Germans keep doing it

[Ya Sam]

So I was mistaken, as the word was used in the Vienna part of AtD. It's not 
an Austria specific legal term after all. The English translation I managed 
to dig was 'pandering' or 'procuring'. It's just fascinating the way Pynchon 
comes up with some culture and geography specific words while making his 
characters traverse the globe. TRP does his homework well, as compared to 
other writers.

This reminds me of one Austria-related blunder committed by Steve Erickson 
in 'Tours of the Black Clock':

"Note: there is one intensely irritating flaw in the book: Jainlight lives 
in Vienna for much of the novel, his apartment "on a street with a long name 
that translates roughly as 'storm of dogs'." Thereafter he (frequently) 
refers to it as "Dog Storm Street." The street in question is in Vienna's 
fifth district, near the so-called Hundsturm after which it is named. 
Unfortunately, while "Hund-Sturm" translates as "Dog Storm" the structure in 
question is actually the "Hunds-Turm", the Dog's-Tower, and that is how the 
street name should be translated. Erickson's amateurish research (and the 
shoddy editing of his editors -- but then when have editor's ever done their 
jobs ?) casts a pall on an otherwise remarkable achievement. "

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/erickss/tourotbc.htm







>From: Otto <ottosell at googlemail.com>
>To: "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>CC: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Germans keep doing it
>Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:12:46 +0100
>
>Until 1969 it was illegal in Germany to let your daughter sleep with
>her boyfriend in your house, even when they both were of full age.
>
>

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