What's in a Name? The Traverses.

[Mark Kohut]

To All newer Plisters who may be lurking so far (and haven't yet read
Against the Day):

The reason why I am pleased with my lucky possible linguistic find re the
word traverse
is that it adds some loose meaning to their family name based on
their---this is barely a spoiler but it technically is--
family history with bombs and guns.....

On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 11:46 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> yes, agree.....should have made it clear about THE primary
> source......with his love of Seven Types of Ambiguity, the concept, maybe
> it became the family name when he was conceiving and writing the books
> after GR, as his mind registered some perfect meanings for his purposes.....
>
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 9:46 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Given that TRP's father was an industrial surveyor, and the possibility
>> (cf Benny P's experience and the expertise evidenced in M&D) that he put in
>> some summer-job time as I once did on a road and/or survey crew,  this
>> seems the most likely primary source:
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_(surveying)
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 7:23 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> "Relax now, be nice and comfy, it's not a drill movement, it's a firing
>>> position, oh yes, we've done
>>> *this *before! Now traverse the gun, point it but never aim. Right!".
>>>                        p. 147, The Looking Glass War, by John LeCarre,
>>> 1965
>>>
>>> (1) Adjustment of the gun in traverse is normally made by pressure of
>>> the right shoulder and arm on the shoulder traversing bar. In order to traverse
>>> the gun by this method, the traversing release handle must be locked to
>>> the rear so that the ...
>>>
>>> I do not know if this resonance of 'traverse' , this phrase with
>>> travers, has ever come up on the Plist. It is not on the wiki.
>>>
>>> I vote for the meaning as a direct possible source of the family name.
>>>
>>> Who knows but TRP how he learned of it, although we know he has read and
>>> liked LeCarre. it is in earlier war manuals and other places, of course....
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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