M ampersand D Duck Read

[Mark Kohut]

On Being Scottish. Two Google Books' snippets:

Mason's personal desire to eventually earn his place in the Royal
Society's "purer region, where Mathesis should rule" is foiled by his
father's lineage (one "line" failing another), and he is packed off
once again, this time to Scotland to observe  ...

There are discussions of racist stereotypes of the Scots in Pynchon's
Mason & Dixon 276-77, 280, 572. W.J. Cash refers to the Virginia Scots
of this period as " ragged throat-slitting Highlanders" (9). 7.
Faulkner describes such resentment in  ...

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 12:04 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's news to all of us.
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 3:12 PM, Heikki R
> <situations.journeys.comedy at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> This is news to me. Have always regarded him as a Durham County lad
>> through and through.
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 9:40 PM, M Thomas Stevenson
>> <m.thomas.stevenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Yes! All of that, very well put Elizabeth. One slight ellision: you would
>>> be forgiven for thinking Dixon is Northern but it's even more of a divider
>>> than that: he's Scottish! All those Yese and thahs are classic. Being a
>>> Northern-Englander, though, TRP's ear is impeccable.
>>>
>>> On 4 January 2015, at 19:33, Elisabeth Romberg <eromberg at mac.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Like you said Thomas, much is made of their differences! Like them being
>>> Northern and Southern (English). Very different cultures, and knowingly so.
>>> Jokingly so. Caricaturish? London like a country to itself (which The City
>>> of London actually is), and The North: mores and dales, fairs and faries,
>>> old magic...! Only because I once lived in North Yorkshire near Scarborough
>>> (where Dixon is from?), was I able to grasp Dixons Northern accent and
>>> character when I read the book in 99(?) So, because being Norwegian (my
>>> English sadly deteriorating), I always wondered: TP must have stayed in
>>> England over a longer period of time doing research to have got under the
>>> skin/language/culture/dress/history whatever, but most importantly the sense
>>> of humor a language or an accent contains? ...of the two very different
>>> cultures the two characters embodies?
>>> Uhm, ...like Yin&Yang?
>>> I'd like to add that to me M&D is not only an "American novel" but also
>>> an <<English>> one, which in some way or another the cover coveys, but this is
>>> a personal association of course.
>>>
>>> Also my first association to the name of this thread was 'Anders And'
>>> (Donald Duck in Danish). 'And' meaning 'duck' in Scandinavian languages.
>>> Then I thought it said ampersand, as in an amper (mad) duck. All this was
>>> very fitting I thought, very clever, and way over my head of course, but
>>> then I realised what you were Actually discussing...
>>>
>>> A bit of a ramble, quite embarrassing, but I might as well get stuck in,
>>> or else I get too worried about saying something good to the point where I
>>> don't say anything.
>>>
>>> Cheers for all your input so far, and we haven't even started yet!
>>> Brilliant!
>>> Elisabeth
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > 4. jan. 2015 kl. 19.35 skrev Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>:
>>> >
>>> > yeah, their own Almost-Trinity (to blaspheme from TRP's growing-up
>>> > religion). They are One,
>>> > in very important American ways, yes?
>>> >
>>> > A--and, to save another posting, the book is also a buddy book, a
>>> > buddy 'movie', too, right?
>>> > From Don Quixote thru Kerouac (and beyond), we got books full of duos.
>>> > Having meaningful
>>> > adventures.
>>> >
>>> > On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 1:06 PM, M Thomas Stevenson
>>> > <m.thomas.stevenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >> A-and the way I read it though was how the ampersand originated
>>> >> formerly from "and per se and", when & was tagged-on at the end of the
>>> >> alphabet, becoming a blurred andperseand, anpersand, etc., so: borders of
>>> >> words becoming blurred, Mason & Dixon no longer singular entities with
>>> >> individuated selves, but like "Smith's & Sons", a body, a corpus. Much is
>>> >> made of their differences so far, as I've seen.
>>> >>
>>> >> On 4 January 2015, at 16:15, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> Here's something to think on (maybe): the Ampersand symbol has been
>>> >> largely lost
>>> >> to history as the future has unfolded from 1789,  in title use, book
>>> >> cataloguing, title copyrighting, etc.
>>> >>
>>> >> Gone. Not yet but soon a Dodo?
>>> >>
>>> >> A small but meaningful loss in History? Another one?
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 11:03 AM, alice malice <alicewmalice at gmail.com>
>>> >> wrote:
>>> >>> Mike wrote:
>>> >>>> For me, aesthetics. Pure and simple. Sometimes an ampersand is just
>>> >>>> an
>>> >>>> ampersand. Unsatisfying to you close readers, but there you have it.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> The symbol is pretty. And it suggests a story set long ago if not so
>>> >>> very far away.
>>> >>> So a good argument for the aesthetic use of the symbol.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> With the handheld communication device, now a tool in the hands of
>>> >>> our
>>> >>> young as they learn to write, the symbol is in common use when
>>> >>> texting. Symbols, letters of alphabets and so forth do not correspond
>>> >>> with sounds. Nor would we want this to be the case. They approximate
>>> >>> the mental lexicon of phonemes and with other stuff, call this other
>>> >>> stuff " rules", to avoid linguistic jargon, and given a particular
>>> >>> context, the writer provides a symbolic framework upon with the
>>> >>> reader
>>> >>> builds meaning. So, what you made up here (below) is wrong.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> Here, I will make something up.
>>> >>>> When reading there is a certain tendency to translate the text into
>>> >>>> language. In a way,  our brains hear the words that we are reading.
>>> >>>> You see
>>> >>>> 'and' and hear 'and'. Which might indicate a definite distinction
>>> >>>> between
>>> >>>> the linked terms. But with a symbol, you first have to translate the
>>> >>>> symbol
>>> >>>> into a word, then hear it. I would suggest that the ampersand is
>>> >>>> heard more
>>> >>>> of an 'n' than a 'and'. This elision blurs the distinction between
>>> >>>> the two
>>> >>>> terms. Mark hinted at that by suggesting that Melanie and Jackson
>>> >>>> are two
>>> >>>> separate entities. The 'and' in the dedication. If, as I suggest,
>>> >>>> the
>>> >>>> ampersand is heard as 'n', it connects the terms in a more intimate
>>> >>>> way, not
>>> >>>> so distinct.
>>> >>>> To summarize, Mason and Dixon are two distinct individuals, while
>>> >>>> Mason &
>>> >>>> Dixon are much closer and linked in more permanent way. There is not
>>> >>>> one
>>> >>>> without the other.
>>> >>>> Hey, there is a graduate thesis here. "The Ampersand and the
>>> >>>> Dissolution of
>>> >>>> Interpersonal Boundaries in the Writings of TRP". Or not.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Regards,
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Mike
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> On 1/4/2015 6:30 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Mike, any notions re 'What gives?'
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 6:00 AM, Mike <beider19 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Also it is not "For Melanie & For Jackson".
>>> >>>> What gives?
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> On 1/4/2015 4:44 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> What meaningful differences exist if not "Mason and Dixon"?
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Dedication: " For Melanie and for Jackson" ...not " for Melanie and
>>> >>>> Jackson".....Pynchon's precision singles each out, the separate
>>> >>>> individuals
>>> >>>> that they are.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> --
>>> >>>> *********************************
>>> >>>>           Just for fun
>>> >>>> http://beider19.home.comcast.net
>>> >>>> *********************************
>>> >>> -
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>>>
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>>
>>
>
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