ZK translation: The nearest city of any size

[da kid]

This is interesting me right now and I could hear someone stressing the any too. Im thinking of like "Franny and Zooey" the New Yorker lady or some socialite: "The nearest city of ANY size dahling." I guess if the person is trying to sound extra bored then they'd stress any.
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From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org <owner-pynchon-l at waste.org> on behalf of Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, November 3, 2017 6:55:50 PM
To: Jochen Stremmel
Cc: Pynchon Mailing List
Subject: Re: ZK translation: The nearest city of any size

I went with that at first, but I wasn't completely sure. The more I thought about it, the more i lean towards the other interpretation. One rationale is that these are relatively big and important cities that could serve as landmarks, so it makes sense that there might be smaller ones nearby but not considered worth mentioning.

Also, FWIW, in the audiobook version, the stress is on "size".

On Fri, Nov 3, 2017 at 1:28 PM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com<mailto:jstremmel at gmail.com>> wrote:
I'm no native speaker, as you know, but I would say the stress is on any. The meaning would be something like: a city of the size that is required for that term.
2017-11-03 14:24 GMT+01:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com<mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>>:
Got it. Thanks, Jamie.

On Fri, Nov 3, 2017 at 7:46 AM, Jamie McKittrick <jamiemckit at gmail.com<mailto:jamiemckit at gmail.com>> wrote:
Another way of saying it would be "nearest city of note" i.e. the closest largest city worth paying attention to. There are other cities around but why go to Milton Keynes when you can go to London?

On Fri, Nov 3, 2017 at 10:28 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com<mailto:gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>> wrote:
P29.3-15   “Do I ask the question or do I accept the situation passively? I want to know the rules.”
       “What’s the question?”
       “Where are we?” I said.
       He nodded slowly, examining the matter. Then he laughed. “The nearest city of any size is across the border, called Bishkek. It’s the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Then there’s Almaty, bigger, more distant, in Kazakhstan. But Almaty is not the capital. It used to be the capital. The capital is now Astana, which has gold skyscrapers and indoor shopping malls where people lounge on sand beaches before plunging into wave pools. Once you know the local names and how to spell them, you’ll feel less detached.”

What does "of any size" mean here? Is the stress on "size"?

P.S. Please ignore the previous email. My browser somehow messed up the subject line.




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