<div dir="ltr"><br><div><br></div><div>According to the well known ballad, the act performed on the native water boy would be one of deference and thanksgiving, even if Sam <span class="" id=":1fw.1" tabindex="-1">Jaffe</span> wasn't wearing boots you could lick or much of anything in the movie. Brown nosing comes to mind, Don't remember  if this has already been said, probably I don't understand the problem. I know it's difficult to translate stuff based on American pop culture. Anyway, good luck.</div><div><br></div><div>But when it comes to slaughter<div>You will do your work on water</div><div>And you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's go it.</div></div><div><br></div><div>Kipling</div><div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 5:34 AM, Mike <span class="" id=":1fw.2" tabindex="-1">Jing</span> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span class="" id=":1fw.3" tabindex="-1">gravitys</span>.rainbow.<span class="" id=":1fw.4" tabindex="-1">cn</span>@gmail.com</a><wbr>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Thanks for the reply, Smoke. I'm just grasping at straws here because<br>
I can't find a way to translate it with the same kind of ambiguity,<br>
but I guess I'll just have to try harder or leave the "to preform on"<br>
part out altogether.<br>
<br>
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 9:27 AM, Smoke Teff <<a href="mailto:smoketeff@gmail.com" target="_blank">smoketeff@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> It doesn't read like 'perform a prank on' to me, exactly.<br>
><br>
> Some of the grotesque interpretations seem to possibly make sense, given the<br>
> recurrence of the grotesque throughout the book and in some of the pages<br>
> (and verses) leading up to this sentence.<br>
><br>
> Though I can imagine a translation that focuses on these possibilities might<br>
> run the risk of over-specifying, choosing one possible meaning of many and<br>
> eliminating others.<br>
><br>
> I wonder to what extent the musical sense of performance, as Monte points<br>
> out, is supported by the "all folklore broken down" line. Although this<br>
> might also support a more scatological meaning as well.<br>
><br>
> Some vagueness: who's doing the performing (PP, using/on the nose, or the<br>
> Arab, on his own nose)?, in what sense is the word on used?<br>
><br>
> Also, when you say someone plays a musical instrument, do you ever say they<br>
> perform on it?<br>
><br>
> To perform on, to my ear, suggests either a location (e.g. you perform a<br>
> musical number on a stage) or that something is a more direct physical<br>
> recipient of the performance (performance in this sense seeming to be either<br>
> more technical, as in to perform a medical procedure on someone, or more<br>
> euphemistic, as in like to jack off on, or I guess vomit on...)<br>
><br>
> I guess you might colloquially describe someone as being on an instrument,<br>
> e.g. "let's give it up for Craig on the keyboard," but it doesn't quite<br>
> sound right to me to say, "let's give it up for Craig, who's performing on<br>
> the keyboard."<br>
><br>
> On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 2:25 AM, Mike Jing <<a href="mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn@gmail.com" target="_blank">gravitys.rainbow.cn@gmail.com</a><wbr>><br>
> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> Resurrecting this thread yet again on my third pass. I have another<br>
>> idea: could "to perform on" simply mean "to perform a prank on"? It<br>
>> seems to make sense given the context, with Gary Grant larking in and<br>
>> out and so on.<br>
>><br>
>> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 4:19 AM, Mike Jing <<a href="mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn@gmail.com" target="_blank">gravitys.rainbow.cn@gmail.com</a><wbr>><br>
>> wrote:<br>
>> > P14.5-13Â Â In 1935 he had his first episode outside any condition of<br>
>> > known sleep—it was during his Kipling Period, beastly Fuzzy-Wuzzies<br>
>> > far as eye could see, dracunculiasis and Oriental sore rampant among<br>
>> > the troops, no beer for a month, wireless being jammed by other Powers<br>
>> > who would be masters of these horrid blacks, God knows why, and all<br>
>> > folklore broken down, no Gary Grant larking in and out slipping<br>
>> > elephant medicine in the punchbowls out here . .. not even an Arab<br>
>> > With A Big Greasy Nose to perform on, as in that wistful classic every<br>
>> > tommy’s heard . . .<br>
>> ><br>
>> > What is this classic with "an Arab With A Big Greasy Nose"? And what<br>
>> > do they want to perform on him?<br>
>> -<br>
>> Pynchon-l / <a href="http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.waste.org/mail/?lis<wbr>tpynchon-l</a><br>
><br>
><br>
-<br>
Pynchon-l / <a href="http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.waste.org/mail/?lis<wbr>tpynchon-l</a><br>
</blockquote></div><br></div></div>