig
the amount charged by a bookie for facilitating bets

Page 432

codicil
NOAD: an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one

CPR
cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Winchester
a city in Massachusetts about 8.5 miles northwest of Boston

counsel
in this context, advice or guidance, especially that given formally. It can also be used to refer to attorney(s)

whey
the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained

Page 433

green-gilled
i.e., green about the gills, about to vomit

miasma
NOAD: a highly unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor

cordite
NOAD: a smokeless explosive made from nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, and petroleum jelly, used in ammunition.

Crawfordsville, Indiana
a town about 45 miles northwest of Indianapolis

Veedersburg IN
this town lies 22 miles west of Crawfordsville on Route 74

bradykinetic
with slowed movements due to neurologic dysfunction

Page 434

vicissitude
a change or variation in the course of something; or a hardship due to chance

votaried
filled with devotion

Gately's Other Job

Page 434

Jamaica Plain
a section of Boston

cab of his 4 X 4
A 4 X 4 is a vehicle having 4 wheels, each of which is powered; and the cab is where people sit.

sub-table
under the table, i.e., off the books so that taxes don't have to be paid

yutzes
plural of the Yiddish word "yutz" meaning fool (See Wikipedia)

Page 435

colostomy
a procedure by which feces exit the body via a hole in a person's side into a bag, rather than via the anus

Kaposi's Sarcoma
a type of viral cancer that causes skin lesions

suppurating
oozing pus

D.T.s
shaking frenzy, from the Latin delirium tremens

sperm
actually, undoubtedly, semen with its attendant sperm

spermy
see previous note

B&E
Breaking and Entry, i.e., burglary

finski
slang: $5 bill

Kools
a brand of menthol cigarettes

Page 436

mobilely upward
that is to say, upwardly mobile

witticism
a funny remark

More O.N.A.N.T.A. History

Page 436

Davis
a city in California about 15 miles west of Sacramento

Quik
a powder mix used to make chocolate milk

Page 437

NaCN
sodium cyanide

rivet
a type of pin or bolt; DFW is likely playing off the phrase "dead as a doornail" here

acrostics
Dr. Rusk might be composing acrostic poems, in which the first letters of each line, read sequentially, spell a word or phrase or create a mnemonic device, but it's more likely that she's solving acrostic puzzles, in which the letters comprising a quotation (typically 180-225) are scrambled into a set of clued entries (most commonly 22-26), the first letters of which spell out the name of the author of the quotation and the work in which it appears.

dewimpled
like defrocked, except for a nun. The Carmelites being a Roman Catholic Order which puts an emphasis on contemplation.

Page 438

Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V (1741-1801) was an American general during the Revolutionary War who turned traitor for the British.

Endnote 176

Minister of Environment and Resource-Development Enterprises
The initials spell merde, which is French for "shit."

Candida albicans
a fungus associated with yeast infections in humans

macrocartographic
immense and involved with maps

Page 438 (cont'd)

Sino-temporal-endorsement
Chinese-style-time-sponsorship; a reference to China's use of animal signs to date the years (Year of the Dog, Pig, Rat, etc.); the obvious inspiration or model for Subsidized Time.

Year of the Whopper

orts
scraps of food

CONCORD
the capital of New Hampshire

CLEMSON
a university in South Carolina

Rantoul IL
a town 125 miles south-southwest of Chicago

ACROMEGALIC
suffering from acromegaly, a chronic disease characterized by enlarged bones of the extremities, face, and jaw, caused by excessive secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary gland

Ithaca NY
a town in upstate New York, home to Cornell University

Page 439

camp
deliberately artificial or vulgar -- sometimes referring specifically to gay humor

robber-baron
Wikipedia defines robber-barons as "businessmen and bankers who dominated their respective industries and amassed huge personal fortunes, typically as a direct result of pursuing various allegedly anti-competitive or unfair business practices."

Ollster
a nickname for Oliver, like "Ollie"

"...one slim cat with an outsized leg..."
i.e., Orin Incandenza

Page 440

placative
intending to pacify or calm

quadrennial
occurring every four years

pulchritudinous
good-looking

chapeau
hat

Page 441

cheri
French: my dear

"look into my eyes: no new enhancements"
Cf. George H. W. Bush saying "Read my lips: no new taxes" during his 1988 election campaign (See Wikipedia).

Cerberus
In Greek mythology, this the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades. President Gentle is mixing his mythological metaphors here: Cerberus's three heads were not horned, as was that of the Minotaur, with its bull's head on the body of a man.

Achilles' tendon
A tendon in the back of the leg, near the foot, named for the great Greek hero of the Trojan War. But Achilles was mortally wounded by Paris's poisoned arrow, not by a thorn, which instead figures prominently in Aesop's tale of Androcles and the Lion.

Page 442

canter
an easy gallop

Ixnayish
Remove -ish, and you have Pig Latin for "nix."

H.U.D.
Housing and Urban Development