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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