Enough wif' da picture, already! SPOILER? pg.242

[Mark Smith]

andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk wrote:
> Deep water indeed. Don't have the book here but I suspect it might
> clarify things somewhat if y'all were aware that the *river* Wear
> (pronounced as in here, not as in there) lies in the vicinity of
> Dixon's hometown and occasionally lends its name to the nearby region.
> By the time it reaches the sea it is pretty deep.

Yes.  The river Wear.  Makes a lot of sense, really.  And really Dixon's
question marks at the end of his dialogue are meant to approximate the
sound of a Geordie - which could be construed as a tentative tone of
speech to an American, much as a Glaswegian accent sounds questioning
and over-solicitous of a response from the listener.  It's yet another
example of Pynchon pushing the boundaries of the written word, making it
conform to actual speech patterns, though he *will* insist on overdoing
it, in the name of artistic fun.  Much as Hector (in Vineland) always
spoke with little accents on his "ing" words, shortened to "in" to
approximate a Mexican accent.  Batchiss!, Batchiss!  I dunt haf to show
you eny stinkin batchiss!
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