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Don Gately Remembers

Page 902

cognomen
a nickname

pre-infarcted
an infarct is when a piece of organ tissue, usually in the brain or heart (stroke or heart attack, respectively), is deprived of oxygen for a period of time because of a blockage or thrombosis, and either dies or is significantly weakened

fullback
the running back farthest from the line of scrimmage

a 4.4 40
He could run 40 meters in 4.4 seconds.

Page 903

"...in a flaming L.A...."
This would make the year 1992.

"some Finest got home-movied..."
This is a reference to the Rodney King beating.

Orkin
a large exterminator company

screwdrivers
vodka and orange juice

brownshirts and jackboots
things worn by Nazis -- jackboots are combat boots that go to mid-calf

Zog
i.e., ZOG, for Zionist Occupation Government, the acronym coined by American neo-Nazi Eric Thomson

The Turner Diaries
Written by William Luther Pierce III (1933-2002), this is a neo-Nazi novel once called the "blueprint" for the Oklahoma City bombing.

desBois
the plural of duBois

sinsemilla
cultivated high potency marijuana

Page 904

Hefenreffer
apparently a real brand

B.M.S.
Beverly Middle School

tapir
a very long-nosed animal - see a picture here

Erlenmeyer Flasks
Read about them here.T

"...to cyclize OH..."
To cyclize something is to have it form rings. OH is the hydroxy radical.

Endnote 364

Love Boat
actually commonly used as a nickname for marijuana laced with PCP

Page 904 (cont'd)

Farberware
a brand name of pots and pans

tetrahydrofuran
a type of solvent

PVC
polyvinyl chloride

48 contigs
48 continguous United States (excludes Alaska and Hawaii)

6 provinces
presumably the six Canadian provinces that border the contiguous 48 states, i.e., British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec

Sominex
a brand name of antihistamine sleeping aid

H₃C
methyl group

mnemonic brown-out
a sort of memory lapse short of a blackout

Page 905

truancy
skipping school

A.D.D.
Attention Deficit Disorder

strabysmic
cross-eyed

sieg-heil
German for "hail victory," the reference is to the Nazis.

aveil
i.e., avail

Water Lou
i.e., Waterloo

Page 906

Howl
a famous poem by Irwin Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), American poet

Chaucerian English
You can read an example here.

enervated
weakened

M.S.
multiple sclerosis

Lou Gehrig's
the more common name for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which the famous New York Yankee suffered from

Salem State U.
There is a Salem State College, but not a university.

Hal Wakes Up (Maybe?)

Page 906

Page 907

Javol
It's unclear how Hal is pronouncing this word, but he likely means Jawohl, German for an emphatic "yes."

Page 908

tu-savez-quoi
(bad) French: You know what

bacchanal
a wild party or orgy

M.M.
Michael Matthew

Shi'ite Moslems
Muslims who believe that Ali was the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad

mullah
a title of respect for one educated in Islamic law

unitard
a bodysuit or one-piece leotard

Page 909

Zorro
See right

porcine
like a swine

vantage
point of view

mano-a-tete
combination of "mano-a-mano" and "tête-à-tête", both essentially meaning one-on-one.

Page 910

50 kilos
over 110 pounds

tam-o'-shanter
a Scottish style hat sometimes with a tassel, feather, or pompon in the center

Ocean Spray
a brand name of cranberry juice

Page 911

hydrophobia
fear of water

pandemic
an epidemic that spreads through human populations across a large region (for example a continent), or even worldwide

Peterson's The Cage
The Cage (1947), by Sidney Peterson

teleologic
regarding a final cause

aridly
dryly

Endnote 366

Professor H. Bloom
Harold Bloom (born 1930) is a prominent American literary critic.

artistic influenza
not actually one of Bloom's concepts

peripatetic
walking around

Page 911 (cont'd)

clinamen
this refers to the indeterminate, unpredictable motion of atoms in an otherwise determinable system - read about it here.

tessera
this appears to refer to the curved parallelogram-shaped individual tiles that make up mosaics - read about them here.

kenosis
this is a Greek word that means "emptiness," and is a term in Christian theology that refers to Jesus relinquishing the form of God by becoming human and dying on a cross - you can read about it here.

daemonization
the word "daemon" is a variant of two words: "demon," with all of its obvious meanings and connotations among various religions and mythologies, and "daimon," which is a Platonic term that signifies something or someone intermediate between the human and the divine, or sometimes used to mean "genius." "Daemon" is also used to refer to, in computer science, a computer program that runs idly in the background - it is not clear if this was a meaning that would be known to Wallace at the time he wrote Infinite Jest, however.

askesis
asceticism; strict self-discipline and control for religious purposes

More Gately History

Page 911

Saugus
a suburb about 10 miles north of Boston

Page 912

B&E
breaking and entering

prenominate
named beforehand

priapistic
having priapisms, or painful, long lasting erections

Teddibly Soddy
terribly sorry

vigorish

the bookie's fee for his services

Endnote 367

Pen Registers
an electronic device that records the phone numbers of outgoing calls on a particular line

Page 913

Cafergot
A medication named after its combination of caffeine and ergotamine titrate, the chemical precursor to LSD; used to treat migraine headaches. Read about it here.

Endnote 368

Cimetidine
actually an antacid -- strange that Wallace would make such an error, so perhaps it's deliberate

Page 914

Endnote 369

Mace
a brand name of pepper spray

Page 914 (cont'd)

Osco
a pharmacy chain

the Virus
i.e., HIV

Page 915

respiritic
presumably having something to do with breathing

laminating
sealing in plastic

Page 916

The B.U. punter
a.k.a. Orin Incandenza