Re: GR translation: and saw his friend on to Peenemünde—saw him on?

jochen stremmel jstremmel at gmail.com
Sun Mar 8 10:17:55 CDT 2015


That "see-to-it" reading is definitely right  – otherwise Slothrop's
reflexion re paranoia wouldn't make sense.

2015-03-08 16:00 GMT+01:00 Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>:

> "See" is one of those small, multi-multi-purpose words that gets many
> pages in the OED. One of its many senses is "ensure" (I'm guessing by
> extension from "see with your own eyes that X is accomplished." Say the
> Olympic torch runners are coming through my town, and I'm a volunteer
> coordinator: my job is to see them on to the next leg of their journey --
> equivalently, to see that / see to it that they make their way
> successfully.
>
> On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 10:20 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't know about the "see to it" connection with "saw him on."  "Saw
>> him on to Peenude" to me sounds like sending one off on a journey, like
>> bidding Bon voyage.
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, March 8, 2015, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Think "see to it" (ensure that it's done) or "I'll see you to the door."
>>> The context is employment and careers: if I "see you on to" your next
>>> position, the implication is that I have some power or agency in arranging
>>> that.
>>>
>>> Slothrop catches himself after reflexively using the phrase here. He
>>> doesn't *know* that Fibel's earlier connection with Stinnes had anything to
>>> do with Achtfaden getting the Peenemunde job... but the coincidences keep
>>> accumulating.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 11:11 PM, Mike Jing <
>>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> V586.40-587.6   Last we saw of Fibel he was hooking, stretching, and
>>>> running shock cord for that Horst Achtfaden back in his gliding days, Fibel
>>>> who stayed on the ground, and saw his friend on to Peenemünde—saw him on?
>>>> isn’t that a slice of surplus paranoia there, not quite justified is
>>>> it—well, call it Toward a Case for Bland’s Involvement with Achtfaden Too,
>>>> if you want. Fibel worked for Siemens back when it was still part of the
>>>> Stinnes trust. Along with his design work he also put in some time as a
>>>> Stinnes intelligence agent.
>>>>
>>>> What does "saw his friend on to Peenemünde" mean exactly?  Is the "saw
>>>> him on?" that follows a pun?  And if it is, what does it mean?
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
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