AtDDtA(15): Smegmo

[Dave Monroe]

"In the consequent scamble to develop more legal sources of profit,
one of Mr. Candlebrow's laboratory hands happened to invent "Smegmo,"
an artificial substitute for everything in the edible-fat category,
including margarine, which many felt wasn't all that real to begin
with...." (AtD, Pt. II, p. 407)


"Smegmo"

Main Entry: smeg·ma
Pronunciation: 'smeg-m&
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, detergent, soap, from Greek smEgma,
from smEchein to wash off, clean
: the secretion of a sebaceous gland; specifically : the cheesy
sebaceous matter that collects between the glans penis and the
foreskin or around the clitoris and labia minora

http://m-w.com/dictionary/smegma

Smegma is a secretion of mammalian genitals.

The word derives from a transliteration of the Greek word σμήγμα for soap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smegma

As an "artificial substitute for everything in the edible-fat
category" pronounced kosher by an "eminent Rabbi of world hog capital
Cincinnati, Ohio," Smegmo may be a code name for Crisco, a Procter &
Gamble creation invented in Cincinnati in 1911 -- an anachronism or
time shift in the text -- and marketed through various ethnic
cookbooks, including a Yiddish/English kosher cookbook published in
1933 with the "Hechsher (or certificate) of a prominent Orthodox
rabbi, "denoting that Crisco contained nothing animal-based."

"Smegm"a + crisc "O" = Smegmo

Smegmo and Candlebrow: "The initial purpose [for Crisco] was to create
a cheaper substance to make candles than the expensive animal fats in
use at the time. Electricity began to diminish the candle market, and
since the product looked like lard, they began selling it as a food."
Yet another Lard Scandal?

Also P&G was founded as a candle (Procter) and soap (Gamble) company,
making profits from the fat of slaughtered pigs in "Porkopolis,"
Cincinnati. That P&G also produces "Crest" syn. with "brow" may yield
"Candlebrow."

Finally, the stock ticker for P&G is PG which is pretty close to one
of Pynchon's favorite animals -- PIG.

Cf. cottonseed oil p. 546

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_397-428#Page_407

Images of Smegma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smegma#Images_of_Smegma


"an artificial substitute for everything"

Cf. also Imipolex G?

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/i.html

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/plastic.html

http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I


"which many felt wasn't all that real to begin with"

An "artificial substitute" for an artificial substitute.  What IS, if
not "the world" here, "what the world might be with a minor adjustment
or two"?  Chums of Chance or Harmonica Marching Band?  "Seekers of
refuge" or "Trespassers"?  "Bilocated"?  And so forth ...


"the Hebrew people have been waiting four thousand years for this"

Refers to the time believed to have elapsed since Abraham and the
foundation of Judaism. Under kosher laws Jews are not allowed to mix
milk and meat products in the same meal. The rabbi's proclamation
about having waited 4000 years refers to the arrival of Smegmo as a
non-milk substitute for butter that can be eaten with meat dishes.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_397-428#Page_407


"you kept hearing different stories about exactly what was in it"

Refers to wide range of urban legend-like attributions as to the
origins and/or makeup of smegma that exist especially among children.

There's a resonance with Coca-Cola, too: exaggerated secrecy about the
formula, fanatical market development, endowment of a university
(Emory in the case of the Woodruff and Candler fortunes).

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_397-428#Page_407

But cf. as well ...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c25tTzGJmcs

http://datacore.sciflicks.com/soylent_green/sounds/soylent_green_people.wav