AtDtDA23: A Sot of French Ladies' Lapdog

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Now I suppose this was noted elsewhere, but doesn't this whole episode have more than a touch to do with "the great beast'?
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Dave Monroe" <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> "'What kind of a dog's that?' he asked Ruperta at one point.
>    "'Mouffette?  She's a papillon ... a sort of French ladies'
> lapdog.'" (AtD, Pt. III, p. 665)
> 
> 
> Mouffette
> 
> French: Skunk.
> 
> 
> papillon
> 
> French: Butterfly.
> 
> Any of a breed of small dog related to the spaniel, having a long
> silky coat, a bushy tail that curves over its back, and large ears
> shaped like the wings of a butterfly
> 
> http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_644-677#Page_665
> 
> 
> "a sort of French ladies' lapdog"
> 
> Butterfly strap-on vibrator is a clitoral sex toy featuring a
> vibrating body in the shape of a butterfly and straps attached to it
> for wearing on the waist and thighs. The name of the vibrator was
> taken from the shape of a butterfly with wings providing the
> stimulation of clitoris and labia....
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_vibrator
> 
> 
> "a French 'lap' dog!"
> 
> Main Entry: lap
> Pronunciation: \ˈlap\
> Function: noun
> Etymology: Middle English lappe, from Old English læppa; akin to Old
> High German lappa flap
> Date: before 12th century
> 1 a: a loose overlapping or hanging panel or flap especially of a
> garment barchaic : the skirt of a coat or dress
> 2 a: the clothing that lies on the knees, thighs, and lower part of
> the trunk when one sits b: the front part of the lower trunk and
> thighs of a seated person ...
> 
> Main Entry: lap
> Function: verb
> Inflected Form(s): lapped; lap·ping
> Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lapian; akin to Old High
> German laffan to lick, Latin lambere, Greek laphyssein to devour
> Date: before 12th century
> intransitive verb
> 1: to take in food or drink with the tongue
> 2 a: to make a gentle intermittent splashing sound b: to move in
> little waves : wash
> transitive verb
> 1 a: to take in (food or drink) with the tongue b: to take in or
> absorb eagerly or quickly —used with up<the crowd lapped up every word
> he said>
> 2: to flow or splash against in little waves ...
> 
> http://m-w.com/dictionary
> 
> 
> "'A-and--'"
> 
> Cf. ...
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=iPDGp7VT8H8C
> 
> 
> "'Oboy, oboy'"
> 
> Cf. ...
> 
> "'Oboy, oboy.'" (GR, Pt. II, p. 333)
> 
> http://books.google.com/books?id=iPDGp7VT8H8C&pg=PA199&dq=gravity%27s+rainbow+%2
> 2a-and%22&sig=KeI_TGuEGZRXldlxVExE_7V5Cgk#PPA333,M1
> 
> 
> "'yaahhgghh!'"
> 
> Anybody cataloguing these?  Oh, Mr. Ware ...
> 
> 
> "Reader, she bit him"
> 
> Cf. ...
> 
> "Reader, she married him."
> 
> Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
> 
> http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1260
> http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0142437204
> http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0192839659
> http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/eyreov.html
> 
> N.B.--this episode occurs from p. 665 to p. 667, mostly on p. 666 ...
>