Re; AtD excerpt - "got-damn pinkinroller"
Paul Mackin
paul.mackin at verizon.net
Sun Aug 6 18:03:13 CDT 2006
On Aug 6, 2006, at 4:00 PM, Dave Monroe wrote:
> Now this is interesting. Any thing out there to back
> that up? I've been trying to find uses outside of
> painting, sewing, carpentry, but ...
No one seems able to find the word in OED or other likely places so I
agreed with Paul N. that Pynchon probably made the word up.
Therefore, we have to ourselves make up a derivation that is both
half way reasonable and imaginative enough to be worthy of wordsmith
Pynchon.
A good dictionary I think will tell you that the transitive verb to
pink can mean to wound, either physically as with a gun, or
emotionally as with an unkind remark. Pink I assume stands for the
flow of blood, actual bleeding, or in the latter case blushing. So,
splitting the difference, I can imagine pink meaning a fairly light
flow of blood as from a slight physical wound. As in " it ain't
nothing--only a flesh wound."
A different line of thought is required for the roller equals
revolver part.
No dictionary I've seen will equate the two as synonyms.
But a roller is a revolving cylinder. and many Colt hand guns have
a revolving cylinder as an essential moving part--the part that holds
the bullets and moves them into firing position.
Therefore, by use use of synecdoche, roller stands for revolver. A
part for the whole.
So according to this theory, for what it's worth, Jimmy Drops's
indignation is expressed by means of a synecdoche within a metonymy.
He is no ordinary bad guy.
Anyway . . . .
>
> --- Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> My first inclination is to hear "pinkinroller" as
>> a disparaging remark about the relative non-
>> lethalness of Willis's antiquated colt. Roller
>> stands for revolver, It's what you see when
>> looking into the barrel of one. Willis's is a
>> pinkinroller because it is of small calibre,
>> probably a .22, and capable only of pinking
>> (barely scratching) the person it hits. Jimmy
>> Drop no doubt carries a .45.
>
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