Ollifant & Castile?

Alex David Groce · 19 Nov 1998, 09:40 · from urth-v0021.mbox · original

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From: "Alex David Groce" <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Ollifant & Castile?
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 09:40:18
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Peter Westlake said:
> It's an area of London across the river from the Houses of Parliament,
> complete with famous pub - and Underground railway station.
>=20
> The name comes from that time of British history when mispronouncing
> pub names seems to have been a national pastime. "God Encompasseth Us"
> became the "Goat and Compasses", for instance, and the "Infanta of
> Castile" became "Elephant and Castle", which is an even better name.
> So now you need to find Spanish Infanta connections ... is Contessa
> a Spanish title? :-)

And, to further boost the theory, we know Wolfe has been in England (one of=
 the
letters reprinted in CASTLE OF DAYS), and hated the roads--so, if he'd been=
 in
London (and if you go to England and don't see London something is odd), he=
'd
have certainly used the tube as much as possible.  Anyway, the "Infanta of
Castile"->"Elephant and Castle" transition would be a very Wolfe-ish thing.
Now, we need to scour the BOTNS & BOTLS (in case he used it as a parallel) =
for
any connections between compasses and goats--after all, "God Encompasseth U=
s"
would be a reasonable encoded message for either work.  :)
	Maybe on his bee farm the old autarch also kept goats?  Connect that in
some way to "The Map" (which clearly implies a compass) and you have it!
--=20
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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