Pages 219-258

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219* · Joelle Contemplates Suicide

Page 219

MIT Seal

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

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 Noferatu. Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (1861-1938) was a French filmmaker, famous for the silent A Voyage to the Moon.

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 widely eaten grain

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
a pint

Big Red Soda Water
apparently a real brand

Chore Boy
a brand of scrubbing pads

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

223 (1) · Chronology of 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

223 (2) · Joelle continued

Page 225

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
irrational fear or pornography [doubtful; fear of being looked at makes more sense]

227 (1) · Helen P. Steeply's 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 an older abbreviation for B.A., i.e., Bachelor of Arts. M.J.A. is probably Master of Journalistic Arts.

Decade Magazine
A list of articles from this publication can be found here.

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

227 (2) · Joelle continued

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 Hat

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)

Y.T.S.D.B.

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."

Maya Deren
Born Eleanora Derenkowsky, Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Ukrainian-born American filmmmaker.

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.

Y.D.A.U.

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"]

Y.T.S.D.B.

Boaz
the name of cities in both Alabama and West Virginia

Page 231

Vogelsong
German: bird song

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
trembles or vibrates

jaundice
yellowing of the skin caused by liver disease

b & w
black and white

Bouvier
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's unmarried name

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 "bone." The first-person singular of sein ("to be") is bin.

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

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

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
a 1949 film by Sidney Peterson

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
NoCoat is a brand of drywall materials.

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.
Thought G.O.A.T. stands here for "Girl Of All Time," it's a pun (and an oxymoron) since "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

240* · 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 16,400 feet

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
zeros

A.D.E.
Air Delivery Equipment

242 · Hal and Orin on Himself

Page 242

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

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 make favorably inclined

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

Page 246

rodneys
obviously some kind of impulse buy, but I can't figure out what kind

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.

Page 248

'20 for 28 is what, 65%?'
It's a little over 71%.

Page 249

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

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.

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

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