MDMD(Part1) Who is Thomas Pynchon?

[Vaska Tumir]

>From davemarc: 
>Nice going, Andrew!  

[enthusiastic head nodding at this end]

>For all I know Mischianza is a bona-fide term for a 1777 ball thrown by the
>Philly Brits before their withdrawal; but since Andrew raises the question
>of its etymology, I might as well confess that from the first it's reminded
>me of the Yiddish word "mishegoss/mishigas/meshegoss/meshugas," sounding a
>bit like "Michigan" and meaning "craziness; absurdities."  As I understand
>the term, a mishegoss would be an apt term for an informal, exaggerated
>description of a Ball.  

"Mischiare" is Italian for "to blend, mix, mingle" -- in late 18th-cent.
usage, there might have been a bona fide "mischianza" form for a large
social get-together, such as a ball, or the Sheffield meet announced the
other day [for that matter], though as far as I know the word doesn't exist
in contemporary Italian.  But that's only as far as I know....

>Regarding the connection between the L.E.D. and TRP, I guess someone ought
>to remark that the name Fang could be an allusion to the author's dental
>predicament.

I like this, I like it very much indeed: nicely observed, davemarc.  

Vaska