Pages 964-981

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964 · Pre-Exhibition Fête

Page 964

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

claret-colored
A deep purplish red. Claret is also the name of a wine that is produced in the Bordeaux region of France and slang for 'blood'.[1]

fuller's earth or sawdust
Fuller's earth is an absorbent clay that is used in talcum powder. Sawdust and chalk (talcum) are used by tennis players to keep their grip dry. [2]

Page 965

pigeon-toed
having toes that point inward, like this: / \

shifted antigens
An antigenic shift generally refers to the medical term that explains how two strains of the influenza virus join together to form a new subtype and, in turn, become more virile. The new subtype has a mixture of the antigens from the originals. An antigen is the substance that stimulates the immune system. [3]

It's used here to refer to rumors about severe weather and the Quebec Junior Team. These rumors undergo an antigenic shift as they circulate around the locker room. They combine and are reconstituted as a new, more virile, rumor before being returned to the rumor's originator.

the Csikszentmihalyi kid was doing a kind of piaffer
A piaffer is a trot in place where the legs are lifted high. This type of trot is usually done by a horse, but it's part of the 'Csikszentmihalyi kid's' pre-game ritual to stretch his hip flexors.

The name Csikszentmihalyi may be a humorous nod to the Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is noted for his work in happiness and creativity. He is known as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology and proposed the concept of Flow. Flow is the mental state whereby a person is fully immersed and focused on an activity (such as Tennis). [4]

hip-flexors
the muscles that move the hip

an ascot or a very fey tie
An ascot is a scarf or tie with broad ends typically worn for formal occasions[5]. If the tie very fey, it is excessively refined [6] or fancy to the point that it could be confused with an ascot.

invoking Camilla, goddess of speed and light step
Camilla of Volsci, a heroine from Roman Mythology, found in Virgil's prose and ancient pottery paintings. Virgil claimed Camilla was so fast that she could run across the ocean without wetting her feet and across fields of grain without bending the grass. [7] To 'invoke' is to petition for help with an incantation.[8]

As part of their pre-match ritual, the female players, Thode and Donni Stott, can be heard praying to or otherwise petitioning Camilla whose light footed speed may translate to success on the court.

Page 966

Frankenstein
or, more correctly, Frankenstein's monster

Hal
who is clearly not narrating anymore, unless he is speaking of himself in the third person

malleolus
a bony lump on the side of the ankle

Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell (born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and painter. Wikipedia Entry.

occluded
Closed off, shut in, or blocked off [9]

they all in here existed basically as Fourier Transforms of postures and little routines

A Fourier transform is a mathematical operation that transforms one function into another. This type of transform is named in honour of Joseph Fourier. [10] To exist basically as Fourier Transforms of postures and routines is to exist as an abstraction where a student is trained in postures and routines is transformed into tennis player capable of executing a variation of those postures and routines.

ingenuish
in the manner of an innocent young woman

moribund
nearing death or in a terminal decline [11]

Page 967

Y.T.M.P. - Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad

ciquatoxic
an alternate or mispelling of 'ciguatoxic'. Reef fish can carry ciguatoxins, which cause ciguatera food poisoning [12] in humans who consume the contaminated fish. These toxins may be specific to certain reefs, are concentrated up the food chain and as such are more likely to be present in larger reef fish, and cannot be destroyed by cooking and freezing [13]

P.O.
philharmonic orchestra

R.C. clergy
Roman Catholic priesthood

Jesuit seminary Theological training for the Society of Jesus Roman Catholic religious order of clerks, known as Jesuits. Jesuits are known for for their missionary work, social justice and human rights. [14]

Page 968

Sanger-Brown's ataxia
another name for Marie's ataxia

practicum
the student-teaching portion of a teaching education

spiritually necrotic
Necrosis usually refers to the localized death of cells within healthy tissue. To be spiritually necrotic is akin to having a dead spirit in an otherwise healthy body.

Jesuitical Endeavors
An endeavor is a purposeful undertaking that requires boldness. Jesuitical endeavors are those undertaken as part of a Jesuit ministry.

Numero Uno
Spanish for Number One, used here as an expression to mean concern about only oneself.

ineluctable
incapable of being avoided or changed

Apologia
An Apologia is a defense of one's beliefs, religious or other. Here, Barry is out of his league in his ability to put up a good defense of the religious beliefs that may help get his brother out of his own spiritual funk.

Page 969

self-mimetic
imitating one's self

...not that much unlike Alyosha and Ivan's conversations in the good old Brothers K.
The Brother's Karamazov is a novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881). Ivan and Alyosha, main characters in the novel, are siblings. Alyosha has a faith in God that manifests in a love of mankind and Ivan is a rationalist who is burdened by his inability or unwillingness to believe in a God that could preside over an unjust world. In the novel the brothers, Ivan and Alyosha, discuss their opposing beliefs.

erudite
scholarly

carcinogenic
causing cancer

acerbity
acidity

Ivan's Grand Inquisitor scenario
Read this portion here.

lumpen
disenfrancished

solar plexus
a complex of nerves in the abdomen

verminousness
resembling vermin

mufti
civilian dress - also a name for a type of Muslim scholar

Page 970

alms
charity

silt
very small grains of rock or sand

Page 971

fuliginous
smoky or sooty

50° C
122° Fahrenheit

Page 972

'Do it to her! Do it to her!'
a reference to George Orwell's 1984. Winston Smith shouts 'Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia!' under similar circumstances.

ham
an actor who is bad by virtue of over-acting

972 · Final Chapter

Page 972

confiteor
a prayer of confession of sins

Page 973

Endnote 385

gram-negative
this refers to a bacterium that does not show up in a violet stain using Gram's method - so in other words, the implication is that the doctor suspects Gately has a particularly resistant strain of bacteria within his body that previous antibiotics given to him have been ineffective in eliminating.

Page 973 (cont.)

"...look down her shirt and spell attic..."
and thus saying, "A-T-T-I-C" or "a titty I see"

Page 974

vertical hold
the control on a television that prevents the picture from rolling bottom to top

Page 975

Weejuns
a type of shoe, see here

Page 976

Jack Daniels
a famous brand of bourbon whiskey

Page 977

S&W
Smith & Wesson

2500-IU ampule
IUs are international units, which converts to metric depending on the substance.

transvestals
i.e., transvestites

Page 978

Endnote 386

Exocet
a type of missile

antagonists
a drug that acts against an agonist, i.e., a drug that stimulates a certain receptor

Page 978 (cont'd)

Linda McCartney
Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (1941-1998) was an American photographer and wife of Beatle Paul McCartney (born 1943).

Page 979

Endnote 387

pentazocine
a synethetic opioid painkiller

Endnote 387a

dysmenorrhea
pre-menstrual syndrome and/or painful periods

hot shot
an injection intended to kill

PX
with a pharmaceutical as part of the name, it means it contains pentazocine

Page 980

ditty
a little song

Page 981

"...the one about ultraviolence and sadism."
Gately is thinking of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange