IJ49
From Literature Concordances
49 · Hal Gets High in the Basement
Contents |
Page 49
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
one-hitter
a small marijuana pipe that will provide one "hit" of marijuana per packing
Page 50
Partridge, KS
A town in Kansas about 55 miles north-northwest of Wichita
Charles Tavis
I.e., C.T.
gizzard
the digestive organ of a bird
Page 51
Bob Hope
Cockney rhyming slang for "dope"
neo-Georgian
modern-day architecture that approximates that of the Georgian period, from 1714 (accession of George I of the U.K.) to 1830 (death of George III)
Endnote 3
cardioid
In geometry, a cardioid is a plane curve produced by tracing the path of a chosen point of a circle which rolls around a fixed circle. The cardioid shape of E.T.A. has one cusp, i.e., a point on the curve that is not smooth. The r referred to by the narrator here is the radius of the moving circle.
Übermensch
German for "superhuman"
Brandeis
Brandeis is a Jewish-founded university in Waltham, Mass., about nine miles west of Boston, named for Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856-1941) the first Jewish Supreme Court justice.
Page 51 (cont'd)
spherocubular
Another neologism, presumably meaning having characteristics of both a sphere and cube -- a three-dimension "squircle".
Leith
A homonym of Lethe, the name of the river in Greek mythology whose water, if drunk, will erase one's memory.
Dr. James O. Incandenza
Hal's father's full name is given for the first time.
Page 52
dendriurethane
This substance does not actually exist. An educated guess is that it is a type of polyurethane that comes from trees, dendri being Greek for "tree."
twenty meters
almost twenty-two yards
unfenestrated
having no windows
two meter
a little over 6.5 ft
banshee
In Irish mythology, the banshee is female spirit, who acts as an omen of death. They are known for "keening," i.e., shrieking.
flange
a plate or ring to form a rim at the end of a pipe when fastened to the pipe
Page 53
post-latency
after the latency period that Freud posited in his four-stage theory of psychosexual development in children
Endnote 5
N.B.
abbreviation for Latin nota bene, i.e., "note well," stated before an important example or corollary point
Endnote 5a
nystagmus
involuntary eye movement
entrepôt
French for "warehouse," this is where foreign merchandise can be purchased duty-free
loquacity
talkativeness
Endnote 6
Halcion (still available in Canada, unbelievably, still)
It's also still available here, though the U.K. has banned it since 1991.
Endnote 7
bevelling
Here meaning "smoothed out" and misspelled, beveling is the making of 45º angles where perpendiculars meet.
Page 53 (cont'd)
mushrooms or X
psilocybin mushrooms or MDMA (called ecstasy)
Endnote 8
Endnote 8a
Muscimole
another mushroom-based hallucinogen, like psilocybin
DDMS
dibromododecenyl methylsulfimide
DMSO
dimethylsulfoxide
Endnote 8 (cont'd)
dickies
As a dickie is designed to give the appearance of wearing a tie, Wallace uses this word here to deal with drugs that mimic the effects of other drugs.
MMDA, DMA, DMMM, 2CB, para-DOT I-VI
You can read about MMDA here, DMA here, 2CB here, DOT here (apparently). DMMM appears to be made up.
CNS
central nervous system
gamma hydroxybutric acid
now more commonly known as GHB
DMZ/M.P.
DMZ is another made-up drug. M.P. is probably Michael Pemulis.
Page 53 (cont'd)
Interdependent regions
I.e., Canada
prorectors
members of a management body of a university, each managing his/her specific area
the Show
professional tennis
Page 54
Kodiak
a brand of chewing tobacco
quail
to shrink back in fear
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