MDDM Ch. 6 Notes

[jbor]

47.23 He steers a Loxodrome for the cabinet ...

loxodrome n. rhumb-line (an imaginary line on the surface of a sphere, such
as the earth, that intersects all meridians at the same angle; the course
navigated by a vessel or aircraft that maintains a uniform compass heading)

In other words, Lomax heads straight for the bar. A joke.


50.3 ... bound for Tenerife to take on water and wine

Tenerife: a Spanish island in the Atlantic, off the north-west coast of
Africa, the largest of the Canary Islands


54.21 "Excuse me, Captain, problem with the Euphroes again."

euphroe or uphroe n. (Naut.) long wooden block with holes through which
ropes of crowfoot are rove. [from Dutch 'juffrouw' maiden, (Naut.) dead eye,
and earlier 'joncfrouwe' ('jong' young + 'vrouwe' woman)]

There seems to be some potential or propensity for pornographic punning here
(cf. Bodine reputedly with his "Penis in the Jewel Block" at 55.18), as well
as a presentiment of the Vroom girls' lasciviousness at the Cape later on.


56.22 ... ever had a Basin-ful of Spotted Dick slung into your Face? ...

spotted dick n. Brit. (also known as "plum duff", "Spotted Dog") a steamed
or boiled suet pudding containing dried fruit [C19: perhaps from the man's
name 'Dick', a diminutive of 'Richard', or from dialect 'dick' pudding. The
dried fruit gives it a speckled appearance.]

Another slip-up or anachronism? Always a favourite amongst lowbrow
comedians, I'd say that this particular pudding was chosen by Pynchon for
the other colloquial overtones in its name, and that it perhaps hints at the
real and rather more unsavoury forms of physical humiliation endured by
Wicks at the "Ceremony of Initiation".

best