GR translation: Arab With A Big Greasy Nose

[Mark Kohut]

Can't remember anything else re Gunga Din....so, it just refers to the
movie?

On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 3:35 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't think that fits.
>
> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:27 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> And so 'the wistful classic know to every tommy' would be "You're a
>> better man than me, Gunga Din" ?
>>
>> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:52 PM, Simon Bryquer <sbryquer at nyc.rr.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Being ill (dracunculiasis) and *to perform on* is vomiting on someone
>>> or something. Key :Army.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As per the following:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Perhaps this has been answered before – we’re talking about Kipling
>>> here.  The *‘**Fuzzy**-**Wuzzy’ poem of 19th  century British soldier
>>> view of *Hadendoa warriors in Sudan.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Gary Grant and all that refers to the movie ‘Gunga Din’ (also a Kipling
>>> poem made into a movie) played by Sam Jaffe, who I vaguely recall could be
>>> described in that movie as ‘Arab With A Big Greasy Nose’ though it’s
>>> all about India.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> BTW Sam Jaffe was great in the John Houston movie ‘Asphalt Jungle’ ----
>>> also I believe this was Marilyn Monroe first speaking role, though she did
>>> not get any screen credit. She plays a slightly mentally off babysitter ---
>>> and she was extremely good.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe the key words here : dracunculiasis and elephant medicine
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A parasitic infection caused by drinking flea invested water and causes
>>> one to vomit – to perform on here might be vomiting on one or many in the
>>> crowded army in battle.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I would conclude to perform on is vomiting on someone or many.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] *On
>>> Behalf Of *Monte Davis
>>> *Sent:* Monday, May 23, 2016 12:30 PM
>>> *To:* Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> *Cc:* Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> *Subject:* Re: GR translation: Arab With A Big Greasy Nose
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I take the "wistful classic" to be a comic song. I don't know the song,
>>> or know that Pynchon had any existing song in mind rather than a tease. So
>>> "perform" is wide open to your suggested definition... or to a musical
>>> performance (like squeezing a clown's rubber nose)... or to a sexual
>>> performance (details depending on culture, other organs involved, and how
>>> one feels about noses).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jing <
>>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Resurrecting this old post nobody replied to back in 2011. A search in
>>> the archives shows that this has been asked a few times, but no one
>>> had an answer. The problems is that I still have to figure out how to
>>> translate "perform on". From the OED:
>>>
>>> 6. intr.
>>> b. euphem. Esp. of a child or a pet: to urinate or defecate.
>>>
>>> Does this make sense to anyone else given the context?
>>>
>>> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 4:19 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > P14.5-13   In 1935 he had his first episode outside any condition of
>>> > known sleep—it was during his Kipling Period, beastly Fuzzy-Wuzzies
>>> > far as eye could see, dracunculiasis and Oriental sore rampant among
>>> > the troops, no beer for a month, wireless being jammed by other Powers
>>> > who would be masters of these horrid blacks, God knows why, and all
>>> > folklore broken down, no Gary Grant larking in and out slipping
>>> > elephant medicine in the punchbowls out here . .. not even an Arab
>>> > With A Big Greasy Nose to perform on, as in that wistful classic every
>>> > tommy’s heard . . .
>>> >
>>> > What is this classic with "an Arab With A Big Greasy Nose"?  And what
>>> > do they want to perform on him?
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20160523/5690da7e/attachment.html>