Not P but Moby-Dick (59)

[Mark Kohut]

perhaps a double meaning?


lay on the beef= to work hard, so here to pull harder on the oars or row
harder to catch up to the whale

lay like a log= similar to "sleep like a log" = not moving at all, still

On Thu, Jan 25, 2024 at 5:16 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I got it. He's talking about supper, same as "slap-jacks and quohogs for
> supper" below.
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 25, 2024 at 5:07 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From Chapter 81:
> >
> > “Oh!  see the suds he makes! ” cried Flask, dancing up and down—“What a
> > hump—Oh, do pile on the beef—lays like a log!  Oh!  my lads, do
> > spring—slap-jacks and quohogs for supper, you know, my lads—baked clams
> and
> > muffins—oh, do, do, spring—he’s a hundred barreler—don’t lose him
> > now—don’t, oh, don’t!
> >
> >  What does "pile on the beef" mean here?
> >
> >
> --
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>