Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 28: Line 59-62 (431-434)

 "Admiration noted—and you might examine little Dahlia here, who's the spit of her Ma, fulminate me if she ain't, fact if you're ramblin by some ten, twelve years hence, why ride on over, have another look, make an offer, no price too small or too insulting I wouldn't consider. Or if you're willing to wait, take an option now to buy, got her on special, today and tomorrow only, dollar ninety-eight takes her away, heartbreakin smile and all. Yehp—there, lookit, just like 'at. Throw you in an extra bonnet, I'm a reasonable sort, 'n' the minute she blows that sweet-sixteenth birthday candle out, why she's on them rails, express to wherever you be."

* * * * * * * * * *

"fulminate me if she ain't"
I just profess my ire that Pynchon isn't making my brain work too hard and then he brings fulmination into the picture! Yes, yes. Merle is using it here to mean "express vehement protest" (as Lindsay did early. Lindsay fulminated Merle). But "fulminate" is totally a Gravity's Rainbow word. Unless it's a later Against the Day word when we get to the chapter with the explosives. Fulminate salts are friction sensitive explosives. That's probably why the word means "vehement protest." Because the person is exploding in anger. Heck, maybe Merle is actually using fulminate to mean "blow me up if I'm lying!" It's 1893! People probably expected to be blown up if they ever wronged somebody.

"if you're ramblin by some ten, twelve years hence"
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
Because I refused to purchase a five year old girl as my future bride.

"make an offer, no price too small or too insulting"
Was it okay to sell your child in the late 1800s? I suppose children were more property than autonomous beings. I'm starting to suspect that Merle really does give Dally corn liquor on a regular basis. This guy is the definition of uncouth! And also maybe the definition of sex slaver!

"the minute she blows that sweet-sixteenth birthday candle out, why she's on them rails, express to wherever you be"
This reminds me of all the weird perverts who keep track of young actresses' birthdates so they can, um, legally say the perverse things in public that they've been saying in private for way too many years. I think the poor Olsen twins suffered from this nonsense quite a bit. I only mention the Olsen twins because it seemed so egregious. "You mean you can't wait to talk about fucking the baby from Full House? What is wrong with you?" is a conversation I never had but I'm sure many friends of pervs did. I only mention that I only mention the Olsen twins because I'm sure all young female actresses have to deal with this shit.

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 Chick Counterfly, less affected, was alert enough to offer, "Well—an entirely admirable lady, whoever she was."

* * * * * * * * * *

When is this book going to get impossible to understand?! I just checked again and, sure enough, it says "Thomas Pynchon" on the cover! When is he going to use some highfalutin math concept that I'll never really understand to demonstrate some core principle of the hopelessness of human existence?!

Hmm, I hope you'll remember writing that bit, me, when the time comes that Pynchon finally does do that and my blog entry becomes, "What happened to the Chums of Chance and their airborne adventures around the world?! At least I could understand what was happening then!"

"less affected"
At this point, I always simply assume Chick Counterfly is less affected. By everything.

'alert enough to offer, "Well—an entirely admirable lady, whoever she was."'
Have I been socializing incorrectly my entire life? Should I be casually suggesting I fancy everybody's spouses, nonchalantly shrugging my shoulders and claiming, "If that's indeed your spouse. Whatever. So hot! I mean admirable." Then I'd wink really dramatically and pump my fist back and forth exactly three times.
    It really is the "alert enough to offer" bit that's perplexing me. Like Randolph missed the beat where he was supposed to offer a compliment because he was, once again, so terribly stupefied. How rude must people think I am after every conversation I've ever had?! And how stupefying must my expression constantly be?! I'm stupefied!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 28: Line 57 (429)

 "The very customer," Merle beamed, "and that beauteous conjuror's assistant you saw'd likely be ol' Erlys herself, and say, you'll want to close your mouth there, Buck, 'fore somethin flies into it?"—the casual mention of adultery having produced in Randolph's face a degree of stupefaction one regrets to term characteristic.

* * * * * * * * * *

""The very customer," Merle beamed"
Even though Zombini the Mysterious is banging his wife, Merle is still somehow proud to be associated with the famous person. If "cuck" were a word that was in my vocabulary (other than to call people who call people cucks "cucks" because they're the only ones who become outraged by it; nobody else fucking cares), I'd call Merle a cuck. But I won't because all that matters is that he's happy. Unless he's just putting on a brave face for the boys.

"likely be ol' Erlys herself"
Erlys, Merle's wife. Erlys seems to be of Welsh origin. It's the Middle English spelling of the word "earls" as in "Earls and Dukes and Viscounts and Marquesses and such." It's an anagram of "slyer," probably because she's slyer than Merle (whose name anagrams to "Elmer" and who has ever known a sly Elmer?!) which is why she cheated on him with a mesmerist.

"you'll want to close your mouth there, Buck"
A "buck" is a male goat or a male deer. I don't think it has any meaning here except as a casual way for Merle to engage Randolph and say, "Look, you're making us all uncomfortable with your reaction so could you maybe not be so dramatic. If I'm fine with it, you can be too."

"the casual mention of adultery"
Was adultery mentioned even casually? I suppose an adult woman doesn't just "run away with" an adult man the way a child runs away to the circus. You've got to assume a little hanky-panky was behind the decision, right?

"produced in Randolph's face a degree of stupefaction one regrets to term characteristic"
If I unraveled this sentence correctly, the narrator is saying that Randolph, all too often, looks stupefied. Poor kid. Shocked by all the earthly and fleshly actions of human beings. You know, the way a pure and innocent angel from Heaven might act!

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 "Makes his molly disappear down a common kitchen funnel! 'Imbottigliata!' ain't it? then he twirls his cape? Seen it down in New Orleans with my own peepers! some awesome turn, you bet!"

* * * * * * * * * *

My assumption is that an 1800s kitchen funnel isn't much bigger than a modern kitchen funnel. I'm also assuming a kitchen funnel is basically the same thing as a regular funnel except you only use it for edibles. But (and you'll understand my problem with Chick's statement after this revelation) I also assume women were the same size in the 1800s as today (or close enough to it)! Which means I'm super impressed by Zombini the Mysterious's mesmerism. Imagine convincing a woman to stuff herself into a kitchen funnel by mere words alone! What power!

'Imbottigliata!'
Italian for "bottled." Which means you'll have to disregard all that stuff I said earlier about The Great Zamboni being from Brazil. Because they don't generally speak Italian in Brazil. They speak that other language that looks like that other language and kind of sounds like those other languages. You know the one.
    As for why Zombombi the Magnificent yells "Botttled!" after convincing a woman to smash herself through a kitchen funnel, I can only guess. I suppose she winds up in a bottle which is the reason Chick thinks the illusion is "some awesome turn." Unless by "some awesome turn," Chick is complimenting the way The Powerful Zombiezie spins in his cape. But that sounds more like something Lindsay Noseworth would be impressed by. I'm surprised Chick even noticed the cape considering Zombini the Mysterious's "molly" probably performs half-naked.

"my own peepers"
Probably Chick's eyes but could also be his chicklets. You can't rule out the possibility seeing as how people call him "Chick." That's the kind of nickname you save for somebody who runs about town with his pockets full of baby chickens, or "peepers."

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 "Know him, by gosh!" Chick Counterfly, nodding vigorously.

* * * * * * * * * *

Chick, Merle just said Zombini stole his wife. Calm the fuck down with your fangasm.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 28: Line 51 (423)

 "She's out there in the U.S.A. someplace with the mesmerizin variety artist she run away with, a certain Zombini the Mysterious."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Zombini the Mysterious"
The surname Zombini is most commonly found in Brazil. It is reminiscent of "zombie" to modern audiences and probably a small percentage of Actually Nerds in 1893. So somebody seeing a poster for Zombini the Mysterious might say, "Oh! Zombini! That's Brazilian, isn't it? So mysterious!" And then her Actually Nerd friend would snort and say, "He's probably using the stage name because it is reminiscent of the word 'zumbi' meaning 'fetish' or 'nzambi,' a snake god, both originating in Africa. Both probably popularized via Brazil, though, so you have that much correct." Then his friend would look closer at the poster and say, "Oh, his name is Luca Zombini. So, you know, Brazilian, you stupid twat. I hate you."

"mesmerizin"
By 1893, mesmerism would have retained almost nothing of its supposed medical value and been seen as simply a diverting entertainment for the credulous masses. But in the first half of the century, mesmerism was being touted as the way to make surgery painless for the patient. This lasted right up until Robert Liston's first use of ether (following the experiments of James Esdaile working out of Calcutta) when a man had a leg amputated under it, woke up, and asked the doctor, "So, when are you going to cut off my leg, my good sir?" and Doctor Liston replied (apparently famously?), "This Yankee dodge, gentlemen, beats mesmerism hollow." Apparently doctors in the 1840s were hip to the groovy slang.
    I suppose I have to admit that mesmerism and hypnosis must actually work on some people if it was used to help people get through surgery without any other anesthetic. Or I could just assume that people were much tougher in the 1800s and figured, "This fucking hurts a lot but I guess it hurts less than if I hadn't been mesmerized so I should just grit my teeth and get on with it." Because I've always assumed hypnosis works because a large percentage of our population can't stand awkwardness and would rather pretend that a hypnotist hypnotized them than make the hypnotist and the audience feel uncomfortable about the hypnotist's failure. "Oh, he wants me to act like a chicken? I suppose I could act like a chicken if it would get this over with with the least amount of embarrassment all around." That's probably why they say people won't do anything they normally wouldn't do while not hypnotized. Because they're not actually hypnotized and "preventing awkwardness" is an easy second to "committing murder."