Name of the _Whorl_

Michael Straight · 15 May 1998, 09:18 · from whorl-v0008.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Name of the _Whorl_
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 09:18:19
Message-ID: <whorl-v0008-0633 at digest.urth.net>
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On Fri, 15 May 1998, Peter Westlake wrote:

> At 09:56 1998-05-14 -0400, Rostrum wrote:
> >On Thu, 14 May 1998, Peter Westlake wrote:
> >
> >> Is there any special reason for the _Whorl_'s name?
> >> It doesn't seem like an obvious choice for a hollowed-out
> >> asteroid.
> >
> >For the travelers, Starcrosser is their whole World, but since it spins,
> >they call it the Whorl.
> >=20
> >There are lots of passages where people use the same syntax as if they
> >were going to say "world" but say "whorl" instead.  Stuff like, "She's t=
he
> >most beautiful woman in the whole Whorl!" or "Unlike Pas and Scylla and
> >the other gods, the Outsider exists outside the Whorl."
>=20
> That's a natural confusion arising from the name, though, surely?
> I wondered why the ship had been called "Whorl" in the first place.
> Of course, you get whorls of cloud around a typhoon. Maybe that's
> it: an offshoot of Typhon and his empire.

Hmm.  Maybe I was answering the question "Why did Wolfe name it 'Whorl'
than why did Typhon name it 'Whorl'.  But maybe not.  Typhon knew he was
creating an artificial world, complete with artificial societies and
religions, and it whorls around, so thus 'Whorl'.

-Rostrum


*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/

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