Miévillians discussion
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Derek, Miéville fan-boi
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May 05, 2014 09:08AM
No idea what it actually is, but it's vintage Miéville isn't it, to use a word that could make it mean "Cougars and other forces eyed them…"
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I've just sent a message to someone I hope might be able to help with this. :) Will report back!
I was unable to find anything other than references to the Old Saxon, either. Given that it supposedly means "force", I wonder whether they might not be elementals: force itself given animate form. If that's the case, though, I'm not sure how they could eye people, or why they would necessarily be airborne.
Well, I've googled around myself, and asked two people now, one who says it sounds familiar, but has no clue what it means, and Manny says:...all references appear either to be to an obscure elf, or to a Saxon word cognate to modern German Zwang or Swedish tvång, force/constraint. But here it is clearly something quite different.
Perhaps force/constraint is a clue after all, and it could be - weren't there these weird force elementals? My memory has already gone hazy, actually.
Ah, J. in before me....
I don't think githwings would "necessarily" be airborne, that's just a typical Miéville pun. They are airborne, purely by elimination, as cougars don't fly (well, probably don't fly: this isn't Earth :-) )Elementals makes a lot of sense.
Traveller wrote: "I know I shouldn't be labelling, (as in "gay scene") so do pardon me for mentioning that this scene instantly reminded me of a very similar scene that I had read in The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham many years ago. So long ago, that I'd forgotten what the book was about, but I remember how poignant I had found that scene, of unrequited longing, as I found the scene between Cutter and Judah to be."I was revisiting this thread looking for something else and saw this comment. Hmmm, sounds interesting...I wonder if somewhere in my library (under the M's, of course) I have The Razor's Edge... Yes! Cool, set up to be next in line. Thanks, Traveller!
I like the elementals idea for githwings. Here's another one if anyone is up for it: 'kettled' as in The land was deep in grasses. Kettled glacial till, sloughs and dustbeds intermitted the low slopes. I can find 'kettled' as in corralled in police containment, or as in having anal sex. Doesn't quite fit...
I like the idea of elementals for githwings. Here's another if anyone is interested: 'kettled' as in The land was deep in grasses. Kettled glacial till, sloughs and dustbeds intermitted the low slopes. I can find meaning corralled as in police containment or as in anal sex. Neither meaning quite fits here...
Hmm. I've seen it used that way, but all the references seem to treat "kettle" as a noun, not a verb. See wikipedia: Kettle (landform) otoh, I don't recall seeing "intermit" as a verb, either!
A kettle, and kettling, also refers to the behaviour of raptors (primarily buteos and eagles) circling in groups on an updraft. I suspect that there's a similarity in the motion there to that which causes glacial kettle forms. I guess it is similar to the police practice, too.
Yeah, I liked that too. Love using nouns as verbs and vice versa.Thanks for the Wiki link!
Or as an adjective... Either way I love using nouns as verbs, verbs as adj's, and verbs as nouns. Such fun!Thanks for the Wiki link. I hadn't thought of looking up just 'kettle'. Figured all I get would be 'pot'.
Actually, I googled Kettle Glacier :-) But then, I knew I'd come across it before.
