Not P but Moby-Dick (70)

[O G]

Gauges.

No doubt the following is utterly witless and I am missing something
obvious as usual, for example I only just learned fifteen minutes ago that
Jupiter is *not*, in fact, a planet, but it is nearly noon and I have
consumed much hot tea so nonetheless or allthemore in true Ishmaelian
spirit I will gauge my best.

All previous translations of Moby-Dick have interpreted a nine-inch cable
as, being, that long?

That is, hard to even throw words at.  How did the translators translate
the word whale?  Small fish?  Minnow?  Moby the minnow?  Moby-Minnow?

How did they translate the word, ship?  Row-boat?  How about ocean.  Was it
a pond?

Whadyergonnado with a nine-inch cable.  Queequeg could maybe have tied his
bike down with it, but didn't he leave that Stateside?  Leaning against the
totem pole?

Listen, I'm all for China, I really am.  I love China.  Go China!  I hope
they win Taiwan, I really do.  I hope they tie that sucker down to the
mainland ship like a speared whale, and to the sharks that come--

But come on, a nine-inch long cable?  Who are these translators?  Can I
have their email addresses?  No I won't mention where I got their emails
from.  Is your name really Mike?  Can I call you Mao?  Is Chinese your
first language?  Which number is English?  How does typing work in China?
I don't really know how Chinese works, I have only seen the pictures, and
it seems like a lot.  Keyboards like whales.  But, so, when a, okay I am
not even going to bother with the concept of Chinese AI right now, but so,
when a Chinese dude, yes dude only a dude, translates a nine-inch cable, or
a nine-inch anything, into Chinese, is there a rule in Chinese that says
you have to state what dimensional aspect of the nine-inch object is being
referred to?



> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 03:30:52 -0500
> From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> To: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Not P but Moby-Dick (71)
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAPs1BB+99E4BmHQuXeZQbcCnB-C37_ioU-KRH-kjjda1_h0fLA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> >From Chapter 89:
>
> First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast, when
> it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all
> controllable by the occupant or occupants,?a mast, an oar, a nine-inch
> cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the same.
>
> Here, the "nine-inch" refers to the girth of the rope, is that correct?
>
> Previous translations interpreted it as the length, which seems obviously
> wrong to me.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 06:34:22 -0500
> From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> To: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> Cc: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Re: Not P but Moby-Dick (71)
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAD8KJ4HAKeov2FHQec9LbmOny9a_y3M-Dn3nXzatdNG0Bb96Vg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Standard rope gauges were determined by the number of folds made in the
> rope walk. Standard sailing ship rigging usually varied from 1?1/4 inch dia
> to 10 inches in diameter, the latter used for towing another ship, tie up
> to docks, and far less often for anchors, chain being preferred for
> anchors.
> 2
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 3:31?AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From Chapter 89:
> >
> > First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast,
> when
> > it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all
> > controllable by the occupant or occupants,?a mast, an oar, a nine-inch
> > cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the same.
> >
> > Here, the "nine-inch" refers to the girth of the rope, is that correct?
> >
> > Previous translations interpreted it as the length, which seems obviously
> > wrong to me.
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
>
>
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