Grand Unified Theory

David Stockhoff · 03 Sep 2010, 13:32 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:32:42 -0400
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W355F8BF7B5680A12EF534ACF8D0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W355F8BF7B5680A12EF534ACF8D0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4C80F8FA.5030101 at verizon.net>

  I never heard of that plant. It fits the stated naming rules better 
than the fabric, although those associations are not invalidated by it 
but strengthened.

Here's an image: http://www.plantcare.com/encyclopedia/chenille-plant-8.aspx

Note that tussah silk is "wild" silkworm silk: 
http://www.fabrics.net/silk.asp

Yes, the caterpillar connection is impressive---even more so than the 
fabric connection!

On 9/3/2010 9:19 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>> David Stockhoff- But since silk is an animal product, Chenille can't be named for a
>> fabric derived from it.
>
> Chenille is French for caterpillar. There is the fabric named chenille which has little
> caterpillar-like piles to it. We might assume Chenille's name comes from the cotton version
> rather than the silk version but there is also a chenille plant which has drooping fuzzy
> flowers which look like caterpillars. Tussah is the name of a silkworm (a type of caterpillar)
> and also the name of a type of silk fabric.
>
> 1. We could guess Silk, Chenille and Tussah are related, judging simply by their names
> alone, without the need of the other text connections.
>
> 2. Silk is sort of a metrosexual mama's boy who has an animal name with somewhat feminine
> connotations. Chenille is a big, coarse woman with a plant name that has animal associations.
>
> It is just a drop in the bucket...one small part of the story, but to me, Wolfe's use of these
> three names to connote both personal attributes of characters and connnections between them is
> bloody freaking brilliant. I just couldn't imagine off-handedly dismissing any perceived
> connection between characters based on naming.
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