AtDtDA23: El Otro Lado

[Dave Monroe]

"Ewball had a fatality for running across old acquaintances from el
otro lado ..." (AtD, Pt. III, p. 638)


"had a fatality"

Main Entry: fa·tal·i·ty
Pronunciation: \fā-ˈta-lə-tē, fə-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural fa·tal·i·ties
Etymology: Middle French fatalité, from Late Latin fatalitat-,
fatalitas, from Latin fatalis
Date: 15th century
1 a: the quality or state of causing death or destruction b: the
quality or condition of being destined for disaster
2: something established by fate
3 a: fate 1 b: fatalism
4: the agent or agency of fate
5 a: death resulting from a disaster b: one that experiences a fatal outcome

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


el otro lado

Spanish: the other side (in one sense or other).

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_615-643#Page_638

Cf., e.g., ...

"those who've passed over to the other side" (GR, Pt. I, p. 153)

http://books.google.com/books?id=iPDGp7VT8H8C&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153

"But the other side never, in Pynchon's book, relinquishes its pull ..."

http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/02/against_the_day.shtml


"Steve,"  "Ramon"

Why scare quoted?


bucket-shop

Bucket shop is a brokerage firm that "books" (i.e., takes the opposite
side of) retail customer orders without actually having them executed
on an exchange....

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

A brokerage that makes trades on a client's behalf and promises a
certain price. The brokerage, however, waits until a different price
arises and then makes the trade, keeping the difference as profit.

[...]

... comes from over 50 years ago, when bucket shops would do trades
all day long, throwing the ticket into a bucket. At the end of the day
they would decide which accounts to award the winning and losing
trades.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bucketshop.asp

A stock swindle, in which one set of trades is reported to the
customer, while the brokerage is really using the money in other,
usually riskier trades ("bucketing"). A place where the public could
bet on the daily motions of stock prices before 1929 and before the
advent of instant stock quotes via the Internet.

Given the year, this may be related to the Panic of 1907. Steve/Ramon
bought stocks on margin and when they went south he was slammed.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_615-643#Page_638


Plaza de Toros

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


"slouching away into the yellow opacity"

Cf. ...

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/193.html


"not only the irises but the entire surfaces of eyes were black"

Cf. ...

"Glossy black eyes, presented like weapons in  duel" (p. 415)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0708&msg=120822


Rio Bravo

Mexican name for the river known in the US as the Rio Grande.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_615-643#Page_638