ATDDTA (6) 180-182.10

[David Morris]

Thanks, Torre, Monte, & Jasper.  I'd never tried to look mobility up,
assuming it was made up by Pynchon.  And, despite the definition
essentially meaning rabble, Torre has shown Pynchon's intention to
promote a concept of Unity amongst the transient and abused preterite.

On 4/12/07, Jasper Fidget <jasper.fidget at gmail.com> wrote:
> Better:
> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=mob&searchmode=none
>
> mob <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mob>
>    1688, "disorderly part of the population, rabble," slang shortening
>    of mobile, mobility "common people, populace, rabble" (1676), from
>    L. mobile vulgus "fickle common people" (1600), from mobile, neut.
>    of mobilis "fickle, movable, mobile," from movere "to move" (see
>    move <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=move>). In Australia
>    and N.Z., used without disparagement for "a crowd." Meaning "gang of
>    criminals working together" is from 1839, originally of thieves or
>    pick-pockets; Amer.Eng. sense of "organized crime in general" is
>    from 1927. The verb meaning "to attack in a mob" is attested from
>    1709. Mobster is first attested 1917. Mob scene "crowded place"
>    first recorded 1922. Mobocracy "mob rule" is attested from 1754.
>
>
> Jasper Fidget wrote:
> > mobility
> > The mob: a sort of opposite to nobility.
> > Definition taken from /The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue/,
> > originally by Francis Grose.
> >
> > http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/m/mobility.html
> >
> > OED should have a better entry -- now where did I put that thing?
> >
> > Tore Rye Andersen wrote:
> >> bekah:
> >>
> >>> 182:9 "Little by little the place filled up and turned into a
> >>> hoedown of sorts, and the Kid, or >whoever he was, sort of faded
> >>> into the mobility, and Lew didn't see him again for awhile."
> >>>
> >>> ** faded into the mobility "Mobility" also appears in Mason & Dixon.
> >>
> >> - and not only does it appear, it appears at a very significant
> >> juncture - more specifically, the beginning of the final chapter,
> >> when the children are safely tucked into the beds, and all the
> >> preterite waste of Philadelphia begins to percolate through the house:
> >>
> >> [...]