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☽ April 30th, YDAU - Marathe & Steeply

Page 87

payloaders
a type of construction equipment

Page 88

Fauteuil de rollent

French for wheelchair is fauteuil roulant.

Brockengespenst

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre.

Page 89

Bureau des services sans spécificité
French for unspecified is non spécifié; sans spécificité means without specificity, i.e., generic.

c'était la guerre

It was war.

c’était de bonne guerre (it was fair game) seems more fitting, possibly what DFW meant.

Page 90

Page 91

agnate
Paternal, related on the father's side. In this case agnate seems to mean that the shadows come from the same source, the setting sun.

samizdat
самиздать From the Russian verb "to publish on one's own" or "to self-publish." Originally used to denote underground publications in the Soviet Union, now used more generally for dissident activity[1]

Page 92

stenographer-cum-jeune-fille-de-Vendredi
secretary who takes diction AND devoted assistant. Jeune-fille-de-Vendredi is French for "young girl Friday." "Man Friday" (or "girl Friday") is a term that means a very competent and loyal servant or assistant, and originates from the Friday of Robinson Crusoe.

amaneunsis
Misspelling of amanuensis (secretary).

Page 93

Feral Hamsters

Page 93

uremic

of or involving excess nitrogenous waste products in the urine

somatic

of or relating to the body, esp. as distinct from the mind.

Champaign IL
He probably attends the University of Illinois main campus at Urbana-Champaign, formerly Champaign-Urbana.

Ward and June
The mother's and father's names on Leave It to Beaver

pedalferrous
pedalfer is a soil type composed of aluminum and iron oxides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedalfer apparently a neologism, the word would mean "of or pertaining to foot metal," i.e., fast driving

fallow

plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production

fulvous
in color, yellow-gray to yellowish-brown

teratogenic
having an ill effect on the development of a fetus

Marathe & Steeply, cont.

Page 93

'n sûr
An elision of bien sûr, French for "of course"

electrolysis

the removal of hair roots or small blemishes on the skin by the application of heat using an electric current.

Page 94

Sterling UL35 9 mm machine pistol with Mag Na Port silencer
Sterling is a real British gun manufacturer and Mag-Na-Port is real also, but this particular gun model is apparently made-up.

Charleston
a dance popular in the 1920s

mesquite
the mesquite plant

Page 95

YDAU - ETA Locker Room

Page 95

Barbicide
a brand name of disinfectant used for combs and hairbrushes

Tolstoy's sentence
The question probably referred to the opening lines of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "HAPPY families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Michael Pemulis, ..., clear his throat deeply
this grammatical error appears shortly after a discussion of a class on grammar

Page 96

No cathode gun. No phosphenic screen.
A cathode gun is an electron gun used in a cathode ray tube. "Phosphenic" refers to phosphenes.

UHF
Ultra High Frequency

Page 97

acutance
the edge contrast of an image. Hal appears to be correct insofar as contrast is more or less the same as resolution. Acutance is related to a pulse's slope and height. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acutance

halation
blurring of a visual image by glare

quiescent
still or at rest

Marathe & Steeply, cont.

Page 97

digitate
“having deep radiating divisions” (OED)

ETA Locker Room, cont.

Page 97

Page 98

Zoltan
Zoltán was a 10th century ruler of Hungary.

Csikzentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (sic) is a psychologist best known for his concept of "flow", a psychological state where one "is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity", e.g. "being in the zone" while playing sports.

Idris Arslanian, new this year, ethnically vague
Idris is an Arabic name, corresponding in the Qur'an to Enoch in the Bible. The last name Arslanian sounds Armenian, though Arslan is a Turkish word for "lion."

R.A.
Resident Assistant

Tex Watson
Besides a character in Infinite Jest, Tex Watson was the nickname of Charles Watson, one of the chief murderers in the Charles Manson Family.

ephebes
An ephebe is an adolescent male.

attritive
[OED] gradually wearing away or weakening something or someone

suppliants
A suppliant is a petitioner.

Page 99

sienna
[or siena] a yellowish- to reddish-brown pigment

louvered
fitted with angled slats, the better to permit passage of light or air

thoracic
having to do with the chest

atavistically
Atavism means reversion to an earlier evolutionary type; i.e., Hal's complexion resembles his grandparents or earlier ancestors more than his parents

piebald
having patches of different colors

Page 100

cognomen
a nickname

inflation-generative grammar
i.e. a set of rules to generate phrases of increasing emphasis

Page 101

semion
from context, it means sign or gesture, evincing with semaphore a common ancestor. [A semion is technically part of an anyon, the latter of which is defined in the OED as "a particle having characteristics intermediate between those of fermions and bosons in two-dimensional space." However, it seems Wallace uses the word as a form closer to "semiotics."] A later search reveals that semion is Greek for "sign."

Umbrian
From the Italian reggione of Umbria, in central Italy. Hal is Italian on his father's side, as well as Pima Native American. His mother, of course, is French-Canadian.

Brylcreemed
Used as a verb here, Brylcreem is a brand name of men's hair grooming product.

zygomatics
the cheekbones, so-called, or zygomatic bones of the face

Page 102

haul ashes
For a history of this term, click here. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=haul%20your%20ashes

Johnny Mathis's "Chances Are"
listen here

Page 103

Luther's 16th-century shoes, awaiting epiphany
Martin Luther (1483-1546), German father of the Reformation, was a notorious sufferer of constipation.

hobnailed boots
boots assembled with hobnails

Endnote 43

Crohn's
The disease is named for Burrill Bernard Crohn (1884-1983), American gastroenterologist.

Page 103, cont.

carminative
combatting or expelling flatulence

gout
a disease characterized by the collection of uric acid in the joints

Port Washington
There are three cities by this name in the U.S.: In New York, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

Page 104

Page 105

woppsed up
a created word, apparently something like "wadded up"

Marathe & Steeply, cont.

Page 105

Tristan and Isolde
star-crossed lovers from Arthurian myth

Lancelot and what's-her-name
Guinevere

Agamemnon and Helen
Steeply has this one wrong. Helen abandoned her husband, Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, to flee to Troy with Paris, younger brother of Hector.

Dante and Beatrice
Beatrice is Dante's guide through heaven in the third part of the Divine Comedy, Paradiso

Narcissus and Echo
The story of these doomed lovers from Greek mythology is here.

Kierkegaard and Regina
Regina Olsen was the short-term fiancée of Kierkegaard.

Kafka and that poor girl afraid to go the postbox for the mail
The story being referred to can be read here.

Menelaus was husband, him of Sparta
Menelaus, King of Sparta, was the husband of Helen. Agamemnon was the King of Argos and Menelaus's brother.

Helen and Paris. He of Troy.
Paris, a Trojan prince, kidnapped Helen from Menelaus, precipitating the Trojan War.

The horse: the gift which was not a gift
a reference to the Trojan horse

Page 106

electrolysistic
resulting from electrolysis, the removal of hair using electric shocks

sangfroid
From French for "cold blood," this word means "coolness," as in composure under pressure

Page 107

Page 108

creosote
There are several types of creosote, described here.

crepuscular
active in the twilight, as bats, deer, many mosquitos

Endnote 45

Endnote 304

Notes and Errata - Endnote 304

Page 109

gibbous
bulging outwards: the shape of the moon when it is neither full, nor crescent, nor half, i.e., when it is more than half full

Quonsets
short form for Quonset huts

November 3rd, YDAU - Advice to Little Brothers

Page 109

Page 110

Stan Smith
Born in 1946, Smith is a retired professional tennis player, having won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open once each.

dessicated
dried out

Endnote 46

corticatization
probably a misspelling of corticalization

Page 111

bow-biters
1980's plastic clips that help keep shoe laces tied

E.N.T. oncologist
ear, nose, and throat; an oncologist is a cancer physician

violas
A viola is a like a violin, only slightly larger and deeper in tone.

Page 112

E Unibus Pluram
Latin wordplay on E pluribus unum ("From many, one"), the U.S. motto. This would mean "From one, many." Note that the correct Latin would be something like Ex uno plures or Ex uno plura (depending on what "many" is meant to refer to).

Page 113

Solipsism
a kind of narcissism based on the idea that one's own mind is all one can ever truly know to exist

ballet de se

mangled French: Ballet of (itself). ballet de soi would probably be closer.

Page 114

Page 115

plateaux
the proper French plural of "plateau," rather than "plateaus"

Indeed, but the conversation takes place orally and this X is silent in French, as is the S. The only context in which it is not silent is when there is a word beginning with a vowel after it, but even then, X is pronounced like S.

slog
to work with sustained effort against a natural resistance over a period of time

Page 116

Banzai!
a Japanese battle cry

hangdog
browbeaten or intimidated

Page 117

croupiers
attendants at gambling casinos

plasticene
misspelling of Plasticine, a brand name of plastic used for making molds

ancipitals
having two sharp edges

accretive
of or pertaining to the process of natural growth

autonomical
of or pertaining to the reflexive or autonomic nervous system [archaic, autonomic is much the more commonly used term in centuries 20-21]

Page 118

machine-language
a coding system for computers that requires no compiling before running

Orinda CA
A small, wealthy city in Conta Costa County, immediately east of the Oakland-Berkeley metro area and about 18 miles northeast of San Francisco

me droogies
Struck is speaking in Nadsat, the language of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, which is based on Russian. Droogies is Nadsat for "friends."

kertwanging
from context, this would seem to be when an opponent is intentionally making bad calls to win points.

Page 119

Mein kinder
German: "My children". But wrong grammar! "Mein" is singular, "kinder" is plural. "My children" would be "Meine Kinder"

Page 120

Wagenknecht
sort of a formal German word for "chauffeur." [No, as native speaker, I do not agree. It is a quiet family name, meaning something like "cart-worker", but nobody would call a chauffeur that way!]

guilloche
"an ornamental pattern or border, as in architecture, consisting of paired ribbons or lines flowing in interlaced curves around a series of circular voids" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary); see below

A la contraire
A French mistake: Should be au contraire (masculine) [but consider the speaker, an adolescent non-wizard]

gingival mound
mound of gum tissue

Page 121

aperçu
an insight

Mario Incandenza's romantic experience

Page 121

post-prandial
after a meal

two hundred kilos
over 440 pounds

Southpaw
left-handed

Page 122

doffed
doff is to take off or tip in salutation (don off)

coiffure
hairdo

osseously
Osseous means "bone-like."

reticulate
in a net-like or network pattern

chill dusk
George Eliot (born Mary Anne Evans; 1819-1880), the British novelist, uses the expression in her novel Adam Bede.

easement
Literally meaning the use of something legally not one's own, here it's used to mean a new path beaten through a thicket.

kliegs
short form for a Klieg light

Page 123

Betty Stove
Betty Stöve (born 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player and winner of ten Grand Slam titles

Montclair NJ
a suburb about twenty miles west-northwest of New York City

Con-Edison
Consolidated Edison, the utilities company serving New York

three meters tall
about nine feet, ten inches tall

Page 124

Weber Grill
a real brand, you can see examples here

Passaic NJ
near Montclair, Passaic is another western suburb of New York

capering
To caper is to skip about in a playful manner.

rondelling
To rondel (more properly, roundel) is to dance in a circle

simpering
To simper is to smile coyly.

hirsute
hairy

boscages
masses of trees or shrubs

jetéed
To jeté is to jump ballet-style.

Page 125

lamé
an ornamental fabric incorporating threads of gold or silver

Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (1485-1576) was a Venetian painter.

poison sumac
a tall shrub containing urushiol, which causes a rash similar to poison ivy

ambient
of or pertaining to the surrounding environment

Page 126

April 30th, YDAU - Marathe & Steeply, cont.

Page 126

les salles de danser
French: dancing rooms

Broken French. Les salles de danse would be correct.

Val d'Or, Québec
city of northern Québec, 325 miles northwest of Montreal

Page 127

eidetic
referring to photographic memory

April 30th, YDAU - Still More Marathe & Steeply

Page 127

murated
a rarely used English word (found in OED) meaning "surrounded by walls", from French: 'mur' = wall