GRGR2 - Re: Tantivy
Nicholas Peter Spencer
nspence at emory.edu
Thu Oct 17 11:16:24 CDT 1996
"Maffick" is an abbreviation of "Mafficking," the term used to describe
the
celebrations in England once the Siege of Mafeking, in the Second Boer War
(1899-1900), was over. It is highly pertinenet to the racial theme
in GR: apparently the English thought that their lads were suffering
mightily under the siege, but the White garrison lived in relative luxury
by appropriating the rations of the Black garrison (yes, apartheid was a
British South African invention). So the "Mafficking" celebrations were a
kind of simulation of the end of a war struggle, which means that
Tantivy's name is a micrcosmic embodiment of the whole war theme in GR.
"Mucker" is a slang term for friend
or mate - as in, "My old mucker." As Murthy says, Steven Weisenburger has
some good stuff on this in the GR Companion.
Nick Spencer
On Thu, 17 Oct 1996, Murthy Yenamandra wrote:
> Barone, Charles writes:
> > Before we leave GRGR2, I'd be curious to hear speculation on the origin
> > of the name Tantivy (Mucker-Maffick).
>
> I believe "Tantivy" is a fox hunting cry. As for "Mucker-Maffick", the
> GR companion had some suggestions that I have forgotten.
>
> Murthy
>
> --
> Murthy Yenamandra, Dept of CompSci, U of Minnesota. Email: yenamand at cs.umn.edu
> "Always there's that space between what you feel and what you do, and in
> that gap all human sadness lies." - _Blue Dog_
>
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