Not P but Moby-Dick (48)

[Mike Jing]

OK, just making sure it has nothing to do with tobacco. Thanks all for
replying.


On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 5:19 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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.
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
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>