3 ms·
Despite reading the entire series twice, I never understood the porcupine line. Can someone ELI5?
by jvandonsel 2mo ago
Despite reading the entire series twice, I never understood the porcupine line. Can someone ELI5?
- tclancy 2mo agoIt’s Jack talking through his hat again. I think he’s trying to determine if a woman is married or not and when it turns out they having a roving eye, he conflates “porcupine” (no idea what a porcupine-lay might be) with “concubine”.
- BLKNSLVR 2mo agoI think "lay" might be as literal as we would use it now.
- js2 2mo agoIt's probably slang for "line of work: occupation": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay See 3b under its noun definition. So: “Why, sir, in a manner of speaking: but some might say more on the porcupine-lay, the roving-line, if you understand me.” Translates to: “Why, sir, in a manner of speaking: but some might say more on the concubine-occupation, the roving-line [of work], if you understand me.” Then Jack, not wanting to embarrass Heaven for his malapropism, intentionaly reuses "porcupine" incorrectly.