That that and other problems

[David Casseres]

Stencil sez

>Some little worries...
>
>[a-and]  Is this two syllables, staccato, Jimmy Stewart sincere, or is
>it one long sly elided "Outstanding! A-and... they are mild" entree to
>otherness?

I've always heard it as the latter, and imagined that a lot of facial 
mugging goes with it -- eyes rolling, eyebrows wagging, toothy grin usw.

>[that] Is this just a TRP-personal tic?  It seems to increase in
>frequency with proximity to Slothrop.  Sometimes it's used when "this"
>would seem more appropriate.  Are we supposed tho hear, irony through
>inversion, echoes of _tat tvam asi_?  Or is it an image of an actual
>dialect usage like "like" (or, like that "like"), vestige of an other
>era or locale?

1940's American vernacular, I'd say, and used to emphasize the 
familiarity of something in the context of a particular conversation.  
You still hear it from older Midwesterners, and I bet Pynchon grew up 
with it.  "That Roosevelt, he really changed things with that New Deal of 
his."  I do think it's closely associated with Slothrop, and represents 
his stream of consciousness (or one just like it).

>[the noun as adjective] Not so frequent as 'that' but it puts a riffle
>in the stream.  Again, is this normal usage somewhere somewhen or is
>it Fraught?

Not sure what you're referring to -- how about an example or two?



Cheers,
David