Notes and Errata - Pages 983-1079
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Contents
- 1 Page 983
- 2 Page 984
- 3 Page 985
- 4 Page 1000
- 5 Page 1004
- 6 Page 1005
- 7 Page 1006
- 8 Page 1006 (cont'd)
- 9 Page 1007
- 10 Page 1008
- 11 Page 1009
- 12 Page 1010
- 13 Page 1011
- 14 Page 1012
- 15 Page 1013
- 16 Page 1014
- 17 Page 1014 (cont'd)
- 18 Page 1014 (cont'd)
- 19 Page 1015
- 20 Page 1016
- 21 Page 1017
- 22 Page 1018
- 23 Page 1019
- 24 Page 1020
- 25 Page 1021
- 26 Page 1026
- 27 Page 1027
- 28 Page 1035
- 29 Page 1038
- 30 Page 1039
- 31 Page 1040
- 32 Page 1041
- 33 Page 1042
- 34 Page 1043
- 35 Page 1044
- 36 Page 1047
- 37 Page 1048
- 38 Page 1049
- 39 Page 1050
- 40 Page 1051
- 41 Page 1052
- 42 Page 1066
- 43 Page 1066 (cont'd)
- 44 Page 1067
- 45 Page 1068
- 46 Page 1069
- 47 Page 1070
- 48 Page 1071
- 49 Page 1071 (cont'd)
- 50 Page 1072
- 51 Page 1073
- 52 Page 1074
- 53 Page 1075
- 54 Page 1076
Page 983
Endnote 3
cardioid
In geometry, a cardioid is a plane curve produced by tracing the path of a chosen point of a circle which rolls around a fixed circle. The cardioid shape of E.T.A. has one cusp, i.e., a point on the curve that is not smooth. The r referred to by the narrator here is the radius of the moving circle.
Übermensch
German for "superhuman"
Brandeis
Brandeis is a Jewish-founded university in Waltham, Mass., about nine miles west of Boston, named for Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856-1941) the first Jewish Supreme Court justice.
Endnote 5
N.B.
abbreviation for Latin nota bene, i.e., "note well," stated before an important example or corollary point
Endnote 5a
nystagmus
involuntary eye movement
entrepôt
French for "warehouse," this is where foreign merchandise can be purchased duty-free
loquacity
talkativeness
Endnote 6
Halcion (still available in Canada, unbelievably, still)
It's also still available here, though the U.K. has banned it since 1991.
Page 984
Endnote 7
bevelling
Here meaning "smoothed out" and misspelled, beveling is the making of 45º angles where perpendiculars meet.
Endnote 8
Endnote 8a
Muscimole
another mushroom-based hallucinogen, like psilocybin
DDMS
dibromododecenyl methylsulfimide
DMSO
dimethylsulfoxide
Endnote 8 (cont'd)
dickies
As a dickie is designed to give the appearance of wearing a tie, Wallace uses this word here to deal with drugs that mimic the effects of other drugs.
MMDA, DMA, DMMM, 2CB, para-DOT I-VI
You can read about MMDA here, DMA here, 2CB here, DOT here (apparently). DMMM appears to be made up.
CNS
central nervous system
gamma hydroxybutric acid
now more commonly known as GHB
DMZ/M.P.
DMZ is another made-up drug. M.P. refers to its street name, Madame Psychosis.
Endnote 12a
"...Continental Controlled Substances Act of Y.T.M.P., O.N.A.N.D.E.A.'s hierarchy of analgesics/antipyretics/axiolytics..."
There is no such act, obviously. Y.T.M.P. is Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad. The second acronym is Organization of North American Nations Drug Enforcement Agency. Analgesics are painkillers. Antipyretics are fever-reducing drugs, and anxiolytics are anxiety-reducing drugs.
Endnote 13
Quo Vadis
Latin: Where are you going? Famously asked of Jesus by Peter when the former was on his way to be crucified. See here. Also a novel and film by that name were made.
Page 985
Endnote 17
datum
piece of information
Endnote 19
French: A person of terrible importance
Endnote 21
Q.v.
Latin abbreviation for quod vide ("which see"), used to direct a reader elsewhere in a book. Here we are directed to...
Endnote 23
U.S.D.D.
United States Department of Defense
Endnote 24
meniscus
a lens with a crescent-shaped section
soliloquized
spoken to oneself
incunabular
early stages of something
D W Griffith
Film Director whose films include 'Tolerance' and 'Birth of a Nation'; Wikipedia entry
Taka Limura
Japanese film maker - see article </br>
Heliotrope
An arrangement of mirrors for reflecting sunlight from a distant point to an observation station.</br>
Page 1000
Endnote 82
Bean
as in L.L. Bean, a privately-held mail-order and retail company based in Freeport, Maine, United States, specializing in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment.
Night Watch plaid
A pattern of plaid. See right.
Page 1004
Endnote 110 · Hal and Orin Discuss Québecois Politics
Hush Puppy
a brand name of shoes
squeegeed
cleaned with a squeegee
truncated
cut short
Page 1005
R&R
Rest and Relaxation
ex officio
Latin: by virtue of one's office
'The Yellow Rose (of Texas)'
Dickinson's poems can also be read to the meter of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
falsetto
a man's voice when he pitches it falsely high to sound like a woman
riffling
turning pages quickly
Ample make this bed
The full poem is here.
Page 1006
quotidian
commonplace
pistil
that part of a flower that is analogous to the female reproductive organs
Sikorski
C.T. is probably comparing the bee (which flies) to an airplane (which also flies) produced by Sikorsky Aircraft.
paucity
scarcity
swotted
studied intensively
wakked
I have no idea.
unperspicous
not clearly expressed or presented
penultimate
second to last
whingeing
complaining (pronounced to rhyme with "jing")
xerophagy
eating of bread and water only
Endnote 110d
anti-sclerotic
tending to ward of hardening of tissues (as of arteries, here)
Page 1006 (cont'd)
maunder
to talk incoherently or aimlessly
Solecism
nonstandard or incorrect grammatical usage
and c.
et cetera
Page 1007
20 X 25 centimeter
very close to 8" x 10"
Jethro Bodine
a character on the television show The Beverly Hillbillies
proviso
a clause, usually in a document, making a stipulation or qualification
"...isn't even iambic, much less quatrameter/trimeter..."
This is to say that the poetry of Dickinson is not in iambic pentameter, also known as verse. This is the style of poetry Shakespeare is written in ("Now is the winter of our discontent") -- ten syllables, and five iambs (feet, or beats) per line (thus pentameter). Quatrameter/trimeter would be the rhythm scheme of "Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Marry Had a Little Lamb."
dink
a synonym for a drop shot, which in tennis is a light tap just over the net
Page 1008
obverse
the more conspicuous of two possible choices
seraphic
like an angel
lascivious
appealing to sexual tastes
mesmerized
hypnotized
skitter
to move rapidly along a surface
knight-errant
a knight on a quest to prove his chivalry
Page 1009
Ainsi
French: so to speak
breviary
a prayer and hymn book
"Kitchens and heat..."
which is to say, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen
Page 1010
Gloeckner
German for "ringer," taking that in either of the meanings it has in English
3-kilo
a little over 7.25 pounds
Snuff
chewing tobacco
Andover
as in Philips Academy Andover, alma mater of both presidents Bush
"Dickinson's about as Transcendalist as Poe."
which is to say, not at all
Page 1011
R.C.M.P.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (1901-1967) was an American singer and movie star. As far as what he looked like, see right.
Droll
whimsically comic
Page 1012
nanomicroscopy
the looking at extremely small things (nano- being the prefix for "one-billionth") through a microscope
Thevet
This is probably a reference to André de Thevet (1502-1590), a French priest and explorer. Though never in Canada, he relied on French-Canadian explorers' work for his own voyages to South America.
"...the 5 on the French Achievement boards..."
The highest possible score on the French Advanced Placement Exam (for which one can receive college credit) is 5.
Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (1740-1795), was the Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson.
E cup
a very large breast size
acuity
acuteness of perception
in utero
in the womb
thalidomide
a drug developed to treat morning sickness in pregnant women that ended up causing babies to be born missing limbs
Condé Nast
one of the largest magazine publishers in the country, owned by Advance Publications (the Newhouse family) and founded by Condé Montrose Nast (1873-1942), an American publisher
deform
here meaning simply "to spoil"
persona
a fictional identity created for a person, narrator in a book, etc.
du
French: of the (masculine)
Page 1013
Meech Lake
a lake in Gatineau Park, near Chelsea, Québec
Parizeau
This is probably Jacques Parizeau (born 1930), a former Premier of Québec and proponent of Québecois sovereignty.
Charlottetown
the capital of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island
Crétien assassination
This is probably a misspelling of the surname of Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (born 1934), Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
Francophonic
French-speaking
Acadian Zionism
Acadia is the traditional name for what is now (in part) eastern Québec. Zionism is used here as a synonym for nationalism, rather than with its specific Jewish connotations
Toujours
French: always
"On ne parle d'Anglais ici."
French: English is not spoken here
Ottawa
the capital of Canada
"Permettez Nous Partir, Permettez Nous Être."
French: Allow us to leave, allow us to be.
Winnipeg
the capital of Canadian province of Manitoba
flux
frequent change
appalled
dismayed
UV-booth
UV standing for ultraviolet (as in light), this is probably a tanning booth.
Page 1014
"Nous v. La Plupart Toujours"
French: Us versus the majority always
Lesotho
a kingdom of southern Africa, existing as an enclave entirely within the Republic of South Africa
SOUTHAF
This is the Union of South Africa, which was formed in 1910 as a British colony and tried to annex Lesotho to it. Because of the imposition of apartheid laws in S. Africa, the annexation failed.
antebellum
before the war, here the U.S. Civil War
Endnote 110h
Gallic
French
Page 1014 (cont'd)
Anglophone
English-speaking
Plains of Abraham
a reference to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, part of the French and Indian Wars, which ended in a decisive British victory of the French
Endnote 110i
'La Guerre des Britanniques et des Sauvages'
French: The War of the British and the Savages
Ticonderoga
a reference to the Battle of Carillon, fought at Fort Ticonderoga
Page 1014 (cont'd)
Booty
treasure taken from a defeated party
1759
On September 13, 1759, Québec fell to the British.
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement
Rubensian
The word more often used is "Rubenesque," but this refers to the women in paintings by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist. His women tended to be plump.
retardate
more often used as a noun, offensively referring to a retarded person
rapacious
ravenous
Page 1015
lissome
supple
Rubensophile
See above, Rubensian.
gulag
a reference to the GULAG prison system of the Soviet Union
'ce pas?
French elision of "n'est-ce pas?" i.e., "right?"
Anbesol
a brand name of benzocaine used for tooth pain
flanges
Orin probably means to say "phalanges."
Rue Sherbrooke
a road in Montreal
St. Jean-Baptiste Day
another name for la fête nationale du Québec
anaerobic
thriving without oxygen
Page 1016
weedy
scrawny; Hal is probably using it to mean "thin," as in a line of argumentation
Brazilian Nuevo Contras
These would be "new" contras, the old ones having been U.S.-funded anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
'The Noie Störkrafts? Shining Path's? The Belgian CCC's?
Noie Störkraft is Swedish "New Great Power"; it does not appear to be a new organization, though Störkraft is the name of a skinhead band from Sweden. The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso in Spanish) is the Communist Party of Peru, which has waged guerrilla warfare against the Peruvian government since 1980. CCC is a French acronym for Communist Combatant Cells; they were eliminated as a terrorist group in 1986.
Ez-ed-Dean-el-Qassan
an alternate spelling of a Palestinian militant group affiliated with Hamas
P.E.T.A.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
wobbled shrieking figure in the Munch lithograph
See right.
Page 1017
subjoin
to append to the end of something
attendant
consequent or concomitant
cloracne
probably a misspelling of chloracne
olfactory hallucinations
hallucinations wherein one smells things that aren't there
machete
a large cleaver-like cutting tool
Infant-depredations
preying on babies
phenols
another name for carbolic acid
Fundy
probably a reference to the Bay of Fundy
straw-and-camel
i.e., the straw that broke the camel's back
Page 1018
Docksider
a type of boat shoe
full-toll
i.e., it takes its full toll on you
Constantine
perhaps Constantine I, by tradition first Christian emperor of Rome
merde
French for "shit"
cartographic
having to do with maps
parliamentary wigs
Canadian MPs don't wear wigs, though barristers (lawyers) and judges do.
Page 1019
bone of dissension
Orin means "bone of contention."
desmirched
probably a malapropism, although it could mean "to un-besmirch"
re-gerrymandered
To gerrymander is to divide an area into electoral districts favorable to one party over another.
Cuibono
more properly cui bono, Latin for "who benefits?"
swivet
a state of nervous excitement
D-bases
databases
falcate
to curve like a sickle
Albertan ultra-rightists
There is a tradition of separatism in Alberta.
Duluth
a town in Minnesota and home to Bob Dylan, on Lake Superior about 150 miles north of the Twin Cities
Page 1020
Vichified
i.e., as Vichy France, which was a puppet government to the Nazis
Anschluss
German for "annexation," it most often refers to Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938.
mayhi
Orin seems to be using this term as a plural of "mayhem."
P.Q.s
members of the Parti Québecois
P.M.
Prime Minister (of Canada)
aller, partir
French: to go, to leave
Page 1021
hapless
here meaning haphazard
botulizing
infecting with botulism
jaunty
smartly trim
toggle
a type of switch
anapestic
An anapest is a three-syllable word where the emphasis is one last syllable. "Anapest" is an anapest.
Endnote 145 · Found Drama
An invented, non-existent faux-academic style of film on which James O. Incandenza lectured and received artistic grants, created to lampoon the academic film theory community. Found Drama was not captured on film; rather, Incandenza and close friends "got out a Boston metro phone book and tore a White Pages page out at random and thumbtacked it to the wall and then [Incandenza] would throw a dart at it from across the room. ... And the name it hit becomes the subject of the Found Drama. And whatever happens to the protagonist with the name you hit with the dart for ... the next hour and a half is the Drama."
Page 1026
Page 1027
ne pas à la mode
French: not in style
New Wave
When this term is used w/r/t Himself's work, it is probably referring to French New Wave, although there were several other "New Waves" in film.
Dick
I'm unable to identify whether this person is real or not.
art-gesture films
apparently a created genre
isness
i.e., being
stasis
inactivity caused by equal opposing forces
tenure-jockeys
i.e., junior faculty at universities who are on tenure track
Orthochromatic
According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, this word means "representing correctly the relations of colors as found in a subject; isochromatic."
retrogradism
This neologism would seem to have the sense of the study or condition of moving backward.
McLean Hospital
a real psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Mass., about eight miles west-northwest of Boston
Duquette at M.I.T.
There is no such person at M.I.T.
Posener
There is no such person at Brandeis.
Page 1035
Endnote 211
suborn
to bribe or induce someone to commit a crime or misdeed
Endnote 234 · Excerpts From Orin's Interview With Moment
Page 1038
Rafferty
Terrence Rafferty was a film critic for the New Yorker magazine.
NPR
National Public Radio
Page 1039
dun
make repeated demands on
Madison Avenue
the street in New York famous for its advertising firms
traversion
Orin probably means "introversion."
T-square
a drafting tool
Page 1040
Prussian
here used to mean "very strict"
schizogenic
produced or formed by fission
pathogenic
capable of producing disease
Page 1041
antidote
Orin means "anecdote."
Quelquechose
French: something
Page 1042
pièce
as in "pièce de resistance," the punchline or main point
Page 1043
four horsemen
as in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation
BPL
Boston Public Library
Page 1044
Page 1047
'After my own parents were horribly killed on the Jamaica Way commuter road one morning in the freak crash of a radio traffic-report helicopter . . .'
Lateral Alice Moore was handicapped when the news helicopter she flew in crashed onto a high way. It could have been the same accident as the one Bain's referring to here.
J.O.I.
James O. Incandenza
guile
insidious cunning
larval
immature in its kind
codpieces
a pouch at the crotch of tight-fitting breeches, popular during the Renaissance
Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) was a British poet whose work had themes of homosexuality and sadomasochism.
prenominate
aforementioned
apposite
relevant
Page 1048
fairly high-sodium way
i.e., with a grain (or more) of salt
purposive
serving some purpose
cross-sectioned cow
Cornell University apparently has a cow whose stomachs you can see in action.
anaclitic
denoting psychologic dependence
Page 1049
prevarication
lying
"...as if from the Rose Garden..."
like the President of the U.S. answering a question from a reporter
mendacious
untruthful
monilial
having to do with vaginal yeast infection
S. Johnson
probably a reference to Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer
Page 1050
Steeples
Bain has become to get Steeply's name wrong.
Steeley
ditto
ACOAs
Adult Children of Alcoholics
AlaTeens
a support group for teenage children of alcoholics
ACONAs
Adult Children of Narcotics Anonymous
ACOGs
ACOG is most commonly the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, but in this context it probably stands for Adult Children of Gamblers.
aspic
meat jelly
profligate
extravagant
loquacious
very talkative
Page 1051
Starkly
Bain gets Steeply's name wrong yet again.
univocal
unambiguous
furcated
branching or forking
albatross
a burden, from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Starksaddle
another mistake with Steeply's name
perspicuous
clearly expressed
Page 1052
multivalent
having various meanings
Bainbridge
This isn't even close to Steeply's name.
Endnote 321
(1063-1066)
Rise Over Run
The rise (amount the line increases) of a line divided over the run (length of the line) give you the slope of the line, which is also equal in calculus to the first derivative.
tangent
This concept is explained here.
Differentiation
the process by which one determines the first derivative of a mathematical function
inexorably
relentlessly
covers
songs written by other people than yourself
Digestive-Flora
bacteria that live in the intestine and aid in digestion
Verdun Protestant Hospital
now called Douglas Mental Health Institute
tu-sais-qué
really bad French for "you know what"
Human Hatchet
i.e., Axford
impotence
Probably means impetus
Blue Flames
apparently some sort of drug
O2
oxygen
Jiminy Cricket
a character from Pinocchio
Endnote 324
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Page 1066
moon
to spend time idly
camphonated
more like "camphorated," i.e., contained camphor
Endnote 324a
loamy
consisting of rich, arable soil
Page 1066 (cont'd)
whorl
a circular arrangement
funiculi
plural of "funiculus," i.e., part of the spinal cord
Page 1067
gonions
the outer points on either side of the lower jaw at which the jawbone angles upward
uncolloped
having no fat
latissimal
referring to the lattissimus dorsi muscles
profligate
wasteful
Nordicular
i.e., Nordic, which is to say blond-haired and blue-eyed
armamentarium
an arsenal, particularly used by physicians to refer to drugs or treatments
callow
immature; inexperienced
entrepôt
a place for storing and dispensing goods
dinkle
a euphemism for "penis"
Page 1068
welching
swindling by not paying a debt or wager
three-setter
a tennis game ending in three sets, rather than five, because one player has gone up 3 to 0
cavalier
disdainful; unceremonious
burr
here used to mean "irritant"
Page 1069
canvas restraint-wrap
straitjacket
catgut
This is "a strong cord made by twisting the dried intestines of animals, as sheep, used in stringing musical instruments and tennis rackets, for surgical sutures, etc." (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
"...his late great Da's..."
Clearly Pemulis has no idea that his brother was molested by their father.
rheumy
full of thin mucous
Page 1070
Bedouins
certain Arabs of the deserts of Arabia and the Levant
buggered
being on the receiving end of anal sex
b/w
Black and white
J. Gleason
Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) was one of the great comic actors of the 20th century.
Zoltan
actually a Hungarian name, which means "ruler"
cretinous
stupid
Page 1071
Endnote 324f
Orly
one of the airports serving Paris
Page 1071 (cont'd)
redoubted
formidable
Modus Tollens
a Latin logical term, meaning, roughly, "the means of denying"
Nucleic acids
DNA and RNA
A and G, T and C
adenine and guanine, thymine and cytosine, the compounds that make up DNA
When the boulder's slipped all the way back to the bottom
a reference to the myth of Sisyphus
When the headless are blaming
a reference to If, by Rudyard Kipling: "If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you"
Csíkszentmihályi
The name may be taken from Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (born 1934), a prominent Hungarian-American psychologist. His son Christopher is on the faculty at MIT.
lemma
a proven statement used as a step in a mathematical proof
Boardman MN
a town about 40 miles west-northwest of the Twin Cities
Page 1072
"Leap like a knight of faith . . ."
A reference to Soren Kierkegaard's knight of faith. Kierkegaard, a theologian and philosopher, didn't think there could be any logical justification for believing in God. Instead the believer is required to take a leap of faith, so called because he (the believer) has no evidence for his convictions and thus must always, on some rational level, doubt them. In fact to Kierkegaard doubt defines faith, because if there were no doubt no leap of faith would be required in the first place, much like it doesn't require a leap of faith for you to believe you're actually reading this wikipedia entry right now, or that I'm not an alien sub rosa manipulating your mind for my own purposes.
"...Peano, Leibniz, Hilbert..."
Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932) was an Italian mathematician. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German polymath and one of the creators of calculus. David Hilbert (1862-1943) was a German mathematician.
"...Fourier, Gauss, LaPlace, Rickey..."
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) was a French mathematician and physicist. Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) was a German mathematician. Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (1749-1827) was a French mathematician and astronomer. Rickey would seem to refer to V. Frederick Rickey, though he is contemporary while the other named men are not.
"...Wiener, Reimann, Frege, Green..."
Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) was an American mathematician. Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) was a German mathematician. Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) was a German mathematician and logician. Green is probably George Green (1793-1841), English mathematician and physicist.
Endnote 332
Page 1073
jury-rigged
a corruption of "jerry-rigged" (a pejorative term about Germans), which basically means rigged in a makeshift, ad hod manner
Page 1074
nictitater
the word meant here is probably "nictitate," which means to wink - so, in other words, a "wink" of stupidity-film on Watson's eyes, or just a hint
castigations
criticisms; reprimands
Page 1075
loupes
eyepiece magnifying glasses used by jewellers
"may the road rise up to meet you..."
part of an old Irish blessing
Page 1076
incubus
a male demon that seduces female humans
glycerine
another name for glycerol