IVIV Sportello

[John Carvill]

> Are there any native (or well-versed) Italian speakers on the list?
> I've found lots of meanings for 'sportello', mostly to do with
> entryways or portals of some kind, but if anyone can get more accurate
> with a translation it would be appreciated.
>
> You heard me. APPRECIATED!

Heh. Wasn't there a lot of this sort of stuff in ATD?

Talking of doors or entrances, Pynchon uses the word 'porte-cochere'
more than once in IV. I thought I'd never seen it before, though I did
find a usage in GR, Slothrop passes through one in Antibes, I think.

Porte-cochere

A porte-cochere (French porte-cochère, literally "coach gate", also
called a carriage porch) is the architectural term for a porch or
portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building,
through which it is possible for a horse and carriage or motor vehicle
to pass, in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected
from the weather.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte-cochere

Protected from the weather eh? Apt given all the weather in IV, no?
Plus all those entranceways and arches, in GR and elsewhere.