GR translation: coffee mess

[Mark Kohut]

House of Commons papers
Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons- 1836England, 75th Foot\h. soldier now avoids returning to his quarters till sober, 
to escape a record of drunkenness. ... He suggests, therefore, a coffee mess in 
the evening, which would bring the men again into the barracks, and gradually ... 
books.google.com 

From: "malignd at aol.com" <malignd at aol.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org 
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2012 5:34 PM
Subject: Re: GR translation: coffee mess


This would be my guess.  Maybe not a cart, but a coffee area.



-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Mon, May 7, 2012 8:16 am
Subject: Re: GR translation: coffee mess


On 5/7/2012 1:18 AM, Prashant Kumar wrote: > The soggy mass of grounds left after making coffee? I thought of another possibility.  Maybe they're putting something in the coffee.  Saltpeter, for example, to control sexual urges. Mess, in military parlance (American, don't know about British) means the place where meals are served, so, by extension, the coffee cart. Just a possibility. P > > On 7 May 2012 14:46, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com > <mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>> wrote: > >     P127.2-10   . . . oh yes a most superb possibility has found seedbed >     in his brain, and here it is. What if they are all, all these Psi >     Section freaks here, ganged up on him in secret? O.K.? Yes: suppose >     they can see into your mind! a-and how about—what if it’s hypnotism? >     Eh? Jesus: then a whole number of other occult things such as: astral >     projection, brain control (nothing occult about
 that), secret curses >     for impotence, boils, madness, yaaahhh—potions! (as he straightens at >     last and back in his mind’s eyes to his office now glances, very >     gingerly, at the coffee mess, oh God . . . ), ... > >     What is "the coffee mess"?  Specifically, what is the meaning of >     "mess" here?  Does he make coffee in his office using the water boiled >     in the Erlenmeyer flask mentioned earlier?  Does he make a mess of it? >       Or is it something else? > >