Urth Net

Index · 3 messages · 3 voices · 18 Nov – 19 Nov 1998

Ollifant & Castile?

Download this conversation
m.driussi18 Nov 1998, 23:51originalas archived
Ollifant & Castile?
Spectacled Bear, "Elephant and Castle"? <blank> No, I don't get it. But alas! So often is the case. =mantis=
Peter Westlake19 Nov 1998, 13:50originalas archived
↳ follows m.driussi · by subject
8 quoted lines
At 23:51 1998-11-18 GMT, m.driussi at genie.com wrote: Spectacled Bear, "Elephant and Castle"? <blank> No, I don't get it.
It's an area of London across the river from the Houses of Parliament, complete with famous pub - and Underground railway station. 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? :-) SBear.
Alex David Groce19 Nov 1998, 09:40originalas archived
↳ follows Peter Westlake · by subject
Peter Westlake said:
3 quoted lines
It's an area of London across the river from the Houses of Parliament, complete with famous pub - and Underground railway station. 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 Us" 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!
"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

An unofficial mirror of a public mailing list · about & removal requests · download the archive · before the list · original archive at urth.net