New answers tagged short-stories
5
This link shows a copy of the Nuremberg iron maiden where you can clearly see its campanulate qualities https://literature.fandom.com/wiki/The_Squaw
Noah's Ark sets were a popular item in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the book Youth Cultures in America [2 volumes]edited by Simon J. Bronner, Cindy Dell Clark. states:
Animal shaped toys carved from ...
6
"Bar" means "except for," "with the exception of."
"I guess I've not had enjoyment like this since I left Noo York. [Except for] a scrap with a French sailor at Wapping-an' that warn't much of a picnic neither."
"Bar" in this sense is still widely used.
9
TL;DR: ‘Helium’ is a misprint for ‘hellum’ which is a dialect spelling of ‘helm’.
Let’s get the easier parts out of the way before we tackle ‘helium’. The Toad is a “sloop, of 8,825–10,000 registered tonnage”. I don’t really understand this description—a ‘sloop’ is normally a sailing vessel with a single fore-and-aft rigged mast, but a vessel of 10,000 ...
3
It's hyperbole, suggesting that a huge sum of money had been spent on cosmetic dentistry. You can also tell from the reference to his height and the floppy blonde hair that Barry is creating a character from a relatively wealthy background.
0
"sniper material" means somebody who is naturally cut out to be a sniper. You hear it fairly commonly in a complimentary form as in "he's university material". Here it's being used as an insult, it's saying he's a natural born psycho killer.
Collins online dictionary gives:
a person who has qualities suitable for a given occupation...
That boy is not ...
1
The title is obviously also a homage to, or play on, Rabbit Redux by Updike. The word redux has been more commonly used since its publication.
Wiktionary says this:
The word may have re-entered popular usage in the United States with the 1971 publication of the novel Rabbit Redux by John Updike,[1][2] although it had previously been used in medicine,...
1
At the start of the story, the peddler thinks of the world as a rat trap, where everything that is good, any seeming luxury or kindness, is just bait for a trap. While with the ironmaster's family, he is treated with kindness with no ulterior motive, particularly by Edla, and even after he is found out, she continues to treat him with kindness. At the end of ...
Top 50 recent answers are included
