Tik-Tok/A...E
A
As I move
The first three words of the novel make it clear that Isaac Asimov will be a major figure throughout, even though he's never mentioned as a writer. Sladek used the name "I-click As-i-move" as the author of his Asimov parody story "Broot Force".[1]
An Inspector Calls
the Fairmont police
The non-flashback storyline doesn't seem to take place in any particular part of the country, but it's probably not a coincidence that there is a small town called Fairmont in Sladek's home state of Minnesota.
Sauce Harpeau
The poor we have always with us
Wedgwood
asimov circuits ... three laws
a fencepost ... an animal perched upon it, ears twitching
watched vids or listened to quads
Calvary roses
As you can see, it's a nursery rhyme
B
What the hammer? What the chain?
stamped out like apostle spoons
Uncle Rasselas
the kitchen help, Ben, Jemima, Molasses and Big Mac
the waiters, Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Spiro
Côtes Des Moines
fluorescent white peruke
mink lapels on a jacket of diamondback rattlesnake, a neon tie with a wicker suit
The long list of future garments in this paragraph might be considered an attempt to outdo the then-recently-deceased past master of ridiculous science fiction couture, Philip K. Dick. Never very interested in detailed world-building, but always confident that people in every era will take for granted things that would look pretty silly to people in previous eras, Dick took full advantage of his non-visual medium to throw in offhanded references to styles like "mohair poncho, apricot-colored felt hat, argyle ski socks and carpet slippers"[2] without distracting too much from his plots.
Sladek's fashion reverie here works a little differently: it's not so much about the arbitrariness of mainstream tastes, but a reminder that the callous elites who will shape Tik-Tok's view of humanity are very, very rich and very, very bored. Despite his naive admiration for these swells, Tik-Tok is also learning early on that humans are massively overconfident and have no real respect for their own mortality—as evidenced by the animated news-interpreting dress that's programmed to illustrate the end of the world as "a fine sunset".