AtD 146 lines (spoiled)

[Paul Mackin]

Should have mentioned something a little puzzling. Isn't the more  
usual phrase "single up lines" rather than (the illogical)  "single
up ALL lines?'

You don't do anything to ALL lines.

You do something to the state the  boat (or airship) is in.

The state of its attachment to land.

What's Pynchon trying to convey?




On Nov 30, 2006, at 3:11 PM, Paul Mackin wrote:

>
> On Nov 30, 2006, at 2:26 PM, Ray Easton wrote:
>
>>
>> On Thursday, Nov 30, 2006, at 13:10 US/Central,  
>> robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
>>
>>> What the first line says is "Now single up all lines", a statement
>>> devoid of context to the non-nautical or aeronautical.
>>> Multiple readings can and will occur, and one of those
>>> readings would be that the narrative lines from the
>>> author's books would be singled up.
>>
>> But what would it mean to "single up" the narrative lines from the  
>> author's books?  There is no expression like this in English, as  
>> far as I know, except for the one actually in the book.  And  
>> reading this expression as meaning something like "tie things  
>> together" seems to me especially odd (Iceland Spar or no!), since  
>> the literal meaning is nearly the opposite of this (removing  
>> connections, not making them; untying, not tying).
>
>
> It means removing all connections but (a single) one in preparation  
> for leaving the pier. I never use that command on my sailboat  
> because no one
> would know what I was talking about. Instead I yell cast off lines  
> (there are six of them) and the crew generally knows enough not to  
> touch the final one needed to keep the boat in place until we're  
> actually moving out.
>
>>
>> Doesn't reading it this way (and I admit I'm tempted to read it  
>> this way myself) have little if anything to do with the text  
>> itself, and everything to do with the expectations we bring to the  
>> text?
>
> I think you are correct.
>
> P
>>
>