JM: What kind
of a black "car" is Sylvia O' Donnell's "mowntrop"? What is
a "mascana
fruit"? ( still on note to 691)
MR: The passage states that the car is a Rolls-Royce. The 'mowntrop'
...signifies a path which turns off from the main road.As for'mascana fruit,' it
might be related to 'mascar,' Spanish for 'to chew'. Or to 'mascara,' meaning
the color Tuscan red. In VN's story "Lebeda" (1932) the tale's young hero takes
Sunday gymnastics and
boxing lessons with Monsieur
"Mascara,"...
JM: Thank you Matthew for the
wonderful explanation about Sylvia's car and about the Zemblan "muwan"
indicating a short-cut along flattened grass.
Mascana, it seems, is a place in Malaysia
but I cannot understand its connection with the word "mascara",
neither the Tuscan reds ( are they used in the creams applied to women's
faces?), nor with "chewing". Still, the reference to "Lebeda" and Mr.
Mascara is very interesting. Perhaps it lies in the background for the creating
of King Wing's pupil's feats as "Mascodagama".
D.B.J offered an interesting
explanation for "Conmal" ( a bad reader or translator). Eric Naiman's works
about various "cunning stunts" had led me to suppose a
different meaning for "Con", although this interpretation didn't
seem related to our scholarly Duke. Don's words CON "to study carefully", "to learn. seem to solve the
problem.