GR translation: manly crepe of an overseas cap

[Mark Kohut]

Wonderful detail...thanks.....
and i just love P's "knifing" resonances---very likely(?) the razor-carrying use
was known even earlier? 

  


Wasn't called an overseas cap because it was originally issued to
troops deployed to foreign combat units. Though the style was
eventually ubiquitous and worn by WACS,  WAVES, and even Boy Scouts;
the style identifies the wearer as someone who has seen combat. and
thus manly. The construction of the sentence is a bit odd for this,
but that wouldn't be a first for Pynchon.

Digression and aside: US servicemen in Vietnam would wear this hat off
duty. Single-edge razor blades could be sewn into the top with the
edge barely protruding. It could then be quickly used as a slashing
weapon to the face of a mugger or other attacker in areas where the
soldier or sailor was not supposed to go about armed. See also:
Filipino backscratcher.

On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 12:32 AM, Mike Jing
<gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> I thought he was describing members of the audience.
>
> I think I had it figured out.  If the overseas cap is indeed made of
> crepe, which is a kind of fabric, then the word "manly" is simply
> describing the shape of the overseas cap, not the fabric per se.
>
> On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 12:16 AM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> I too was kind of wondering about if that's what the reference meant.   But the hat (not the guy) in the photo looks manly enough to me and what I noticed is that it has a "knifing forward" look to it.   The hat is on a guy in the film,  right?
>>
>> Bekah
>>
>>
>> On Oct 27, 2011, at 8:29 PM, Mike Jing wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, but is that what it meant in this sentence?  Are overseas caps
>>> really made of this kind of fabric?  And is this fabric "manly"?
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>>> Crepe means really thin paper or fabric -
>>>>
>>>> Here's a white crepe paper overseas cap (read the Details section):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.webstaurantstore.com/white-paper-overseas-cap-100-box/561RPOS1W.html
>>>>
>>>> Bekah
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 27, 2011, at 12:35 PM, Mike Jing wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> P152.29-30  ..., the manly crepe of an overseas cap knifing forward
>>>>> into the darkened cinema, ...
>>>>>
>>>>> Does the "crepe" refer to the fabric the overseas cap was made of or
>>>>> is it something else entirely?
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>