Revision as of 02:37, 3 November 2018

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!

November 11th, YDAU - Gately and Joelle

Page 531

boilermakers
shots of whiskey chased with beer

keep
i.e., the barkeep

Page 532

blotto
extremely drunk

Cumberland
This must refer to the Cumberland River, which flows into the Ohio near Paducah, in the western part of Kentucky, close to Joelle's home town of Shiny Prize (see page 237).

O.D.
overdose

Page 533

metronome
a time-keeping device for musicians, typically a pendulum-like machine that clicks to provide meter

caparison
rich and sumptuous clothing or equipment

Page 534

a Type and a Symbol
These words are used by Mr. Hooper to describe the veil he wears in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The Minister's Black Veil."

Page 535

gregarious
sociable

Page 536

Page 537

Page 538

slavering
drooling

☽ - Randy Lenz: Rats, Cats, and Dogs

Page 538

Duster
the Plymouth Duster was a sporty compact available from 1970 to 1976

12-gauge blast
as from as 12-gauge shotgun

Page 539

loafer one
presumably first step of the day, meaning Lenz never leaves Ennet House until after sunset

E.M.I.T.
enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique

Page 540

Endnote 224

EZC
i.e., "easy see"

NAL
New American Library

Ticknor, Fields
Ticknor and Fields was a publishing house eventually bought by Houghton Mifflin in 1880.

Y.T.M.P.

Page 540 (cont'd)

W-E
west-east

trebled
tripled in number or magnitude

Stegosaurus
a type of dinosaur

Page 541

verminal
probably a neologism (by Hal's criteria) for tending to breed vermin

cabbaging
stealing

brisance
the shattering effect of an explosive

Page 542

excitatingly
neologism, but probably in a manner characterized by excitation is intended

panoply
a wide-ranging array of things

A Program of Attraction
AA refers to itself as this, meaning that it doesn't need to advertise.

EST and Greenwich Mean
Eastern Standard Time and Greenwich Mean Time, the latter of which is determined at the Prime Meridian, or 0º longitude

reseau
a reference grid of fine lines forming uniform squares on a photographic plate or print, used to aid in measurement

DOW
probably the Dow Jones Industrial Average

NIKEI
a reference to the Nikkei 225 index of the Japanese stock market

Page 543

Eurotrochaic
neologism: Euro[pean] + trochaic; here, describing the alternating two-note sound of a European emergency siren (trochaic being the adjectival form of "trochee," a metrical foot of poetry comprised of two feet, stressed and unstressed)

winsome
charming

diverticulitis
inflammation of the pouches of the colon

gone rye
i.e., gone awry

Principles of Psychology and the Gifford Lectures on Natural Philosophy
"William James’s Gifford Lectures of 1901–1902 have been heralded by some as the greatest lectures ever to be presented in the series and perhaps the most seminal of his works (alongside The Principles of Psychology). Published initially in 1902, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature has stood the test of time and been republished thirty-six times."

20-gram
About .70 ounces, this is a lot of cocaine.

bonerfied
bona fide

Page 544

Year of the Maytag Quietmaster

ten-kilo
about 22 lbs

Caldor-brand
a chain of discount department stores in the US Northeast. The chain closed its last store in 1999.

Scopophobic
Of scopophobia; the fear of being seen or stared at.

Page 545

Bing
cocaine, usually referring to a line of the substance

phosphenes
light sensations in the eyes when light is physically absent

apnea
the tendency of mainly overweight people to stop breathing intermittently in their sleep

hone
a whetstone used to sharpen blades

Page 546

R. Lauren
Ralph Lauren

BYP
Brookline Young People's AA group

Page 547

formulating
forming

tattlemount
tantamount

Page 548

Early November, YDAU - Rodney Tine and the Samizdat

Page 548

District
the District of Columbia

Endnote 228

O.N.R.
perhaps the Office of Naval Research

ambit
sphere of operation or influence

Page 548 (cont'd)

twidgelling
not a real word

NCA
probably Northern California

Code-Five
code for "stakeout in progress"

New Iberia LA
a city about 50 miles southwest of Baton Rouge

apprised
informed

pithed
having had a needle stuck into the base of the skull to sever or destroy the brainstem

Academy of D.A.S. (or V.A.S.)
It seems like it's printed as either D.A.S. or V.A.S. These are probably something like "Academy of Digital/Visual Arts and Sciences"

Page 549

U.S.O.
Undercover Special Operations

P.E.T.s
P.E.T. is the acronym for positron emission tomography, a kind of medical imaging technique; these are more commonly called PET scans

retinue
a group of attendants, advisers, etc.

November 9th, YDAU - Pemulis wanders the E.T.A. offices at night

Page 550

magical thinking
the correlation of actions and events in the absence of scientific proof

pre-Oedipal
occurring prior to the Oedipus complex typically experienced from ages 3-6

cathexis
defined as the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea

Page 551

exhortation
a speech or discourse that encourages, incites, or earnestly advises

greeble
a small piece of detailing added to break up the surface of an object to add visual interest

Page 552

Filene's
a Boston-based department store (and chain), defunct since December 2011

chintzy
cheap and low grade

Hal's Mumsly-Wumsly
his mother, Avril Incandenza

Page 553

worsted
firmly twisted yarn

November 11th, YDAU - Lenz and Green Walking

Page 554

RIJID-brand male hairspray
appears to be a fictional brand of hairspray

Page 555

stepped on
cut, as in weakened the potency of a drug by adding another substance

half-kilo
about 1.1 pounds

Inositol
the capitalization is inappropriate. It is not a B-vitamin but at one time was thought to be one, "B8." I think from context that cyanocobalamin was intended.

Endnote 231

Manitol
a misspelling of mannitol

Page 555 (cont'd)

lineskers
lines of powdered cocaine assembled for snorting

"...go find a short pier..."
and take a long walk, being the implication

aqua-line nose
an aquiline nose

Page 556

anileated
annihilated

hemispasm
spasm on half of the face

insousistent
insouciant, meaning indifferent

aplomb
self-assurance

skirling
shrilly wailing

hackles
the erectile hairs on the back of a dog which rise up out of fear or aggression

plumb
exactly

to the maximus
maybe just "the maximum" (or "the max"), but also perhaps more Wallace wordplay, as in the gluteus maximus (the largest of the muscles in the buttocks), and so a pain in the ass

myriadly
countlessly

parallaxing
The noun parallax is a visual term; the nonce participle "parallaxing" used to describe noises here, may be Lenz's way of referring to the Doppler effect, analogous only in terms of issues of positional perspective, of the viewer of an object at some distance in the case of parallex and the hearer of a moving noisemaker (such as the siren on a speeding ambulance) in the case of the Doppler shift.

crucifi
Probably Lenz means "crucifixes."

crepuscular
relating to twilight, or possibly the animals active at this time

threnody
song of mourning for the dead

Page 557

To Project and to Swerve
a pun on the police motto "To Protect and Serve"

hoovered
inhaled (from Hoover, a brand name of vacuum cleaner)

Endnote 232

benzoylecgonine
the major metabolite of cocaine

ecgonine
an organic chemical found naturally in coca leaves

nystagmus
a rapid, involuntary, oscillatory motion of the eyeball

benzoic acid
the simplest of the aromatic carboxylic acids

Crosbulation
if cocaine is called "Bing," Crosbulation refers to snorting cocaine, referring to the last name of Bing Crosby

spider angiomas
a type of benign swelling of the blood vessels just beneath the skin's surface, often containing a central red spot and reddish extensions which radiate outwards like a spider's web

rhinorrhagia
bleeding from the nose

blepharospecticity
a neologism meaning something like "seeing through one's eyelids," perhaps blepharospasticity misspelt, "spasm of the eyelids"

M.A.O.-inhibiting
monoamine oxidase inhibitors, potent antidepressants, with many drug-drug and drug-diet interactions

ballism
another name for hemiballismus

oral labia
the lips of the mouth

Paliacci
a misspelling of Pagliacci (Clowns), an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), an Italian composer

priapism
persistent, usually painful erection of the penis, especially as a consequence of disease and not related to sexual arousal

diuresis extremus
Extreme production of urine and, thus, need to urinate. The correct Greek-Latin term should be diuresis extrema, diuresis being a feminine noun.

phobophobia
fear of fear

sociosis
a neurosis that has to do with one's ability to deal with society

acne rosea
also known as rosacea

rhinophyma
a red nose caused by amassing of granulomas there

synergism
the property of things working together

confabulation
formation of false memories

garrulousness
propensity to ramble

phasece
neologism; presumably a back-formation to a plural noun from the adjective 'phasic,' which in medical parlance means "Of the activity of excitable cells or tissues: discontinuous; irregular; not tonic" (OED). "Pulmonary phasece" would be heart palpitations.

lingual tendinitis
this would mean inflammation of the tendon of the tongue, but the tongue and mouth lack tendons

Page 557 (cont'd)

sangfroid
coolness of the blood (from French)

fob
an ornament attached to a pocket watch by a chain

chamois
Pronounced "shammy," this is a cloth or piece of leather used to shine a surface.

Track and Flange
not a real magazine

flange
a protruding rim, edge, rib, or collar, as on a wheel or a pipe shaft, used to strengthen an object, hold it in place, or attach it to another object

ergo
Latin: therefore

energois de vivre
Something like "life energy" or "life force;" although energois isn't a real French word, it might be pronounced like joie as in joie de vivre.

Page 558

Estuarial crocodile
the estuarine (saltwater) crocodile

Bonwit's
a reference to the now-defunct upscale department store Bonwit Teller

A.D.A.
American Dental Association

akido
Lenz means aikido.

valise
a small piece of luggage

recurving
i.e., recurring

t'ai-chi
alternate spelling of Taiji

Page 559

mescal
an alcoholic beverage distilled from a cactus

diphthongs
occurrences of two adjacent vowel sounds in a word, e.g, poor, sour, coin

cableyarrow
Caballero (Spanish for "gentleman") is what he means.

in vitro
Latin for "in glass," this term is used to refer to experiments that happen in test tubes. Lenz means in vivo, i.e., in utero (or maybe not -- he might be claiming he was a product of artificial insemination, and that he actually remembers things from before he was implanted, who knows?).

Hal Counts His Breaths

Page 560

photosynthesizing
turning light into energy, as plants do

Baobab tree
a tree native to Africa and India

pride
family of lions

Lenz and Green, cont.

Page 560

septum
the cartilage separating the nostrils

reguiles
i.e., regales (and simultaneously beguiles)

Shrangi-la
Lenz means Shangri-La, the utopia of the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1900-1954), a British author.

kamasupra
Lenz is referring to the Kama Sutra.

Page 561

Fall River
a city in Massachusetts about 50 miles south of Boston

poofta
i.e., a poofter, a vulgar term for a male homosexual

intrepid
fearless

fauna
wildlife

Shawshine River
also known as the Shawsheen

ravacious
This would seem to be a cross between "ravenous" and "rapacious."

Page 562

scat-piles
piles of feces

feti
plural of fetus

yrstruly
yours truly

propitiating
appeasing

diem
Latin: day