Chapter 5
- (The littl witey bloak; Goodparley & Orfing)
- We meet a representative of the powers that be, and hear rumors of the arrival of two others.
- (26:25) "Witey hair and pinky eyes"
In Riddley's devastated world, we might expect to see much worse deformities than albinism. An explanation for why we haven't seen any so far will come later.
The Mincery (Ministry) is the central government, such as it is. David Cowart points out that the pun suggests a place where things are chopped exceedingly fine.
Belnot is another character with a punnish name: "Nobel physicist." EE
- (28:10) "the Big 2 down from the Ram. Abel Goodparley & Erny Orfing the Pry Mincer and the Wes Mincer"
And two more: a "capable smoothtalker" and an "earnest orphan". EE Orfing also suggests "offering."
The Pry Mincer (Prime Minister) is naturally number one, but in a typical bit of linguistic confusion, his right-hand man has been named after Westminster, the London borough that is the center of government of the United Kingdom. Westminster Palace contains the houses of Parliament; Westminster Abbey is the cathedral where monarchs are crowned. (Thanks to SW for correcting the previous note which referred only to the Abbey. There is certainly no separation of church and state in Riddley's day.) The Wes Mincer is also later referred to as a shadder mincer.
The Mincery's home is called the Ram because it is located where Ramsgate is now—see Places. There is a small town to the west of Ramsgate named Minster; the names of Minster and Westminster both derive from the Latin word for monastery.
- (28:12) "they all ready ben Shorsday Week with the sess men which they revver newit the fraction for the Ram"
Shorsday is the shortest day of the year; sess men = assessment, revver newit = renew/revenue—tax collection for the Ram. EE
- (28:29) "therewl all ways be a nother Goodparley & Orfing"
If the Eusa show had been created purely for propagandistic purposes, there would be no need to ensure that the Big 2 always had the same names. It might increase stability, but no more than the constancy of the titles would. It may be more instructive to look to the examples of sacred kingship in which each king is supposed to participate in the same substance as each of his predecessors. This is seen most directly in the Shilluk belief that their kings are "animated by a single divine spirit, which has been transmitted from the semi-mythical, but probably in substance historical, founder of the dynasty" (The Golden Bough, p. 312) to each current ruler. The Roman custom of naming each emperor "Caesar" points to a similar, though not as explicit, practice. BW
A fit-up is a portable puppet theater.
- (29:1) "Goodparley had a big face with littl eyes like lookouts"
One of several prominent references to characters' eyes.
- (29:5) "Orfing had a face like a limpit"
A limpet is a kind of sea snail. EB A lime pit is a pit containing corrosive quicklime (burnt limestone), often used for disposal of corpses. MG
- (29:9) "Its all ways wrote down in the old spel"
Here we're reminded that Riddley's fanciful spelling and grammar are not signs of illiteracy, but are part of a jealously guarded tradition that goes back an extremely long time, long enough for spelling to have shifted even further from our current standard (as we see in the next chapter) and then, for unknown reasons, shifted slightly back again.
- (29:15) "No 1 else is allowit to have it wrote down the same which that dont make no odds becaws no 1 else knows how to read"
If no one is literate but the Ram and the connexion men, then the Ram's pigeon-mail system gives them a huge advantage in communication over everyone else.