AtD translation: worn insolence

[Jochen Stremmel]

I believe, Mike, that if you'd put that question to the author himself he
would say: That's what you are there for, Mr. Translator. Perhaps not
exactly because words with more than 1 meaning are seldom exactly to
transfer into another language. He has given you some hints in the passage
you quote ...

(And we know that everybody expects to live forever, don't we?)

Am Mo., 17. Juni 2019 um 23:06 Uhr schrieb Mike Jing <
gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:

> P330.21-28   “Sometimes the real world, the substantial world of affairs,
> possessing greater inertia, takes a while to catch up,” Kit carefully
> pretended to instruct him. “The Maxwell Field Equations, for example—it was
> twenty years till Hertz discovered real electromagnetic waves, traveling at
> the speed of light, just as Maxwell had worked it out on paper.”
>        “Twenty years,” smiled Scarsdale Vibe, with the worn insolence of
> someone expecting to live forever. “I’m not sure I have that long.”
>        “All sincerely trust that you do,” replied Kit.
>
> What exactly does the word "worn" mean here?
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