Book Discussion: Brokeback Mountain

[Front-Ranger]

This topic has been going on for nearly two years, friends, and yet we have barely passed the prologue and the meaning of the title!! Come explore with me the fascinating story Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx!!

[loneleeb3]

I think it can truly be said that Brokeback Mountain is far from "cut and dried," and neither is it "described with a tight boundary." And it certainly speaks across "geography and time."

Friend, you can say that twice and mean it!

[Front-Ranger]

Rereading our favorite story on a gloomy spring day...I'm reminded of the scholarship friend Amanda did on the word "pitch," especially since I noticed another use of the word in the second column of the story! Joe Aguirre is giving our boys his sermon, er, instructions for their summer on the mountain and he tells Jack with a chop of his hand to "pitch a pup tent on the Q. T. with the sheep..." Yet ANOTHER use of the word!!

This is a great topic Sister Mod!   The instance of this word that comes to my mind immediately is as a verb... in the sentence: " He wanted to be a sophomore, felt the word carried a kind of distinction, but the truck broke down short of it, pitching him directly into ranch work."

Now, looking at my dictionary (a leatherbound Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictonary) it not only shows multiple definitions for the main word "pitch" (as a noun and a verb), but there are is almost 3/4 of a page full of words that contain the word "pitch" within them.  Some of the words listed that include the term "pitch" are: pitch-black, pitch-blende, pitch-dark, pitched battle, pitcher, pitcher plant, pitchfork, pitch in, pitchman, pitchout, pitch pine, pitch pipe, pitchstone, pitchwoman, and pitchy.

I'm going to highlight some of the definitions here that seem particularly interesting:

Here are some of the main noun definitions for the basic word "pitch".  My dictionary divides the noun section into two very distinct parts (interrupted by the section of definitions on the verb form... this is the first set of noun definitions):
1) a black or dark viscous substance obtained as a residue in the distillation of organic materials and esp. tars. (this is the very first definition of all that appear)
2) any of various various bituminous substances
etc.  several definitions along these lines

Here are some of the main verb definitions for "pitch":
1) to cover, smear or treat with or as with pitch
2)to erect and fix firmly in place
3) a) to throw usu. with a particular objective or toward a particular point {~ hay onto a wagon} (b) to throw {a baseball} to a batter (c) to toss so as to fall at or near a mark {a coin} (d) to put aside or discard by throwing
4) a) to cause to be at a particular level or of a particular quality. (b) to cause to be set at a particular angle
5) to utter glibly and insincerely
6) to use as a starting pitcher, to play as pitcher
7) to hit a golf ball in a high arc with backspin so that it rolls very little after striking the green

Here is a second, separate section of verb forms:
1) a) to fall precipitately or headlong (  It's almost like Annie was reading a dictionary when she was writing one particular BBM passage that we all know and love)
1) b) to have the bow of a ship alternately plunge precipitately and rise abruptly
1) c) to buck 
2) to encamp
3) to hit upon or happen upon something
4) to incline downward
5) to throw a ball to a batter

Here is the second section of noun forms:
1) the action of manner of pitching; esp. an up-and-down movement
2) slope (there are many subdefinitions of this)
3) top, zenith (archaic use)
4) a) the relative level, intensity, or extent of some quality or state. (b) the property of a sound and esp. a musical tone that is determined by the frequency of the waves producing it. (there is a lot more to this part of the definition)
5) a steep place
6) a playing field
7) an all-fours game in which the first card led is a trump. (  I have no idea what that means!)
an often high pressure sales talk

etc., etc.

So, it seems that this word applies to tons of different themes, topics and concepts peppered throughout BBM in very many different contexts.  And, of course the term "to pitch" or "pitcher" also has a sexual slang meaning.

Definitely lots of food for thought!


 

[Ellemeno]

Could Larry McMurtry have unwittingly inspired the characters of Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar as well as some of the story of Brokeback Mountain?  In The Late Child, a novel of his published in 1995, there is a minor incident towards the end of the book in Chapter 14 that causes me to wonder.  Here are a few quotes, condensed from several pages:
 
(At the airport)  ".... noticed a young cowboy, sitting a few seats away.  The cowboy was short and skinny.  When she glanced at him she saw that he was bent over, with his face in his hands, crying.  His skinny shoulders were shaking, and his black cowboy hat had fallen off his head and was on the floor, by his boots.
 
.... All he had with him was a small duffel bag, with a pair of spurs dangling from the handle, and a rope.  His boots were dusty and his pants legs were a little too long--he had stepped on the cuffs and left them pretty frayed.  Since he had his face in his hands it was difficult to tell exactly how old he was, but he looked to be only in his late teens.
 
.... 'Can I help you, sir?' she asked, sitting down beside him.
 
The boy, his face wet with tears, looked up at her--his look was blank.
 
'Jody's dead,' the young man said simply, as if it should be obvious to any passerby why he was sitting in the Tulsa airport at midnight, crying.
 
'That old pickup of ours didn't have no seat belts on the driver's side,' he went on.  'Jody always drove like a bat out of hell even when there wasn't no hurry.  She missed a curve and flipped.  Got thrown clean out of the window and broke her neck.  Kilt instantly.  The kids weren't hurt, though.
 
... 'Jody was your wife?' (she) asked.
 
'Yep, only she ain't no more, she's dead, and I got two kids to raise and not a cent to my name.  I sure can't make enough calf roping to support two kids, so I guess that's the end of rodeoing
 
.... she said. 'I hope you don't mind if I sit with you for a while.'  'No, ma'am, I don't,' the boy said.  I'm Wesley Straw.  I come all the way up here from Lubbock and didn't win a cent.  I don't know how we'll even scrape up the money to bury Jody... my folks don't think I should have married Jody in the first place....
 
'Oh God, ma'am, I just can't believe she's dead,' Wesley said.  'All she was doing was driving home.  They estimate she was going better than ninety...
 
'Maybe you can get back to rodeoing a little later, Wesley," (she) said...
 
But Wesley Straw shook his head.  'I should have give it up already,' he said. 'It was just a dream I had, when I was growing up.  I wanted to be a world's champion cowboy so bad-- or at least to get to the national finals.  But I can't afford my own trailer, so when I enter a rodeo I have to borrow a horse to rope off of.  But that's no good.  I ain't familiar with the horse, and the horse ain't familiar with me  Sometimes I'll be riding a different roping horse every time I rope.  You don't get nowhere that way.  All the good ropers got their own trailers and their own horses.'
 
'It don't matter now,' he went on. 'Jody was getting tired of me going off and never bringing home no money.  I would have had to give up and go to work in the oil fields anyway, pretty soon.  God, I hate the thought of spending the rest of my life working in the stinking oilfields.'
 
'Wesley, I lost my daughter recently,' (she) said.
 
'Aw, ma'am, that's worse.' Wesley said, turning his anguished eyes to hers.  'Losing Jody is hell, but if I was to lose one of my girls I'd take a shotgun and blow my head off.'  On impulse he dug in his pocket and pulled out a sweat-stained walled and showed (her) small snapshots of his daughters, aged three and four.
 
Then he pulled out a picture of his wife.
 
'And this is Jody,' he said, offering (her) a picture of a thin-faced, pretty brunette.
 
... Just then Wesley Straw's flight was called.  He popped up and put his black hat back on his head--it looked much too large for his small head and thin neck.  He picked up his duffel bag, which made his spurs jingle a little.
 
... He gave (her) a little nod, and a grateful glance before getting in line to board the plane.  Then he dried his eyes on his shirtsleeve and straightened his black hat on his head.  There was something about his look that broke (her) heart.  He was only nineteen, he had said, and now he was flying off to try his best to be a brave cowboy and raise his little girls, letting go forever his dream of being a world's champion calf roper and getting to compete in the national finals rodeo; all because his wife was driving too fast and failed to make a curve.  Probably it had been hard for Wesley to keep up his hopes anyway, since he didn't even have enough money to own a trailer and didn't get to rope off his own horse.  But he had still been trying.... Now it was over.

This is pretty fascinating, Larry.

[Front-Ranger]

I wish you Northwesterners could pick up the pace of your dialogue a little bit. I mean, two years between exchanges is a bit much, even for me with my Midwestern drawl. Maybe you could go back to your Eastern roots, Ms. Ellemeno!!

Meanwhile, I read the story again yesterday for the first time in ages, paying particular attention to the words used to describe Jack and Ennis, and used for their dialogue. It was beautiful, like poetry rather than story writing!!

Can't wait to see that opera performed!!

[Front-Ranger]

Word for the day: slopped. This is a very Prouxian word. You don't see it much in typical British or American literature. But in Brokeback Mountain, it's used at least three times. There's:

Ennis slopped the washrag around, trying to wash everything he could reach.

"Going up, the day was fine, but the trail deep-drifted and slopping wet at the margins."

Linda Higgins dumped the sopping wet coffee filter in the trash. (Okay, that's a slightly different word, but same meaning)

What was the slopping about? Why is this story so messy?

[Jeff Wrangler]

What was the slopping about? Why is this story so messy?

Because life is messy?

[Front-Ranger]

True, friend, but some people manage to live tidy lives. Or do they?

[Front-Ranger]

We never did adequately answer Rich's question about the meaning of pitching a pup tent on the QT.  What does QT mean anyway? I always thought it meant quiet time, but that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Your thoughts?

[Penthesilea]

We never did adequately answer Rich's question about the meaning of pitching a pup tent on the QT.  What does QT mean anyway? I always thought it meant quiet time, but that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Your thoughts?

Seems "qt" is simply short for "quiet"


From Merriam Webster:

— on the quiet
: in a secretive manner : in secret



It's in my English/German dictionary, it's in Wiktionary and I found plenty hits to other dictionaries.
Also found this, with more background info:




On the QT
Meaning
On the quiet.

Origin
The slang term 'qt' is a shortened form of 'quiet'. There's no definitive source for the phrase 'on the q.t.', although it appears to be of 19th century British origin - not, as is often supposed, American. The longer phrase 'on the quiet' is also not especially old, but is first recorded somewhat before 'on the qt', in Otago: Goldfields & Resources, 1862:

"Unless men can work [the gold] on 'the quiet', they are not likely to make 'piles' so rapidly as Messrs. Hartley and Riley."

That first record is from new Zealand, but is soon followed by citations from the United Kingdom and the USA.

As to on the q.t., in The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, Robert Hendrickson states:

"A British broadside ballad (1870) contained the line 'Whatever I tell you is on the Q.T.'"

It would be good to know the name of the ballad in order to follow up this assertion. Unfortunately, the author doesn't give it, from which we can only suppose he didn't know it himself. Without some supporting evidence that claim has to be in doubt.

Hendrickson also goes on to say:

"On the Q.T.' gained more popularity when it appeared in an 1891 minstrel show number called 'Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.' London 'went stark mad over the refrain,' which was written by Henry J. Sayers and sung by Lottie Collins. The first stanza follows:

A sweet Tuxedo girl you see,
Queen of swell society,
Fond of fun as fun can be
When it's on the strict Q.T.

I'm not too young, I'm not too old,
Not too timid, not too bold,
Just the kind of sport I'm told

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay."

This assertion appears to be incorrect. The first stanza of that song is this:

A smart and stylish girl you see,
Belle of good society;
Not too strict, but rather free,
Yet as right as right can be!

never forward, never bold,
Not too hot and not too cold,
But the very thing I'm told,
That in your arms you'd like to hold!

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay

The 'on the strict Q.T' line doesn't appear in the original 1891 version of the song. I'm not sure where Henrickson's version was obtained from and when it was written. The Lizzie Borden Society's web site (http://lizzieandrewborden.com) has this to say about it:

"Over the years, the easily sung and remembered tune has been claimed by many other composers and lyricists who have added their own version of the words."

All early citations of the phrase have it as 'on the strict q.t.'. The first recorded use of any version of the phrase in print that I can find documentary evidence for is by the Irish novelist George Moore, in A mummer's wife 1884:

" It will be possible to have one spree on the strict q.t."

The first use of 'on the q.t.' that isn't strict, so to speak, is from the Indiana newspaper The Sunday Gazette, January 1898, in an advert for a stage show by Fanny Rice.

The phrase has retained its place in the language and is still used, although these days it has the whiff of US pulp fiction gangster novels and films.

H. L. Mencken, in The American Language, 1921, comments on the American fondness for abbreviations. like OK, PDQ, COD, as well QT. He suggests they helped non-English speaking immigrants to communicate.

In the 1997 film L.A. Confidential (screenplay Brian Helgeland, based on a novel by James Ellroy), Sid Hudgens (played by Danny DeVito) signs off his newspaper columns with "off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush.". This was taken up as the film's tagline in advertising posters.


Source:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-the-qt.html