Not P but Moby-Dick (48)

[Michael Bailey]

I think the friction would cause the rope to smoke.
Unlikely anyone on the boat would be taking a smoke break, imho.


On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 4:04 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 60:
>
> Second: This arrangement is indispensable for common safety’s sake; for
> were the lower end of the line in any way attached to the boat, and were
> the whale then to run the line out to the end almost in a single, smoking
> minute as he sometimes does, he would not stop there, for the doomed boat
> would infallibly be dragged down after him into the profundity of the sea;
> and in that case no town-crier would ever find her again.
>
> Does the "smoking" here have anything at all to do with tobacco smoking?
> The existing translations all went for a Chinese saying that has to do with
> tobacco smoking, which I feel is inappropriate here.
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>