Not P but Moby-Dick (68)

[Michael Bailey]

“Short darts, for there was no time to make long ones”

The distinction drawn between short and long darts suggests that he was
throwing, rather than - or possibly in addition to - thrusting

Because a long thrust wouldn’t take appreciably more time than a short one,
would it?

But a long throw would take more time - especially to pull back in - than a
short throw

>From Oxford Languages - “dart”


   1. 2.
   shoot (an animal) with a dart, typically in order to administer
   <https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=7240d02c12ae2dd6&hl=en-us&sxsrf=ACQVn087VLguH9jcq1r_FDhWF6YDsAwQDw:1707801665651&q=administer&si=AKbGX_pvY3MWP4azJI0Z_NruCLb8P4obPVZgfIxVofDNXY_PcVhWZkaz0IGv8ubV-khD2i-Ibu3Je--hY7h__BGFfEYm7liTvG4EvM7EvopxzVZsxjZVHcU%3D&expnd=1&biw=430&bih=856&dpr=3>
    a drug.
   "he darted the leopard with a long-acting anesthetic"
   - ARCHAIC
      throw (a missile
      <https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=7240d02c12ae2dd6&hl=en-us&sxsrf=ACQVn087VLguH9jcq1r_FDhWF6YDsAwQDw:1707801665651&q=missile&si=AKbGX_okS0g0kR2PXn0TLBASIc0muEal27_DzEuXlUS5KWGfb9wRDmiXsS4ydP-hvZEUTXg5ZKjXPDR-ZQ-egy7e2VeVQ2K6WKLuLvl8B8cL1eLhLtwAO0w%3D&expnd=1>
      ).
      "he darted his fierce iron"





On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 4:30 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 87:
>
> But not a bit daunted, Queequeg steered us manfully; now sheering off from
> this monster directly across our route in advance; now edging away from
> that, whose colossal flukes were suspended overhead, while all the time,
> Starbuck stood up in the bows, lance in hand, pricking out of our way
> whatever whales he could reach by short darts, for there was no time to
> make long ones.
>
> Here, was Starbuck throwing his lance at the whales, or was he just
> thrusting without the lance leaving his hand?
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>