Latest revision as of 01:03, 4 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!

Mario longs for M.P., goes for a walk

Page 589

Revelation of John
the last book of the New Testament

Carpenters
a 1970s soft rock band shown here

Familial Dysautonomia
also known as Riley-Day syndrome, among other names, a disease or malfunction of the autonomic nervous system

zither
a string instrument showcased here

Page 590

XL
extra-large

preverbally
in the manner of a child who, in developmental terms, has not yet attained the skill of expressive speech

Concupiscence
strong desire, especially sexual; lust

Page 591

ONE DAY A
"One Day at a Time," an AA slogan

Year of the Wonderchicken

Page 592

Page 593

Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School - the only public high school in Cambridge MA.

Life as an Ennet House Staff Member

Page 593

picayune
trivial

lithium
used to treat bipolar disorder

oral insulin
oral antidiabetic drugs is what is intended; when insulin is swallowed, the body processes it as very expensive food, but it has no effect on blood sugar

Sylvia Plate
misspelt or malaprop: Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was an American poet and novelist who suffered from depression and took her own life in 1963.

Page 594

diverticulitis
a painful disease involving the formation of pouches within the bowel wall

narc
a narcotics officer or a snitch

verbatim
word for word

baroque
highly ornate or extravagant, complex

ideation
the act of forming new ideas

collate
collect and combine in proper order

Page 595

Page 596

decoct
NOAD: extract the essence from (something) by heating or boiling it

street-canny
streetwise

accretes
NOAD: to grow by accumulation or coalescence

Orin & the "Swiss" hand model, cont.

Page 596

tamping
NOAD: ramming or packing (a substance) down or into something firmly

Page 597

cuckolds
men whose wives cheat on them

zaftig
a Yiddish word meaning, roughly, "voluptuous"

pectorals
chest muscles

Page 598

'Plus or minus three percent sample.'
This is the margin of error on the supposed survey Orin is about to take.

Pisser
remarkable, alternatively, disappointing

yarmulke
a small round cap worn by Jewish men

Page 599

CO²
a misprint, likely, for CO₂, i.e., carbon dioxide

winsome
attractive and engaging due to a childlike nature

gas range
a gas powered oven and stove

omnissent
Orin means "omniscient."

Schmeisser GBF
Schmeisser doesn't appear to be a gun manufacturer anymore, but it was in Germany until the fall of the Third Reich. GBF may stand for "German Battle Force."

retromandibular
behind the lower jaw

Sermonette
a short sermon

Evensong
the evening prayer of the Episcopal church

megahertz
a measurement of cycles per second, a megahertz is a million cycles per second

Page 600

Vapid ditty
Marathe's very funny malaprop/malentendu for vapidity, manifesting a lack of engaging or challenging qualities. A vapid ditty is a shallow or trivial song.

Actors' Guild
a reference to the Screen Actors Guild

Jeannie, Samantha, Sam and Diane, Gilligan, Hawkeye, Hazel, Jed
characters from, respectively, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Cheers, Gilligan's Island, M*A*S*H, Hazel, and The Beverly Hillbillies.

surcease
cessation

Page 601

comme on dit
French: as they say

After curfew at Ennet House

Page 601

Endnote 247

the Hole
prison slang for solitary confinement

hangdog
shamefaced

Page 602

cribbage
a card game, cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for score-keeping, among others.

Endnote 248

Natick
a town in Massachusetts about 20 miles west of Boston

Page 602 (cont'd)

third year of Subsidized Time
i.e., the Year of the Trial-Sized Dove Bar

Mass Rehab Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission

Page 603

skivvies
underwear

per diem
[financial] an allowance or payment of a fixed amount for each day

klaxon
a loud metal horn

Page 604

B.U. or -C. students
i.e., students of Boston University or (Boston) College

constitutionally
NOAD: in a way that relates to someone's nature or physical condition

a kind of idolatry of uniqueness
i.e., a worship of individuality

Page 605

rack
bed (perhaps a bunk, here)

over-ebullient
excessively cheerful

chuffing
producing or moving with noisy exhaust or exhalations, e.g., a chuffing train

seventh sense
implying that Gately also possesses the sixth sense (i.e., extrasensory perception or at least uncommonly keen intuition), and suggests an ability to recognize that someone else is under the influence (although some of the first five could probably tell him that)

Sergeant at Arms
a figurative for addiction, as introduced around page 463

Nietzschean
the Substance can make any man feel like an Übermensch (superhuman)

incognitoizing
Gately's mental neologism for "rendering incognito," i.e., disguising

regentrifying
Lenz, a rich source of malaprops, means "regenerating" rather than this neologism, presumably suggesting "returning to a condition of gentrification after declining into desuetude and dereliction"

fish-in-a-gaff
e.g., fish on a hook

L-Dopa
abbreviation for levadopa a chemical precursor to dopamine, adrenaline, and other neurotransmitters

akido
aikido misspelt

scrotum-tightening
An epithet first used by James Joyce in Chapter 1 of his 1922 novel Ulysses. Buck Mulligan is gazing at the Dublin Bay: "--God, he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a grey sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks. I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look." (Epi oinopa ponton is Homer's famous descriptor for the Aegean Sea from The Odyssey: the wine-dark sea.)

Page 606

Duster
the Plymouth Duster

lacteal
milky

rear-mount engine
the classic Volkswagen bugs have rear-mounted engines. The "New Beetle" has a front engine:

prostrate
lying flat on the ground (or, here, a bed)

kosher
Here Gately means "OK," whereas this literally, in Yiddish, refers to food "prepared according to Jewish Law."

Endnote 252

boilerplate
standard text entered identically, as into contracts

oubliette
a dungeon with an opening only at the top

Page 606 (cont'd)

Daytona
i.e., the Daytona 500, a yearly auto race

Page 607

Simonize
to shine or polish to a high sheen

Premium
high-octane gasoline

adtorsion
not a word, by Hal's criterion (absent from OED): turning inward of both eyes [Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health]

Hoits
i.e., "hurts" in Brooklynese

Page 608

high-B#
Equivalent to the pitch of C, and vocally, the high C is two octaves above middle C.

sotto
i.e., sotto voce meaning in a very quiet voice

SHUCO-MIST M.P.S.
Shuco-Mist Medical Pressure Systems (mentioned on page 198) is perhaps the fictional manufacturer a brand of nebulizer (actually spelled "Schuco Mist") for use by asthma patients.

Page 609

imprecating
calling down curses on others

in tandem
together as a unit

Weaver stance
a popular technique for firing a handgun

Made Guys
members of the Mafia in full standing

at bay
subdued and remaining at a distance

hammer's bobbed
meaning the cocking spur of the hammer has been cut off to prevent snagging

Page 610

wicks
draws off (liquid) by capillary action

wadcutter
special bullets with a flat front designed for shooting paper targets

dum-dums
bullets that mushroom on impact for maximum bodily damage

lending weight to another cliché
presumably E.M. Security is "never there when you need them."

cordite
a smokeless explosive, see note to page 433

Page 611

pomade
NOAD: a scented ointment or oil for dressing the hair.

jostle
bump against or be bumped against by others in a crowd

flummoxing
bewildering

Page 612

sans-Crist bâtard
French: Christ-less (i.e. pagan) bastard

Pépé or Bébé
apparently the name of the dog that Lenz just killed

maricones
Spanish: homosexuals (note that Brazilians actually speak Portuguese, not Spanish)

two meters
about 6.6 feet

Canadian
i.e., Québecois French

bodychecks
a term used in sports, esp. ice hockey, meaning to impede another's motion with one's body

Page 613

breezeblocked
a breeze-block is a large, grey brick made from ashes and cement. (Collins English Dictionary), but the usage here is figurative. Gately injured the Canadian's crotch with Gately's knee, not with a breezeblock (with or without hyphen) or any other object

Parkinsonian
leaning forward at the waist as though walking in the festinating gait of Parkinson's disease.

Page 614

appointments
furnishings

terry robe
a robe made with terry cloth, a pile fabric with uncut loops used to make bath robes and towels

ailanthus
a common form of urban plant

two meters
an apparent exaggeration

sangfroid
cool composure in trying or dangerous circumstances

Page 615

winged
NOAD: wounded (someone) superficially, especially in the arm or shoulder

three meters
about 9.8 feet

Copernicanly
Apparently in the manner of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), famed for theorizing that the Earth orbits the Sun rather than vice versa, but this raises the question of why or how in the manner of Copernicus. It does not seem that Erdedy has a telescope, but perhaps he is "staring...up her [the veiled girl's] flapping robe" looking for the center of the universe, as though through a telescope. (my take: Copernicus stared up, in wonder at the beauty of the universe. Likewise for Erdedy)

Serenity Prayer
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Page 616

loafers
shoes that slip on, rather than tie with laces

desisted
malaprop detector has needle pinned: stopped (but Wade McD. probably meant 'deceased')

Page 617

'The straight and narrow? '
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:14

'By doze is fide.'
"My nose is fine" said by someone with a broken nose, i.e., Green

Clearasil
a brand name of acne medication now containing benzoyl peroxide, but with a long history of bristling with worthless ingredients

'I'b dot touchig dothig, dud worry.'
Again, Green speaking with his broken nose: "I'm not touching nothing, don't worry."

shock
insufficient blood flow to the body's organs and tissues, often following an injury but sometimes following an emotional shock

Page 618

Shylock
malaprop: "Sherlock" intended. Shylock is the Jewish "villain" in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Supervised
on supervised probation

Madame Psychosis is in charge.
This is the first time Joelle has been positively ID'ed as M.P. (She is referred to as "a.k.a. Madame P." much earlier on page 225)

Secyotty!
"Security!" screamed by a drunk

chanties
Alternate spelling for "shanties," i.e., songs (particularly ones sung by seamen).

Page 619

inscrutable
NOAD: impossible to understand or interpret

oddering
i.e., ordering

collops
rolls of fat

And Lo
a reference to the opening of the M.P. radio show, see the text - not note - on page 184

fish-eye lens
a type of wide-angle lens