My reaction to "Pajarocu" is that it sounded a lot like words from indigenous tribes from the Amazon. To be specific, it brought to mind "pirarucu", a large fish which is one of the staple foods of the region. It's sufficiently well known that I learned about it in elementary school in southern Brazil...
I've been lurking on the conversation, so, now that I've started talking again, perhaps I should say that I too am rather amazed at "Blue"... Wolfe's books just seem to get more and more complex, more and more artful, more and more entrancing.
Fernando
Fernando Q. Gouvea
Department of Mathematics Editor, FOCUS and MAA Online Colby College http://www.maa.org Waterville, ME 04901 fqgouvea at colby.edu http://www.colby.edu/math
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I could dance till the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather dance with the cows till you come home.
-- Groucho Marx
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.