Infinity, Oy/Yo, Club on Pita

[Eric Alan Weinstein]

Eric Alan Weinstein wrote:
> 
> Dear Friends---
> 
> Diana York Blaine wrote:
> >
> > May I point out the suitably Pynchonian (not to mention Foucauldian)
> > difficulty y'all are having in finding out the "true" origin of
> > Maas?  Even the carbon-unit bearing that name in Real Landia cannot (it's
> > ok Steve, we feel your pain.)  Reminds me alot of Oedipa's search for the
> > source of the Courier's Tragedy in CoL49 itself. Strike another blow
> > for post-structuralism--all we can know is language and we cannot even
> > know that.  (
> 
>      My goodness, how much searching  has come from ten minutes of typing
> between giving tutorials! I am more than flattered.
> Perhaps all this should not take us by surprise
> when we consider two more name-referances for Oedipa and Pierce.
> 
>     Firstly, as Jeff Krafft reminds me, "Marty Popps pointed out
> about 20 years ago ("Perpetual Motions"), citing that line near the end of
> Lot 49 in which Oedipa thinks of Pierce and a "fraction of him that
> couldn't come out even," but "would carry forever beyond any decimal
> place she might name," that Pierce Inverarity is pi."
> 
> PI!
> 
>    And secondly, Oedipa's nickname, Oed, is of course OED---the
> Oxford English Dictionary; containing, in theory, all words
> extant in the language (although Puhewwwarrrrmate isn't there yet.)
> 
>     So Oed gives us a kind of totality of language, even as
> as PI's infinity, should in theory, be a kind of numerical
> endlessness.
> 
>    And at this point, my friends, I suggest there is a paper
> to be written about Levinas, Infinity and The Crying Of Lot 49.
> Hey! Or perhaps not. Perhaps I need to watch a lot more cable
> television. So many channels, and all so cheap! That word
> "channel" is a funny one, though...
> 
>     By the way, has anyone else noticed that the traditional
> Brooklynese salutation  "Yo!" is an exact reversal of the
> East End attention-grabbing "Oy!" Although both communities
> share elderly Jewish men, such as my Dad, who are fond of
> the yiddishism "oy vey" (variant "oy vey's meir"). This is,
> I am told, deeply satisfying when repeated in varying
> inflections several times a week.
> 
> yours in foolish action and word,
> 
> Eric
> E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk
> 
> P.S. Not looking for the truth exactly, maybe a good
> vegitarian club on pita in Bloomsbury---at the right price