Question

[BURNS PAUL CHARLES]

"a", of "a-and", may be a pronounced abbreviation of "fuckin-a" - a slang 
term which was a synomym for "you're fucking right" in the rural South 
where I grew up and the 50's.  In that case, the "and" would be the 
conjunction which precedes Slothrop's opinion which follows.  This was 
discussed in a class I took with Marty Bickman here at Univ of Colorado 
in Boulder.  So far as I know, no one actually tried to gloss the 
"a-and"s to see if this theory works insofar as as the flow of dialogue 
is concerned.  If anyone out there takes the time to look up a few 
"a-and" references, please post your observations.

-- Charley Burns

On Tue, 31 Jan 1995, Richard P. Muller wrote:

> 
> I have a question. I'm mid-way through Gravity's Rainbow, and I think
> I'm going to make it this time. One of the things that I've been
> curious about is why Slothrop says "a-and" all of the time. Does he
> stutter, perhaps when he's nervous (he seems to say "a-and" rather
> than "and" at stressful times) or am I missing something?
> 
> Thanks for any help you can offer.
>