Difference between revisions of "Chapter 46: 452-459"

Latest revision as of 18:08, 1 March 2014

Page 452

Octarara
See page 352.

Page 453

Ehud
The name "Ehud" is not attested as a first name among Jews until the 20th Century. However, Zionism—as part of its nation-building process—strongly encouraged using the names of Jewish heroes and warriors of ancient times, including that of Ehud. As a result, it has become a common name in contemporary Israel.

Ehud ben‑Gera (Hebrew: אֵהוּד בֶּן‑גֵּרָא‎, Standard Ehud ben‑Gera Tiberian ʾĒhûḏ ben‑Gērāʾ; in the Biblical Book of Judges (3:12–4:1) was the judge who fought against the Moabites, which were ruled by King Eglon. Ehud had made a short double-edged sword about a foot and a half long useful for a stabbing thrust. He then hid the sword by strapping it to his right thigh under his clothing and met the king under the pretense of giving him tribute. Being left-handed, he could conceal the sword on the side where it was not expected. From WIKI

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College in Williamsburg
The College of William & Mary in Virginia (colloquially known as The College of William & Mary, The College, William & Mary, or W&M) is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 by a Royal Charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. From WIKI

Macheath
A character in The Beggar's Opera. See pages 270 & 367.

The Peachums discover that Polly, their daughter, has secretly married Macheath, the famous highwayman. They ask how she will support such a husband "in Gaming, Drinking and Whoring". Nevertheless, they conclude that the match may make sense if the husband can be killed for his money. They leave to carry out this errand. However, Polly has hidden Macheath. From WIKI

Factotum
A factotum is a general servant or a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. The word derives from the Latin command (imperative construction) fac totum ("do/make everything"). From WIKI

Mrs. Eggslap
"EGGSLAP" is the mnemonic we learned in Quiz Bowl team for the seven deadly sins: envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, lust, anger and pride - from Anville Azote, Pynchon-L.

"Yingle-Yangle"
Yin and Yang - in Swedish?

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Pile of Accompts
Pile of Accounts, from root "computus", to add up, etc.

Moses supposes
Anachronous allusion to a key song in the movie Singin' in the Rain starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. 1952. See Wikipedia. Gene Kelly is credited with the catchy, humorous lyrics:

"Moses supposes his toeses are Roses,
But Moses supposes Erroneously,
Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!...
A mose is a mose!
A rose is a rose!
A toes is a toes!
Hooptie doodie doodle
(etc. simile ad nauseam)

Talk about his characters "breaking into silly songs," as Pynchon does in his words about ATD...

hasty Puddin'
Hasty pudding is a porridge-like dish of cooked grain. It is now most often associated with the American version made of ground maize or corn, but may have started out as an English oat porridge. Hasty pudding was used as a term for an oatmeal porridge in England when Hannah Glasse wrote her 18th-century book The Art of Cookery.

Also known as corn mush or Indian mush, hasty pudding in its simplest form is corn meal cooked slowly in water until it thickens. It may be eaten hot, or left to cool and solidify. Slices of the cold pudding may then be fried. Hasty pudding was once a popular American food because of its low cost, long shelf life, and versatility, and was eaten with both sweet and savory accompaniments, such as maple syrup, molasses, or salted meat. Count Rumford, an American inventor who disapproved of the Revolution and went to live in Europe, still liked his hasty pudding, hot, in a bowl of milk.

Hasty pudding, itself, is memorialized in a verse of the early American song "Yankee Doodle":

Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Goodin,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty puddin'

Jasmine Absolute
Absolute is the solvent extracted product of Jasmine. It is rendered through the process explained by Mandy Aftel, quoted below. The solvent extracts are supplied from the Jasmine extraction units located in South India where several thousand acres of Jasmine farms exist in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"Flowers are placed on racks in a hermetically sealed container. A liquid solvent, usually hexane, is circulated over the flowers to dissolve the essential oils. This produces a solid waxy paste called a 'concrete'. The concrete is then repeatedly treated with pure alcohol (ethanol) which dissolves the wax and yields the highly aromatic liquid known as an absolute. This method is also used for extracting resins and balsams and for rendering the animal essences, such as civet, musk, ambergris and castoreum." - (source: Mandy Aftel, Essence and Alchemy. From WIKI

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The Ghastly Fop
See pages 178 & 347.

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Tidewater
The Tidewater region of Virginia is a term used to refer to the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The term "Tidewater" may be correctly applied to all portions of Virginia where the water level is affected by the tides. In general, this is most of the land east of I-95, which runs between major cities along the fall line, and north of U.S. 460. It includes Hampton Roads, the rest of the Virginia Peninsula, the Middle Peninsula, the Northern Neck, and the Eastern Shore. Most people of the southeastern area of Virginia refer to Tidewater as the areas of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, James City County, Yorktown, Poquoson, Williamsburg , and Gloucester. Collectively, these localities are understood to form Hampton Roads. Planters in the early American colonies extended their tobacco productions above the "fall line," where waterfalls or rapids mark the end of the Tidewater and the beginning of the foothill region known as the Piedmont. By 1700s, slaves were included in a majority of upcountry households and as many as three-quarters of the households in the Tidewater. From WIKI

Milkmaid's Douceur
Milkmaid's Sweetness (Softness, Gentleness, Smoothness, etc)

Specie
Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity out of which it is made. It is objects that have value in themselves as well as for use as money. Examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, salt, peppercorns, large stones, decorated belts, shells, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, candy, barley etc. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or price system economies. See WIKI, which also gives 'Coins or other metal money in mass circulation' as one of several disparate usages.

The Beggar's Opera
See pages 270, 367 & 455.

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Tailor of Gloucester's Mice
Reference to children's novel by Beatrix Potter titled The Tailor of Gloucester in which the mice living in the tailor's quarters help him finish his work. It seems, however, that the basic tale may have been around for some time as apparently Beatrix first heard it from a cousin, then adapted it: from WIKI: Potter had heard of this story while visiting a cousin, Caroline Hutton, though in fact the work had been secretly done by the tailor's very human assistants.

Annotation Index