Pages 589-619
- Editors: Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel. And please pay attention to formatting and grammar. Preview your changes before saving them. Thanks!
Contents
- 1 Mario longs for M.P., goes for a walk
- 2 Life as an Ennet House Staff Member
- 3 Orin & the "Swiss" hand model, cont.
- 4 Canadians chase Lenz to Ennet House
- 4.1 Page 601
- 4.2 Endnote 247
- 4.3 Page 602
- 4.4 Endnote 248
- 4.5 Page 602 (cont'd)
- 4.6 Page 603
- 4.7 Page 604
- 4.8 Page 605
- 4.9 Page 606
- 4.10 Endnote 252
- 4.11 Page 606 (cont'd)
- 4.12 Page 607
- 4.13 Page 608
- 4.14 Page 609
- 4.15 Page 610
- 4.16 Page 611
- 4.17 Page 612
- 4.18 Page 613
- 4.19 Page 614
- 4.20 Page 615
- 4.21 Page 616
- 4.22 Page 617
- 4.23 Page 618
- 4.24 Page 619
Mario longs for M.P., goes for a walk
Page 589
Revelation of John
the last book of the New Testament
Carpenters
a 1970s soft rock band shown here
Dysautonomia
any disease or malfunction of the central nervous system
zither
a string instrument showcased here
Page 590
XL
extra-large
preverbally
before speaking
Concupiscence
strong desire, especially sexual
Page 591
ONE DAY A
"One Day at a Time," an AA slogan
Page 592
Page 593
Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School - the only public high school in Cambridge MA.
Life as an Ennet House Staff Member
Page 593
picayune
trivial
lithium
used to treat bipolar disorder
Sylvia Plate
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was an American poet and novelist who suffered from depression and took her own life in 1963.
Page 594
diverticulitis
a painful disease involving the formation of pouches within the bowel wall
narc
a narcotics officer or a snitch
verbatim
word for word
baroque
bizarre or complex
ideation
the act of forming new ideas
collate
collect and combine in proper order
Page 595
Page 596
decoct
extract
street-canny
streetwise
accretes
accumulates
Orin & the "Swiss" hand model, cont.
Page 596
tamping
packing down the tobacco
Page 597
cuckolds
men whose wives cheat on them
zaftig
a Yiddish word meaning, roughly, "voluptuous"
pectorals
chest muscles
Page 598
'Plus or minus three percent sample.'
This is the margin of error on the supposed survey Orin is about to take.
Pisser
remarkable, alternatively, disappointing
yarmulke
a small round cap worn by Jewish men
Page 599
CO2
a misprint, likely, for CO2, i.e., carbon dioxide
winsome
attractive and engaging due to a childlike nature
gas range
a gas powered oven and stove
omnissent
Orin means "omniscient."
Schmeisser GBF
Schmeisser doesn't appear to be a gun manufacturer anymore, but it was in Germany until the fall of the Third Reich. GBF may stand for "German Battle Force."
retromandibular
behind the lower jaw
Sermonette
a short sermon
Evensong
the evening prayer of the Episcopal church
megahertz
a measurement of cycles per second
Page 600
vapidity
lack of engaging or challenging qualities
Actors' Guild
a reference to the Screen Actors Guild
Jeannie, Samantha, Sam and Diane, Gilligan, Hawkeye, Hazel, Jed
characters from, respectively, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Cheers, Gilligan's Island, M*A*S*H, Hazel, and The Beverly Hillbillies.
surcease
cessation
Page 601
comme on dit
French: as they say
Canadians chase Lenz to Ennet House
Page 601
Endnote 247
the Hole
prison slang for solitary confinement
hangdog
shamefaced
Page 602
cribbage
a type of card game
Endnote 248
Natick
a town in Massachusetts about 20 miles west of Boston
Page 602 (cont'd)
third year of Subsidized Time
i.e., the Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar
Mass Rehab Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
Page 603
skivvies
underwear
per diem
Latin: per day
klaxon
a loud metal horn
Page 604
B.U. or -C. students
i.e., students of Boston University or (Boston) College
constitutionally
meaning "psychologically" (or even "physiologically")
a kind of idolotry of uniqueness
i.e., a worship of individuality
Page 605
rack
bed (perhaps a bunk, here)
over-ebullient
excessively cheerful
chuffing
producing or moving with noisy exhaust or exhalations, e.g., a chuffing train
seventh sense
implying that Gately also possesses the sixth sense (i.e., extrasensory perception or at least uncommonly keen intuition), and suggests an ability to recognize that someone else is under the influence (although some of the first five could probably tell him that)
Sergeant at Arms
a figurative use, probably suggesting that the drugs Lenz took have commanded him to keep moving (in the manner of a drill sergeant)
Nietzschean
the Substance can make any man feel like an Übermensch (superhuman)
incognitoizing
Gately's mental neologism for "rendering incognito," i.e., disguising
regentrifying
Lenz means "regenerating" rather than "refurbishing (again)"
fish-in-a-gaff
e.g., fish on a hook
L-Dopa
abbreviation for levadopa a chemical precursor to dopamine, adrenaline, and other neurotransmitters
scrotum-tightening
An epithet first used by James Joyce in Chapter 1 of his 1922 novel Ulysses. Buck Mulligan is gazing at the Dublin Bay: "--God, he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a grey sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks. I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look." (Epi oinopa ponton is Homer's famous descriptor for the Aegean Sea from The Odyssey: the wine-dark sea.)
Page 606
Duster
the Plymouth Duster
lacteal
milky
rear-mount engine
all Volkswagen bugs have rear-mounted engines
prostrate
lying flat on the ground (or, here, a bed)
kosher
Here Gately means "OK," whereas this literally, in Yiddish, refers to food "prepared according to Jewish Law."
Endnote 252
boilerplate
standard text entered identically, as into contracts
oubliette
a dungeon with an opening only at the top
Page 606 (cont'd)
Daytona
i.e., the Daytona 500, a yearly auto race
Page 607
Simonize
to shine or polish to a high sheen
Premium
high-octane gasoline
adtorsion
turning inward of both eyes
Hoits
i.e., "hurts"
Page 608
high-B#
Equivalent to the pitch of C, and vocally, the high C is two octaves above middle C.
sotto
i.e., sotto voce meaning in a very quiet voice
SHUCO-MIST M.P.S.
Shuco-Mist Medical Pressure Systems (mentioned on page 198) is perhaps the fictional manufacturer a brand of nebulizer (actually spelled "Schuco Mist") for use by asthma patients.
Page 609
imprecating
calling down curses on others
in tandem
together as a unit
Weaver stance
a popular technique for firing a handgun
Made Guys
members of the Mafia in full standing
at bay
subdued and remaining at a distance
hammer's bobbed
meaning the cocking spur of the hammer has been cut off to prevent snagging
Page 610
wicks
draws off (liquid) by capillary action
wadcutter
special bullets with a flat front designed for shooting paper targets
dum-dums
bullets that mushroom on impact for maximum bodily damage
lending weight to another cliché
presumably E.M. Security is "never there when you need them."
cordite
similar to gunpowder
Page 611
Pomade
a substance men used to use to style their hair
jostle
bump against one another in a crowd
flummoxing
bewildering
Page 612
sans-Crist bâtard
French: Anti-Christ bastard
Pépé or Bébé
apparently the name of the dog that Lenz just killed
maricones
Spanish: homosexuals (note that Brazilians actually speak Portuguese, not Spanish)
two meters
about 6.6 feet
Canadian
i.e., Québecois French
Page 613
breezeblocked
a breezeblock is a cinder block
Page 614
appointments
furnishings
ailanthus
a common form of urban plant
two meters
an apparent exaggeration
Page 615
winged
shot in the arm
three meters
about 9.8 feet
Copernicanly
Apparently in the manner of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), famed for theorizing that the Earth orbits the Sun rather than vice versa, but this raises the question of why or how in the manner of Copernicus. It does not seem that Erdedy has a telescope, but perhaps he is "staring...up her [the veiled girl's] flapping robe" looking for the center of the universe.
Serenity Prayer
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Page 616
loafers
shoes that slip on, rather than tie with laces
desisted
stopped (but Wade McD. probably meant 'deceased')
Page 617
'The straight and narrow? '
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14
'By doze is fide.'
"My nose is fine" said by someone with a broken nose, i.e., Green
Clearasil
a brand name of benzoyl peroxide, for acne
'I'b dot touchig dothig, dud worry.'
Again, Green speaking with his broken nose: "I'm not touching nothing, don't worry."
shock
insufficient blood flow to the body's organs and tissues, often following an injury but sometimes following an emotional shock
Page 618
Shylock
He means "Sherlock." Shylock is the Jewish "villain" in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
Supervised
on supervised probation
Madame Psychosis is in charge.
This is the first time Joelle has been positively ID'ed as M.P. (She is referred to as "a.k.a. Madame P." much earlier on page 225)
Secyotty!
"Security!" screamed with a thick Boston accent
chanties
He means "shanties," i.e., songs.
Page 619
oddering
i.e., ordering
collops
rolls of fat
fish-eye lens
a type of wide-angle lens
And lo
a reference to the opening of the M.P. radio show