Difference between revisions of "Pages 27-63"

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Page 27 (cont'd)

convulsively
As if struck by a convulsion; moving suddenly and without coordination.

Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad

caries
tooth decay, leading to a cavity (always used in plural form)

Page 28

"...a regular verb, transitive..."
In english, regular verbs end in -ed (or -d, for infinitives that end in -e) in the past simple or the past participle. An irregular verb does not follow this rule. For example, "implore," a regular verb, is "implored" in the past simple tense. "Fall," an irregular verb, becomes "fell" in the past simple tense.

A transitive verb is able to take a direct object. For example, "I implore you." Intransitive verbs generally necessitate a preposition: "I look at you."

continentally ranked
ranking of players in North America, see, e.g., O.N.A.N.C.A.A.

supplication
To ask earnestly; beg.

OED
The abbreviation for "Oxford English Dictionary."

Page 29

Webster's 7th
Webster's Dictionary, 7th edition.

moniker
nickname

apprised
informed

consummate
Highly skilled; perfect.

Byzantine erotica
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. A cursory google search for "Byzantine Erotica" reveals not very much at all. The topic is either as esoteric as it seems or a DFW invention.

fly-by-night
Untrustworthy.

pejorative
derogatory, disparaging (Hal indicating that the phrase "my reputation preceded me" is generally used in a pejorative sense)

Alexandrian
Referring to the reign of the Byzantine emperor Alexander who ruled from 879-913 c.e.

Constantinian
Presumably referring to the reign of Constantine "the Great", Byzantine emperor from 306–337 c.e.

"...intra-provincial crisis..."
A crisis occurring within a province.

racy mosaics
Referring to aforementioned Byzantine Erotica. Mosaics are detailed pictures created with very small pieces of stone.

Page 30

sordid liaison
A distasteful or morally wrong secret sexual relationship.

amanuensis-cum-operative
The professional conversationalist is saying that Luria P----- is both an amanuensis--a secretary who takes dictation--and a secret agent.

lexical prodigy
A child who is exceptionally talented with words.

avant-garde
Marked by unusual, cutting-edge artistic ideas.

Der Spiegel
A German news-weekly magazine, known for investigative journalism

papparazzo
a kind of photo-journalist who seeks out impromptu unauthorized shots of the rich and famous, frequently in search of scandal

alpenstock
a metal-tipped staff used by mountaineers

assignation
a meeting between lovers; tryst

Page 31

Page 32

"I want to tell you . . . My head is filled with things to say."
These are the first lines of the Beatles song "I Want to Tell You," written by George Harrison (1943-2001).

"I don't mind . . . I could wait forever."
more lyrics from "I Want to Tell You," though not the very next ones

Brandt
Another German name, most famously the nom de guerre of the future mayor of West Berlin and Kanzler of Germany, Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm (1913-1922).

Page 33

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

legation
a diplomatic office lower than an embassy

Libertine Statue
I.e., the Statue of Liberty, though calling it this implies sexual promiscuity, even if she is wearing a diaper

apposite
suitable or well adapted

Rub' al Khali
Arabic for Empty Quarter, another name for the Arabian Desert.

maxillofacial
pertaining to or affecting the jaws and face

Candida albacans
the Latin name for a fungal infection that causes, among other disorders, thrush

monilial
of or caused by fungus of the genus Monila

DeBakey
Michael Ellis DeBakey (1908-2008) is a world-famous heart surgeon.

ad valorem
Latin: according to the value

nauseous
Correctly used here, this word means "tending to cause nausea." If one has nausea, they are "nauseated."

Page 34

Scottsdale
a suburb about 19 miles east-northeast of Phoenix

sufism
a mystic strain of Islam

Pir Valayat
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan (1916-2004) was a British-born Sufi.

kif
Arabic for marijuana in leaf form, as opposed to hashish

shari'a-halal
An Arabic term akin to the Jewish kosher, this means that food has been prepared in accordance with Islamic law.

Back Bay Hilton
This is a real hotel, with a Web site here.

nystatin
an anti-fungal drug

stiptics
A styptic is a chemical that stops bleeding.

Page 35

necrosis
a term for death of bodily tissue

Page 36

triptych
a three-part art display

O.N.A.N.M.A.
Organization of North American Nations Medical Assocation

actinomycete-class antibiotics
antibiotics effective against Gram-positive bacteria called actinobacteria

CBC/PATHÉ
CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Company. PATHÉ is probably the French entertainment company Pathé Frères (Pathé Brothers).

Nass
Arabic for "text"

Page 37

Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar

double dutch
a type of rope jumping where two ropes are used

Page 38

Brighton Projects
presumably high-rise, low-income housing in Brighton

Shedd Spread
a brand of margarine

wraithlike
A wraith is a type of ghost.

Page 39

nocturnal emitter
a boy who has a wet dream

anfractuous
full of twists and turns

Page 39

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

Page 40

petulant
unreasonably irritable

Page 41

Tosca
The title of an opera by Italian composer Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (1858-1924), which premiered in 1900.

Page 42

agoraphobic
suffering from an irrational fear of going outside

portcullis
This is "a strong grating, as of iron, made to slide along vertical grooves at the sides of a gateway of a fortified place and let down to prevent passage" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).

Page 42

2010h. on 1 April
The medical attaché has been watching for forty-three minutes.

Page 42

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

Page 43

Ambush
a real perfume

Home with the team
It's already been mentioned that Orin plays professional football. He must play for the Arizona Cardinals.

Page 44

Blattaria implacblus
Blattaria is the order that contains the several genus and species of cockroaches. The Latin phrase really means "implacable cockroach."

Page 45

fantods
sudden outpourings of anger, outrage, or fear

Chalmette
an eastern suburb of New Orleans

Page 46

kippers
cured herring

Mrs. Avril M. T. Incandenza
Hal's mother is named for the first time.

phylacteryish
Remove "-ish" and you have the English word for tefillin.

imprimatur
sanction or approval

Page 48

Positron-Emission Topography
According to Wikipedia, this is "a nuclear medicine medical imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or map of functional processes in the body."

positrons
the sub-atomic particles that are the opposite of electrons

Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang (1890-1976) was a Viennese-born Austrian-American director, probably most famous for M.

Moment magazine
This is a Jewish-interest magazine.

Page 49

Pandora's box of worms
a mixed metaphor of "Pandora's box" and "can of worms," neither of which can be shut again once they're opened

Page 49

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

one-hitter
a small marijuana pipe that will provide one "hit" of marijuana per packing

Page 50

Partridge, KS
A town in Kansas about 55 miles north-northwest of Wichita

Charles Tavis
I.e., C.T.

gizzard
the digestive organ of a bird

Page 51

Bob Hope
Cockney rhyming slang for "dope"

neo-Georgian
modern-day architecture that approximates that of the Georgian period, from 1714 (accession of George I of the U.K.) to 1830 (death of George III)

Endnote 3

Page 51 (cont'd)

spherocubular
Another neologism, presumably meaning having characteristics of both a sphere and cube -- a three-dimension "squircle".

Leith
A homonym of Lethe, the name of the river in Greek mythology whose water, if drunk, will erase one's memory.

Dr. James O. Incandenza
Hal's father's full name is given for the first time.

Page 52

dendriurethane
This substance does not actually exist. An educated guess is that it is a type of polyurethane that comes from trees, dendri being Greek for "tree."

twenty meters
almost twenty-two yards

unfenestrated
having no windows

two meter
a little over 6.5 ft

banshee
In Irish mythology, the banshee is female spirit, who acts as an omen of death. They are known for "keening," i.e., shrieking.

flange
a plate or ring to form a rim at the end of a pipe when fastened to the pipe

Page 53

post-latency
after the latency period that Freud posited in his four-stage theory of psychosexual development in children

Endnote 5

Endnote 5a

Endnote 6

Endnote 7

Page 53 (cont'd)

Endnote 8

Endnote 8a

mushrooms or X
psilocybin mushrooms or MDMA (called ecstasy)

Page 53 (cont'd)

Interdependent regions
I.e., Canada

prorectors
members of a management body of a university, each managing his/her specific area

the Show
professional tennis

Page 54

Kodiak
a brand of chewing tobacco

quail
to shrink back in fear

Page 54

0020h
The medical attaché has now been watching for four hours and fifty-three minutes.

Page 54

filmic
having to do with motion pictures

Page 55

Year of Dairy Products From the American Heartland

Endnote 12a

Page 55 (cont'd)

élan
enthusiastic vigor or liveliness

Revere Holding
a jail, obviously -- probably the jail for Revere, Mass., just south of Boston

P.D.
public defender

Endnote 13

Page 55 (cont'd)

dictum
a maxim or saying

Page 56

Marblehead
A town in Essex County, Mass., home to a yachting resort. It's about 15 miles northeast of the city on the water.

Page 57

Endnote 17

International Affairs and Interdependent Affairs
The first magazine is real; the second is not.

teak chiffonier
a piece of furniture, one of which you can see here

Berkshires
the westernmost portion of Massachusetts, a popular vacation spot

van Dyke
a goatee

apocopes
losses of syllables from words, particularly unstressed vowels

Café au Lait
half coffee and half milk in a large cup, as drunk in France

gangrenously tight
I.e., so tight as to cause gangrene, i.e., death of tissue due to lack of blood

Page 58

grippe
flu

pre-British-takeover Québecois
The British took over Quebec on September 8, 1760.

grackles
passernine birds native to North America

Page 59

Endnote 19

intercostal
pertaining to the ribs or the muscles around them

Montreal Tulip Fest
The Canadian Tulip Festival actually takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec, which border each other.

Guillaume DuPlessis
A man by this name was one of the first French Calvinist settlers on the island of St. Kitts in the 17th century.

250 clicks due east
Clicks are kilometers. Two hundred fifty km is about 155 miles.

lividity
the change of color in skin brought on by livor mortis, an after-death phenomenon when blood settles in the body at low points of gravity

comme-il-faut
French: As is necessary

Page 60

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

932/1864
I don't know what the numbers mean, but the first is half of the second.

R.I.S.C.
reduced instruction set computer, i.e., a computer that takes a limited set of commands

Primestar
a direct broadcast satellite network active in the 1990s

D.S.S.
digital satellite system

pixel-free
smooth and not pixelated

baud
a unit equal to bits per second; a baud rate is the number of bits per second a modem can send/receive

couture
French for "fashion"

nanoprocessors
very small processors -- smaller than microprocessors

chromotography
Here misspelled, chromatography is "any of various techniques for the separation of complex mixtures that rely on the differential affinities of substances for a gas or liquid mobile medium and for a stationary adsorbing medium through which they pass, such as paper, gelatin, or magnesia" (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

carpal neuralgia
nerve pain in the bones of the hand

phosphenic migraine
the phenomenon of seeing lights accompanying a migraine

gluteal hyperadiposity
fat in the buttocks

lumbar stressae
back stress

Page 60

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

Jim Troeltsch
The most famous person with this surname is Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), a German Protestant theologian and philosopher of religion and history.

Narberth PA
a suburb of Philadelphia, on the famous Main Line from Philadelphia to Lancaster

meatus
a natural bodily opening

Endnote 21

OTC
over the counter

expectorants
drugs that induce phlegm-producing coughing

pertussives
cough suppressants

megaspansules
a combination of mega + span + capsule, these would be large, time-released capsules

Endnote 22

mucoid dessicators
drugs that dry up phlegm

Page 60 (cont'd)

Rader
If the name is pronounced with a "long a," as in the Oakland football team, a famous person with this last name was Erich Johann Albert Raeder (1876-1960), a World War II-era German grand admiral, sentenced to life at Nuremberg but served only nine years.

Page 61

nebulizer
something that turns a liquid into a spray

fugue-state
According to Wikipedia, a fugue state is "a state of mind characterized by abandonment of personal identity, along with the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality."

prolix
extended to a great, unneedy length

Page 61

rhinoviri
Wallace's plural for rhinovirus, one of dozens of variations of the virus that causes the common cold, also rhinoviruses

mucosa
An absorptive/secretive tissue layer in the body; here, in Troeltsch's throat or nose

Page 62

matte
as an adjective, having a dull or lusterless finish

snuff-white
Snuff is grayish to yellowish brown in color; snuff-white must be that color, but lighter.

reglets
narrow, flat moldings

rheostats
continuously variable electronic resistors

shank
part of the leg between the knee and ankle

Page 63

As of Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Which is to say, as of 2009

pre-Method actor
He was an actor before the dawn of the Method.

dipsomaniacal
Characterized by an uncontrollable urge to consume alcohol, describing James O. Incandenza's father

Endnote 23