AtD 146 lines (spoiled)

[Paul Mackin]

On Nov 30, 2006, at 4:09 PM, Ande wrote:

>
>
> -
>
> '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...

You're probably right. It just seems to be  coded in my as the more  
logical "single up lines."

Lots of times sailors aren't logical.

P.


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