IJ242
From Literature Concordances
242 · Hal and Orin on Himself
Contents |
Page 242
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Endnote 82
Bean
as in L.L. Bean
Night Watch plaid
see right
Page 243
caroms
rebounds
1100 meters
a little over 3,600 feet
Superstition mountains
a real range east of Phoenix
precipice
a cliff with a vertical face
propitiate
to make favorably inclined
apotropaic
intended to ward off evil
Popogatapec
probably a reference to Popocatépetl
Ahts of Vancouver
another name for the Nuu-chah-nulth, the indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island, Canada
Micturation
urination
Page 244
200-kilo
about 441 pounds
apposite
pertinent
Page 245
decamp
to depart secretly
domino-mask
This is "a large, hooded cloak with a mask covering the eyes, worn at masquerades" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
lacuna
a missing part
Page 246
rodneys
obviously some kind of impulse buy, but I can't figure out what kind
refracted
illuminated indirectly
Cardinal Stadium
The Arizona Cardinals now play in the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Page 247
Royal Victoria
This is the name of one of the docks of east London, but probably not what's being referred to here. Victoria is also the capital of British Columbia, and an island in the Pacific off the B.C. coast.
Page 248
'20 for 28 is what, 65%?'
It's a little over 71%.
Page 249
telemetry
the transmission of something automatically and at a distance -- here, Hal's toenails to the wastebasket
Page 250
Page 251
magnitron
a misspelling of "magnetron," which is "a two-element vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons is under the influence of an external magnetic field, used to generate extremely short radio waves" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).
kg.s.cm.
kilograms per square centimeter, as a measurement of pressure, like pounds per square inch
Page 252
Adriatic
the sea between the west coast of Italy and the Balkan peninsula
Page 253
StairMaster
a brand name of exercise machines
Kübler-Ross, Hinton
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (1926-2004) was a Swiss-born American psychiatrist and specialist on death and dying. John Hinton is a British contemporary expert in the field.
Kastenbaum and Kastenbaum
Robert J. Kastenbaum is another prominent scholar in the field of death and dying. I can't find another person by that name, so perhaps Hal is referring to multiple volumes by the same Kastenbaum.
Elizabeth Harper Neeld's Seven Choices: Taking the Steps to New Life After Losing Someone You Love
A real book, it's actually 343 pages.
Wyclif and 14th-century langue-d'oc French
John Wyclif was a 14th century English theologian. He made the first translation of the Bible into English, thus his importance to etymology in general. Langue d'oc is another name for the Occitan language. The OED actually dates the word's (acceptance) earliest usage to 1596 by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice.
Hindi
a national language of India and one of the most widely spoken
Gila monster
a venomous lizard native to the Southwest U.S. and Mexico, known for its tenacious bite
hypertensive
having high blood pressure
Page 254
Leaves of Grass
the most famous volume of poetry by Walt Whitman
Page 255
unfazable
incapable of being disturbed
paroxysmic
characteristic of an outburst of violent emotion
Page 256
half a meter
about 1.64 feet
Page 257
dewlaps
loose flesh as under the jaw of a cow
"...when Luke removes his high-tech targeting helmet..."
Hal is referring to a scene from Star Wars; Luke is Luke Skywalker.
coccyges
plural of coccyx, i.e., the tailbone
Page 258
jonquil-yellow
another name for the flower known as the narcissus or daffodil
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