VLVL(4) vocabulary (irregular lives)

[Terrance]

Toby G Levy wrote:
> 
> A neat word on p35: imbrication.  a regular overlapping of edges.
> Pynchon uses this to describe the camper shell placed on top pf the
> pickup truck he wqas driving.  The shell was covered with cedar shingles.



My guess is that a doper's idea of Imbrication is not a regular
overlapping but rather an "irregular" overlapping of edges. 

Kinda like everything else in Vineland. 

Contrary to rule, accepted order, or general practice: irregular hiring
practices. 2. Not conforming to legality, moral law, or social
convention: an irregular marriage. 3. Not straight, uniform, or
symmetrical: irregular facial features. 4. Of uneven rate, occurrence,
or duration: an irregular heartbeat. 5. Deviating from a type;
atypical.6. Botany. Having differing floral parts, as of a zygomorphic
or asymmetrical flower. 7. Falling below the manufacturer's standard or
usual specifications; imperfect. 8. Grammar. Departing from the usual
pattern of inflection, derivation, or word formation, as the present
forms of the verb be or the plural noun children. 9. Not belonging to a
permanent, organized military force: irregular troops. 
1. One, such as an item of merchandise, that is irregular. 2. A soldier,
such as a guerrilla, who is not a member of a regular military force. 

Cedar shake, if you have ever worked with it you know, is about the best
material god ever made. It's lasts and lasts and it looks great. It's
not difficult to install but it does take a bit of skill. If you are
inexperienced you won't want to drink or smoke anything while you're
snapping your lines (you'll want a chalk line and a level). 

The entire chapter reads like a cartoon. Zoyd's or Trent's Camper has a
stovepipe and a cedar roof. A familiar cartoon hillbilly ride. What P
describes is a mansarded roof and I wonder why he didn't use the term
being as he went through the trouble to learn a bit about roofing and
carpentry to write this book. And cars too.