AtD 146 lines (spoiled)

[Ande]

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'Single up all lines'--is a common command on very large ships (I am 
only familiar with the sailing variety not the Navy type)  and it means 
to prepare lines to cast off--not to actually cast off---and you could 
(and sometime do) say Single Aft Lines especially if you were going to 
spring the ship (manually turning it around a fixed point using the 
ships lines)--also, this is a command that comes several minutes prior 
to actually casting off....it is a 15 minute warning...


Paul Mackin wrote:

>
> 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
>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>