M&D: Smallest possible spoiler (chapter 3)

[jporter]

>>Dan Schmidt wrote:
>>>
>>> We had a conversation a while back on how to interpret a few speech
>>> tics in Gravity's Rainbow, notably Tyrone's "a-and."
>>>
>>> I'm having trouble deciding how to hear Dixon's tendency to end
>>> sentences with an ellipsis and a question mark, like this...?  Any
>>> suggestions?
>>
>>I'm hearing a drop in volume and a rise in pitch, a sort of trailing
>>off...?  (I also visualize the speaker failing to make eye contact with
>>the speakee -- textually justifiable? Ennh.)  Not unlike my own speech
>>pattern when I try to run an unusually dumb idea by my wife, "Honey, I
>>figured I'd save us some money and fix the alternator myself...?"
>>
>
>Interesting call -
>
>this is a peculiarly modern - uh... postmodern speech pattern.  Tons of
>kids from the slacker/gen-x talk like this.
>
>Seems things are so confused about what is real and what is a commercial,
>and foax are so afraid of making declarative statements because they're
>not pc, or don't seem to fit in to some cult of relative moralism, or
>because they're afraid of being countered, that no one seems to be able to
>state anything as fact, or opinion with conviction for that matter...?
>
>But did foax speak like that way back when?
>
>
>Mathew Jacobson
>Green Mountain Forest Watch
>48 Elliot St. Brattleboro, VT  05301
>grnmt at sover.net
>http://www.sover.net/~grnmt/


My take on the ...?, is, Dixon looking (down, but not down his nose) at
Mason just after Dixon finishes speaking with a questioning expression, as
if to say: "Do you agree?" Am I right?"  but not with any sense of
insecurity on Dixon's part, just sort of an implicit recognition that
communication even between them is so easily misinterpreted; the, ...?,
serving as a constant check to keep them on the same page, See?

jody