IJE110
From Literature Concordances
Endnote 110 · Hal and Orin Discuss Québecois Politics
Page 1004
Hush Puppy
a brand name of shoes
squeegeed
cleaned with a squeegee
truncated
cut short
Page 1005
R&R
Rest and Relaxation
ex officio
Latin: by virtue of one's office
'The Yellow Rose (of Texas)'
Dickinson's poems can also be read to the meter of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
falsetto
a man's voice when he pitches it falsely high to sound like a woman
riffling
turning pages quickly
Ample make this bed
The full poem is here.
Page 1006
quotidian
commonplace
pistil
that part of a flower that is analogous to the female reproductive organs
Sikorski
C.T. is probably comparing the bee (which flies) to an airplane (which also flies) produced by Sikorsky Aircraft.
paucity
scarcity
swotted
studied intensively
wakked
I have no idea.
unperspicous
not clearly expressed or presented
penultimate
second to last
whingeing
complaining (pronounced to rhyme with "jing")
xerophagy
eating of bread and water only
Endnote 110d
anti-sclerotic
tending to ward of hardening of tissues (as of arteries, here)
Page 1006 (cont'd)
maunder
to talk incoherently or aimlessly
Solecism
nonstandard or incorrect grammatical usage
and c.
et cetera
Page 1007
20 X 25 centimeter
very close to 8" x 10"
Jethro Bodine
a character on the television show The Beverly Hillbillies
proviso
a clause, usually in a document, making a stipulation or qualification
"...isn't even iambic, much less quatrameter/trimeter..."
This is to say that the poetry of Dickinson is not in iambic pentameter, also known as verse. This is the style of poetry Shakespeare is written in ("Now is the winter of our discontent") -- ten syllables, and five iambs (feet, or beats) per line (thus pentameter). Quatrameter/trimeter would be the rhythm scheme of "Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Marry Had a Little Lamb."
dink
a synonym for a drop shot, which in tennis is a light tap just over the net
Page 1008
obverse
the more conspicuous of two possible choices
seraphic
like an angel
lascivious
appealing to sexual tastes
mesmerized
hypnotized
skitter
to move rapidly along a surface
knight-errant
a knight on a quest to prove his chivalry
Page 1009
Ainsi
French: so to speak
breviary
a prayer and hymn book
"Kitchens and heat..."
which is to say, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen
Page 1010
Gloeckner
German for "ringer," taking that in either of the meanings it has in English
3-kilo
a little over 7.25 pounds
Snuff
chewing tobacco
Andover
as in Philips Academy Andover, alma mater of both presidents Bush
"Dickinson's about as Transcendalist as Poe."
which is to say, not at all
Page 1011
R.C.M.P.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (1901-1967) was an American singer and movie star. As far as what he looked like, see right.
Droll
whimsically comic
Page 1012
nanomicroscopy
the looking at extremely small things (nano- being the prefix for "one-billionth") through a microscope
Thevet
This is probably a reference to André de Thevet (1502-1590), a French priest and explorer. Though never in Canada, he relied on French-Canadian explorers' work for his own voyages to South America.
"...the 5 on the French Achievement boards..."
The highest possible score on the French Advanced Placement Exam (for which one can receive college credit) is 5.
Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (1740-1795), was the Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson.
E cup
a very large breast size
acuity
acuteness of perception
in utero
in the womb
thalidomide
a drug developed to treat morning sickness in pregnant women that ended up causing babies to be born missing limbs
Condé Nast
one of the largest magazine publishers in the country, owned by Advance Publications (the Newhouse family) and founded by Condé Montrose Nast (1873-1942), an American publisher
deform
here meaning simply "to spoil"
persona
a fictional identity created for a person, narrator in a book, etc.
du
French: of the (masculine)
Page 1013
Meech Lake
a lake in Gatineau Park, near Chelsea, Québec
Parizeau
This is probably Jacques Parizeau (born 1930), a former Premier of Québec and proponent of Québecois sovereignty.
Charlottetown
the capital of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island
Crétien assassination
This is probably a misspelling of the surname of Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (born 1934), Prime Minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
Francophonic
French-speaking
Acadian Zionism
Acadia is the traditional name for what is now (in part) eastern Québec. Zionism is used here as a synonym for nationalism, rather than with its specific Jewish connotations
Toujours
French: always
"On ne parle d'Anglais ici."
French: English is not spoken here
Ottawa
the capital of Canada
"Permettez Nous Partir, Permettez Nous Être."
French: Allow us to leave, allow us to be.
Winnipeg
the capital of Canadian province of Manitoba
flux
frequent change
appalled
dismayed
UV-booth
UV standing for ultraviolet (as in light), this is probably a tanning booth.
Page 1014
"Nous v. La Plupart Toujours"
French: Us versus the majority always
Lesotho
a kingdom of southern Africa, existing as an enclave entirely within the Republic of South Africa
SOUTHAF
This is the Union of South Africa, which was formed in 1910 as a British colony and tried to annex Lesotho to it. Because of the imposition of apartheid laws in S. Africa, the annexation failed.
antebellum
before the war, here the U.S. Civil War
Endnote 110h
Gallic
French
Page 1014 (cont'd)
Anglophone
English-speaking
Plains of Abraham
a reference to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, part of the French and Indian Wars, which ended in a decisive British victory of the French
Endnote 110i
'La Guerre des Britanniques et des Sauvages'
French: The War of the British and the Savages
Ticonderoga
a reference to the Battle of Carillon, fought at Fort Ticonderoga
Page 1014 (cont'd)
Booty
treasure taken from a defeated party
1759
On September 13, 1759, Québec fell to the British.
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement
Rubensian
The word more often used is "Rubenesque," but this refers to the women in paintings by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist. His women tended to be plump.
retardate
more often used as a noun, offensively referring to a retarded person
rapacious
ravenous
Page 1015
lissome
supple
Rubensophile
See above, Rubensian.
gulag
a reference to the GULAG prison system of the Soviet Union
'ce pas?
French elision of "n'est-ce pas?" i.e., "right?"
Anbesol
a brand name of benzocaine used for tooth pain
flanges
Orin probably means to say "phalanges."
Rue Sherbrooke
a road in Montreal
St. Jean-Baptiste Day
another name for la fête nationale du Québec
anaerobic
thriving without oxygen
Page 1016
weedy
scrawny; Hal is probably using it to mean "thin," as in a line of argumentation
Brazilian Nuevo Contras
These would be "new" contras, the old ones having been U.S.-funded anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
The Noie Störkraft's? Shining Path's? The Belgian CCC's?
Noie Störkraft is Swedish "New Great Power"; it does not appear to be a new organization, though Störkraft is the name of a skinhead band from Sweden. The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso in Spanish) is the Communist Party of Peru, which has waged guerrilla warfare against the Peruvian government since 1980. CCC is a French acronym for Communist Combatant Cells; they were eliminated as a terrorist group in 1986.
Ez-ed-Dean-el-Qassan
an alternate spelling of a Palestinian militant group affiliated with Hamas
P.E.T.A.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
wobbled shrieking figure in the Munch lithograph
See right.
Page 1017
subjoin
to append to the end of something
attendant
consequent or concomitant
cloracne
probably a misspelling of chloracne
olfactory hallucinations
hallucinations wherein one smells things that aren't there
machete
a large cleaver-like cutting tool
Infant-depredations
preying on babies
phenols
another name for carbolic acid
Fundy
probably a reference to the Bay of Fundy
straw-and-camel
i.e., the straw that broke the camel's back
Page 1018
Docksider
a type of boat shoe
full-toll
i.e., it takes its full toll on you
Constantine
perhaps Constantine I, by tradition first Christian emperor of Rome
merde
French for "shit"
cartographic
having to do with maps
parliamentary wigs
Canadian MPs don't wear wigs, though barristers (lawyers) and judges do.
Page 1019
bone of dissension
Orin means "bone of contention."
desmirched
probably a malapropism, although it could mean "to un-besmirch"
re-gerrymandered
To gerrymander is to divide an area into electoral districts favorable to one party over another.
Cuibono
more properly cui bono, Latin for "who benefits?"
swivet
a state of nervous excitement
D-bases
databases
falcate
to curve like a sickle
Albertan ultra-rightists
There is a tradition of separatism in Alberta.
Duluth
a town in Minnesota and home to Bob Dylan, on Lake Superior about 150 miles north of the Twin Cities
Page 1020
Vichified
i.e., as Vichy France, which was a puppet government to the Nazis
Anschluss
German for "annexation," it most often refers to Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938.
mayhi
Orin seems to be using this term as a plural of "mayhem."
P.Q.s
members of the Parti Québecois
P.M.
Prime Minister (of Canada)
aller, partir
French: to go, to leave
Page 1021
hapless
here meaning haphazard
botulizing
infecting with botulism
jaunty
smartly trim
toggle
a type of switch
anapestic
An anapest is a three-syllable word where the emphasis is one last syllable. "Anapest" is an anapest.
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