A Topick both Arcane and of G-d

[Sojourner]

Hheheh if you're a purist and want to say unSPOILed, skip to the Bottom.













On page 36, TRP makes a clever use of the word "jackass".  Of course we know
it means a donkey etc., but the word "Union Jack", the term for the British
flag, comes from the word "jack", or the position of the ship which the flag
was first hung regularly (even today British people don't hang their flag
very often except for 'official' reasons).

Here's what a dictionary found:

10. (Naut.) (a) A flag, containing only the union, without the fly, usually
hoisted on a jack staff at the
bowsprit cap; -- called also union jack. The American jack is a small blue
flag, with a star for each State.
(b) A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead, to support a royal
mast, and give spread to the
royal shrouds; -- called also jack crosstree.

also

3. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also Jack tar, and Jack
afloat.


im sure you educkated and Philosophickal fellows, being Blessed by a Proper
and Dignified Upbringing, were learned enough to know these, but I love the
super deep swirlings of the meanings of TRP's writings.

Fantastick!

So in other words, the juxtaposition of the ship being named Jackass, with
the modern term and meaning combined with the ship's meaning (although the
flag was flown in the FRONT not in the "rear"), makes a wonderfully
delicious TRP book.