Name of the _Whorl_

Peter Westlake14 May 1998, 11:26original as archived

Name of the _Whorl_

Is there any special reason for the Whorl's name? It doesn't seem like an obvious choice for a hollowed-out asteroid. The only idea I have about this is so infinitely improbable that I really hope someone will tell me it can't be true ... it's a starship run by computers, so I wonder if it's related to the ship's computer with the very similar name in a series almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Wolfe? On a ship owned by the two-headed **pho*? Was Silk making a really hot cup of tea when Pike's ghost appeared? -- Spectacled Bear, aghast at finding how well this hangs together, except for the Cup of Tea, which was a Joke.

Michael Straight14 May 1998, 09:56original as archived

↳ follows Peter Westlake · by subject

4 quoted lines

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. 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 the most beautiful woman in the whole Whorl!" or "Unlike Pas and Scylla and the other gods, the Outsider exists outside the Whorl."

6 quoted lines

The only idea I have about this is so infinitely improbable that I really hope someone will tell me it can't be true ... it's a starship run by computers, so I wonder if it's related to the ship's computer with the very similar name in a series almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Wolfe? On a ship owned by the two-headed **pho*?

Oh my. "Two-headed **pho*"! I love it! Someone really needs to confront Wolfe with that one. -Rostrum

Peter Westlake15 May 1998, 11:59original as archived

↳ follows Michael Straight · by subject

9 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

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. 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 the most beautiful woman in the whole Whorl!" or "Unlike Pas and Scylla and the other gods, the Outsider exists outside the Whorl."

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. Spectacled bear.

Michael Straight15 May 1998, 09:18original as archived

↳ follows Peter Westlake · by subject

11 quoted lines · 1–3 deep

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. 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 the most beautiful woman in the whole Whorl!" or "Unlike Pas and Scylla and the other gods, the Outsider exists outside the Whorl."

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

Name of the _Whorl_Whorl