Not P but Moby-Dick (38)

[Michael Bailey]

“[it would be] high times [a jolly circumstance - said with some ridicule]
indeed if whaling captains were wheeled about … in … chairs”

He is making much of the fact that Ahab is standing up, very erect, an
exemplar of sternness and steadfastness, in the rear of the boat, no doubt
barking orders (since there is no tiller and he’s the only one facing
forward, he has to tell them to bear left or right)

“High times” is what it isn’t.

On Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 11:18 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 53:
>
> But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa of that sort whatever, and
> no tiller at all. High times indeed, if whaling captains were wheeled about
> the water on castors like gouty old aldermen in patent chairs.
>
> What does "High times" mean here? One translation confused it with "high
> time", which seems clearly wrong.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>