More Quicksilver
Oct. 14th, 2005 06:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThis book just keeps on prompting me to make entries - and part two is much more bizarre than part one...
From the slow but fascinating Book One, in which we share Daniel's relatively static observations of scientific and philosophical advances in 17th century England, we move abruptly to Book Two, which charts the madcap adventures and constant love/hate banter of Jack and Eliza as they journey across Europe, chasing ostriches, stealing horses, and apparently meeting up with Doctor Who...
"Dignity was a clever weapon to use against the Doctor, who did not have very much of it at the moment. On his head was the largest wig Jack had ever seen, a thunderhead of black curls enveloping and dwarfing his head and making him look, from behind, as if a yearling bear cub had dropped from a tree onto his shoulders and was trying to wrench his head off. His attire was no less formidable. The Doctor's outfit mocked any dress: between Leipzig and his skin there had to be two dozen layers of fabric belonging to Christ knew how many separate garments: shirts, waistcoats, vests and things of which Jack did not know the names. Rank upon rank of heavy close-spaced buttons, containing, in the aggregate, enough brass to cast a swivel-gun. Straps and draw-strings, lace gushing from the openings around throat and wrists."
Now tell me that doesn't sound like Tom Baker trying to blend in to the 17th century! He's very eccentric, too, and has lots of weird ideas for mad schemes that are way ahead of their time and mostly likely to go horribly wrong.
It's an extremely odd change from the first part of the book, but I'm enjoying it just as much. The interaction between Eliza and Jack is highly entertaining, and the action/adventure turn the story has taken is quite refreshing after the over-intellectual tone of the first part.
Now we move on - not to things I have learned from the book, but to things I have learned because of the book. The distinction lies in the fact that Stephenson has several times implied the origin of a phrase or term to be something that it has subsequently turned out not to be when I've looked it up later. Invariably, the real origins have been interesting, but Stephenson's versions are much more so. Therefore, I've decided to list both:
- schlockmeister: someone who deals in shoddy or substandard material. Stephenson makes reference to "schlock", which is apparently what's left over after the metal is removed from ore. I assumed this meant that the term "schlockmeister" came from someone trying to pass off the leftovers as actually valuable. This may or may not be true - the real origin seems to be unknown.
- whet your whistle: to drink. Apparently, the real origin is from tankards used in noisy taverns, which had whistles in the handles with which to attract the waitresses' attention. Most people probably think the first word of the phrase is spelled "wet" (ie pouring drink down your throat to wet your voicebox or whistle), but "whet" is used to describe the action of activating the whistle on the tankard. Jack the vagabond says in the book that the phrase comes from peasants going to the river to whet their scythes (called whistles because of the sound they make) with water-smoothed rocks to sharpen them, the phrase progressing to mean taking some refreshment as they would invariably use the excuse to take a break and get a drink.
- things suck: things are going badly. Stephenson's definition has to do with ships creating too much wake behind them if they sit too low in the water:
"Any seaman will tell you that a ship's wake sucks on her stern, holding her back - the bigger the wake, the greater the suck, the slower the progress. That schooner sucks."
The real origin of the phrase is of a far less savoury, sexual nature, but I much prefer the Stephenson version!
- sabotage: treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor. The word comes from the French sabot, a wooden shoe worn by peasants in the 17th century, sabotage meaning to walk noisily or bungle something, thus ruining its purpose. In the book, Eliza suggests that the peasants who work the treadmill to pump water out of a mine might object to being replaced by the Doctor's wind-powered pump by dropping their wooden shoes into the mechanism and thus breaking it. Obviously, Eliza's definition of sabotage comes from the same root, but it's much more fun than the real meaning.
So, there you go - thus endeth today's lesson!
From the slow but fascinating Book One, in which we share Daniel's relatively static observations of scientific and philosophical advances in 17th century England, we move abruptly to Book Two, which charts the madcap adventures and constant love/hate banter of Jack and Eliza as they journey across Europe, chasing ostriches, stealing horses, and apparently meeting up with Doctor Who...
"Dignity was a clever weapon to use against the Doctor, who did not have very much of it at the moment. On his head was the largest wig Jack had ever seen, a thunderhead of black curls enveloping and dwarfing his head and making him look, from behind, as if a yearling bear cub had dropped from a tree onto his shoulders and was trying to wrench his head off. His attire was no less formidable. The Doctor's outfit mocked any dress: between Leipzig and his skin there had to be two dozen layers of fabric belonging to Christ knew how many separate garments: shirts, waistcoats, vests and things of which Jack did not know the names. Rank upon rank of heavy close-spaced buttons, containing, in the aggregate, enough brass to cast a swivel-gun. Straps and draw-strings, lace gushing from the openings around throat and wrists."
Now tell me that doesn't sound like Tom Baker trying to blend in to the 17th century! He's very eccentric, too, and has lots of weird ideas for mad schemes that are way ahead of their time and mostly likely to go horribly wrong.
It's an extremely odd change from the first part of the book, but I'm enjoying it just as much. The interaction between Eliza and Jack is highly entertaining, and the action/adventure turn the story has taken is quite refreshing after the over-intellectual tone of the first part.
Now we move on - not to things I have learned from the book, but to things I have learned because of the book. The distinction lies in the fact that Stephenson has several times implied the origin of a phrase or term to be something that it has subsequently turned out not to be when I've looked it up later. Invariably, the real origins have been interesting, but Stephenson's versions are much more so. Therefore, I've decided to list both:
- schlockmeister: someone who deals in shoddy or substandard material. Stephenson makes reference to "schlock", which is apparently what's left over after the metal is removed from ore. I assumed this meant that the term "schlockmeister" came from someone trying to pass off the leftovers as actually valuable. This may or may not be true - the real origin seems to be unknown.
- whet your whistle: to drink. Apparently, the real origin is from tankards used in noisy taverns, which had whistles in the handles with which to attract the waitresses' attention. Most people probably think the first word of the phrase is spelled "wet" (ie pouring drink down your throat to wet your voicebox or whistle), but "whet" is used to describe the action of activating the whistle on the tankard. Jack the vagabond says in the book that the phrase comes from peasants going to the river to whet their scythes (called whistles because of the sound they make) with water-smoothed rocks to sharpen them, the phrase progressing to mean taking some refreshment as they would invariably use the excuse to take a break and get a drink.
- things suck: things are going badly. Stephenson's definition has to do with ships creating too much wake behind them if they sit too low in the water:
"Any seaman will tell you that a ship's wake sucks on her stern, holding her back - the bigger the wake, the greater the suck, the slower the progress. That schooner sucks."
The real origin of the phrase is of a far less savoury, sexual nature, but I much prefer the Stephenson version!
- sabotage: treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor. The word comes from the French sabot, a wooden shoe worn by peasants in the 17th century, sabotage meaning to walk noisily or bungle something, thus ruining its purpose. In the book, Eliza suggests that the peasants who work the treadmill to pump water out of a mine might object to being replaced by the Doctor's wind-powered pump by dropping their wooden shoes into the mechanism and thus breaking it. Obviously, Eliza's definition of sabotage comes from the same root, but it's much more fun than the real meaning.
So, there you go - thus endeth today's lesson!
