VV(11): Padded

[Dave Monroe]

"Profane padded to the icebox for more beer." (V., Ch.
8, Sec. iii, p. 224)

Okay, answering, obliquely, at least (I THINK), a
request of Kai's, one last one.  You know, weirdly
enough, if anything's stuck with me these past couple
of weeks, it's been the use of the word, "padded,"
here ...

>From that very useful indeed Merriam-Webster Online
Collegiate Dictionary ... 

http://m-w.com/home.htm

Perhaps most immediately ...

Main Entry: pad
Pronunciation: 'pad
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): pad·ded; pad·ding
Etymology: perhaps from Middle Dutch paden to follow a
path, from pad path
Date: 1553
transitive senses: to traverse on foot
intransitive senses: to go on foot: WALK; especially
to walk with or as if with padded feet 

But also ...

Main Entry: pad
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle Dutch pad
Date: 1567
1 dialect British: PATH
2: a horse that moves along at an easy pace
3 archaic: FOOTPAD 

Main Entry: pad
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1570
1 a: a thin flat mat or cushion: as (1): a piece of
soft stuffed material used as or under a saddle (2):
padding used to shape an article of clothing (3): a
guard worn to shield body parts against impact (4): a
piece of usually folded absorbent material (as gauze)
used as a surgical dressing or protective covering
(5): frictional material that presses against the
disks in a disk brake b: a piece of material saturated
with ink for inking the surface of a rubber stamp
2a: the foot of an animal b: the cushioned thickening
of the underside of the toes of an animal
3: a floating leaf of a water plant
4: a collection of sheets of paper glued together at
one end
5a(1): a section of an airstrip used for warm-ups or
turnarounds (2): an area used for helicopter takeoffs
and landings b : LAUNCHPAD c : a horizontal concrete
surface (as for parking a mobile home) 6a: BED b:
living quarters
 
Main Entry: pad
Function: noun
Etymology: imitative
Date: 1594
a soft muffled or slapping sound

Main Entry: pad
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): pad·ded; pad·ding
Date: 1827
1a: to furnish with a pad or padding b: MUTE, MUFFLE
2: to expand or increase especially with needless,
misleading, or fraudulent matter <pad an expense
account> -- often used with out <they pad out their
bibliographies -- J. P. Kenyon>

Main Entry: crash pad
Function: noun
Date: 1939
1: protective padding (as on the inside of an
automobile or a tank)
2: a place to stay temporarily

Main Entry: launching pad
Function: noun
Date: 1951
1: LAUNCHPAD
2: SPRINGBOARD

... and so forth.  Not only is virtually every sense
of this word relevant here one way or another, whether
immediately or obliquely (a spring of course being,
like a yo-yo, a simple harmonic oscillator; and note
the Pynchon-appropriate Dutch Republic origins of the
"pad" as well), but, also, I'm pretty sure that, no
matter why I go to the icebox, no matter what I go
for, no matter where I go at all for that matter, I
tend to "pad" there as well.  Between that and "'This
here,' he answered, 'is a good movie'" (p. 137), one
of those moments I feel most sympathetic to Benny,
that I feel most Profane myself, and that I've taken
up into my own internal vocabulary as well ...

On the other hand ...

"Mafia lay on her back and started scratiching and
dandling the cat." (V., Ch. 8, Sec. iii, p. 224)

Main Entry: dan·dle
Pronunciation: 'dan-d&l
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): dan·dled; dan·dling /-(d)li[ng],
-d&l-i[ng]/
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1530
1: to move (as a baby) up and down in one's arms or on
one's knee in affectionate play
2: PAMPER, PET

Again, excellent word choice, though I can't help but
hear masturbatory undertones.  "Dandle" = "diddle"?

Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): did·dled; did·dling /'did-li[ng],
-d&l-i[ng]/
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1786
transitive senses
1 chiefly dialect: to move with short rapid motions
2: to waste (as time) in trifling
3: HOAX, SWINDLE
4 often vulgar: to copulate with
intransitive senses
1: DAWDLE, FOOL
2: FIDDLE, TOY -- usually used with with <diddled with
the machine until it broke>
- did·dler /'did-l&r, -d&l-&r/ noun

Anyway, vaguely unsettling, though certainly in
character ...  

But hey, again, thanks for having me, thanks for all
your responses, onlist or off, already posted or still
to come, thanks esp. for your kinds words of support,
recommended reading, and, in a couple of extraordinary
cases well above and beyond the call of duty, actual
printed material (!).  You've been a great audince,
drive safely, and, if you haven't apprised your loved
ones of said status of late, please do, before it's
too late ...

Yrs,

Dave M.



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