GR translation: sucking on an egg

[Mike Jing]

Thanks for chiming in, Becky.  I need all the help I can get.

On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 11:43 AM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:

> That’s actually what I thought just reading that it was breakfast - and if
> someone is eating an over-easy or soft-boiled egg well - it happens that
> occasionally.  I was too insecure to speak up -  thank Jochen.
>
> Bek
>
>
> > On Dec 21, 2015, at 10:17 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Has nobody thought of the possibility that S. is sucking on e real egg?
> I was some days away from my books and had only now the possibility to look
> it up, and voilà – some lines before on the same page:
> >
> > The Springer is his old chipper self: "Fresh eggs and coffee [...]"
> >
> > 2015-12-21 5:42 GMT+01:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:
> > I think I figured it out.  Here Slothrop is sucking in his cheeks as if
> sucking on an egg, and generally trying to act nonchalant, while waiting
> for a more serious response from the Springer.  Looking back, it should
> have been fairly obvious.
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 4:41 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Reflecting, leads me to see the words that follow perhaps " better".
> Pynchon seems to imply that, with that military parody in mind, and with
> the comradely awareness that military personnel can have, usually to be "
> sucking an egg" means a sly awareness that you are consciously doing that.
> But Slothrop does it without feeling sly. Not even that pleasure.
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> > On Dec 20, 2015, at 2:57 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> OK, this makes a little more sense.  Believe it or not, I did search
> around before I asked the question, but I wasn't quite sure how it applies
> to the current context.  Thanks, Mark.
> >>
> >> Also, please remove my hotmail address from your contact list and
> always reply to this email address (gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com)
> instead.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 7:01 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> To attempt more specificity than was in my last email, I think "
> sucking an egg" here means doing something utterly useless as
> institutionalized by the military which is really doing nothing. along with
> waiting that other aspect of military life so dissed by soldiers.
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPad
> >>
> >> > On Dec 20, 2015, at 3:47 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > V526.22-40   “What’s the deal?”
> >> >        “A minor piracy. Pick up one package for me while I cover
> you.” He looks at his watch, hamming it up.
> >> > “O.K., get me a discharge, I’ll come with you.”
> >> >        “A what? A discharge? For you? Ha! Ha! Ha!”
> >> >        “You ought to laugh more, Springer. It makes you look really
> cute.”
> >> >        “What kind of a discharge, Slothrop? Honorable, perhaps? Ah,
> ah-ha! Ha! Ha!” Like Adolf Hitler, Springer is easily tickled by what the
> Germans call Schadenfreude, the feeling of joy at another’s misfortune.
> >> >        “Quit fooling, I’m serious.”
> >> >        “Of course you are, Slothrop!” More giggling.
> >> >        Slothrop waits, watches, sucking on an egg though he feels
> anything but sly this morning.
> >> >        “Närrisch, you see, was supposed to go with me today. Now I’m
> stuck with you. Ha! Ha! Where do you want it delivered, this—ha—this
> discharge?”
> >> >        “Cuxhaven.” Slothrop has been having lately this dim fantasy
> about trying to contact the Operation Backfire people in Cuxhaven, to see
> if they’ll help get him out.
> >> >
> >> > What does "sucking on an egg" mean here?
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
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