Difference between revisions of "Chapter 3"

Revision as of 16:31, 1 January 2014

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Pinot E-Grigio
Pinot grigio is a kind of white wine. A very popular easy-drinking wine, often light, dry, and crisp. An egregious pun here?

Night Train
Common abbreviation for Night Train Express, a cheap, sweet, high alcohol content, fortified wine made by E & J Gallo.

plotzing
In Yiddish, to plotz literally means to crack, split, or burst. In slang it means "to collapse or be beside oneself with frustration, annoyance, or other strong emotion."

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paraphrasing Jimi Hendrix
"mayonnaise! All in your brain" cf. "Purple haze! all in my brain"

Maid-Rite
Casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1926. Centered in the Midwest with headquarters in Iowa. Home of the "loose meat sandwich," which looks like a sloppy joe minus the tomato sauce.

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cheongsam
Tight-fitting one-piece Chinese dress for females. Very common in films and television.

'59 Impala
A 1965 Impala appears in Inherent Vice.

three-month LIBOR
a banking term. The average interest rate estimated by banks in London for borrowing from other banks.

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Ceres
Roman goddess of agriculture, fitting name for the Board of Trade (i.e. commodities) bar.

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French roundoff Computer fraud in which all interest income amounts less than half a cent are systematically credited to the perpetrator’s account. From [1].

Kashruth
set of Jewish dietary laws.

Meyer Lansky
Known as the "Mob's Accountant," was a major organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful individuals in the country. From WIKI.

"it's a truth universally acknowledged"
First sentence of Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

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alexithymic lug
describing Horst; alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by the sub-clinical inability to identify and describe emotions in the self. The core characteristics of alexithymia are marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating.

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least enjoyable maybe the one between Hochdeutsch and Ashkenazi
Hochdeutsch generally means the standard German language (as opposed to regional dialects). Ashkenazi Jews historically spoke Yiddish. This may refer to the class differences between speakers of different Yiddish dialects, classier German Jews vs peasant-y Polish Jews.

Galician, actually
The Galicia referred to here is the eastern European area that today forms most of western Ukraine and was part of the Austrian Empire from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century. During that time, the Jewish population of Galicia swelled significantly. After the Great War, Galicia passed to Poland. The Polish government prohibited both Galician Jews and Ukrainians from working in the state enterprises, institutions, railway, post, telegraph etc. These measures were applied in their strictest form. Galician Jews and Ukrainians experienced ethnic oppression by undergoing a forceful Polonization. In September 1939, most of Galicia passed to Soviet Ukraine. The majority of Galician Jews perished during the Holocaust. Most survivors immigrated to Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia. Wikipedia

Helvetia
Helvetia is the female national personification of Switzerland, officially Confœderatio Helvetica, the Swiss Confederation. The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with the Swiss flag, and commonly with braided hair, commonly with a wreath as a symbol of confederation. The name is a derivation of the ethnonym Helvetii, the name of the Gaulish tribe inhabiting the Swiss Plateau prior to the Roman conquest. From WIKI.

Certain lobes of Heidi's spirit may have been compromised
You mean servers?

Mexican divorce
In the 1960s, some New Yorkers traveled south to obtain a "Mexican divorce". A Mexican divorce was easier, quicker, and less expensive than a divorce in most U.S. states. Celebrities who obtained a Mexican divorce include Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Don Hewitt. It is also mentioned in the Jack Kerouac book On The Road. It was often referred to as a quickie (or quicky) divorce. From WIKI.

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echt Latina... boricua
Echt = German (and Yiddish?) for "genuine, real". Boricua = Puerto Rican.

Gracy Kelly...Rear Window...Thelma Ritter...Wendell Corey.
All references to Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film "Rear Window." Oddly, the star of the film, James Stewart, doesn't get his name dropped. Thelma Ritter played Stewart's earthy, commonsensical nurse, a bit like the talkative Nurse from Romeo and Juliet. Wendell Corey played Stewart's skeptical policeman friend who helps save the day in the dramatic ending. You could say that Stewart, more than anyone else, is the one who 'saves' Grace Kelly from a murderer by calling the police at a crucial moment, and in general Kelly interacts more with Stewart than with Ritter or Corey, so I don't understand why Maxine is being identified more with them than with Stewart. Anyone have a better handle on this and can rewrite this entry?

The Deseret
Boris Kachka, writing for New York Magazine, writes that this building is "obviously the Apthorp". Although the Apthorp building does not have turrents and gargoyles from pictures available, its courtyard (photos here) closely matches Pynchon's description of the Deseret. Kachka writes that Pynchon himself lived in an apartment facing this building for years.

The etymology of the term "deseret" begins in the LDS scripture Book of Mormon, where the term is defined as honeybee, and used as an industrious symbol along with a beehive by Mormon leader Brigham Young.

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carrying street Chanel bags
These could be Chanel bags designed for casual use. "Street" fashion is emerges not from studios, but from the grassroots, and is aimed at youth culture. OR Pynchon might be saying that those Chanel bags are knock-offs purchased on the street. It's ambiguous.

It's the latter: a knockoff bag. Chanel bags start at a couple grand. From the context it's made clear that the characters can't afford them.

When Irish eyes are not smiling . . .
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is a song first published in 1912.

running shoes
In New York they are called sneakers not running shoes.