GR translation: Arab With A Big Greasy Nose

[Ray Easton]

Just to keep the record straight, MM does not play a babysitter in AJ.



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On May 23, 2016 3:31:38 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Simon,
>
> I don't doubt that you know that "perform on" means to vomit on,  But I
> can't find a reference to that slang anywhere.  It must be British pre WW2
> slang.  How do you know about it?
>
> David Morris
>
> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 1:52 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
>>
>>
>>
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