Not P but Moby-Dick (66)

[O G]

My pleasure.

The covering is not an aiming

Maybe gauging.  Not aiming.



On Tue, Feb 6, 2024 at 12:32 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I figured it out. Here "to cover" means "to aim at".
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 5, 2024 at 11:35 AM O G <octogonalyoyo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It wouldn't be much of a covering.  Unless this thing is a weirdly thin
>> whale.  Really the only way the lancer could have covered the whale would
>> be if he closed one eye and raised the pointer up to the other one.  If he
>> kept both eyes open surely he would have seen around it.  That wouldn't
>> cover it.  The whale would be uncovered.  Unless it happens to be a
>> weirdly
>> wide spear.
>>
>> To be covering something the covering item has to be at least fifty
>> percent
>> covering that which is being covered.  You can't fractionally cover
>> something.  That should recover it.
>>
>>
>>
>> >From Chapter 84:
>>
>> Handling the long lance lightly, glancing twice or thrice along its length
>> to see if it be exactly straight, Stubb whistlingly gathers up the coil of
>> the warp in one hand, so as to secure its free end in his grasp, leaving
>> the rest unobstructed. Then holding the lance full before his waistband?s
>> middle, he levels it at the whale; when, covering him with it, he steadily
>> depresses the butt-end in his hand, thereby elevating the point till the
>> weapon stands fairly balanced upon his palm, fifteen feet in the air. He
>> minds you somewhat of a juggler, balancing a long staff on his chin.
>>
>> What does "holding the lance full before his waistband?s middle" mean
>> exactly?
>>
>> And what is "covering him with it"?
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>