Scrabble sightings: World's End, by T.C. Boyle
A lot of the novel takes place in the Dutch settlements in 17th-century New York, so words like MIJNHEER and PATROON (a landowner granted manorial rights under old Dutch law) are all over the place. SCHOUT# and COMMIS#, Dutch words for low-ranking officials, crop up a lot too.
The Scrabbliest sentence: "It wasn't the Indian getup - the ragged bearskin, the string of seawant, the notochord cinched around his cousin's brow - or the fierce primordial reek of him either." SEAWANT (also SEAWAN or SEWAN) is a former currency used by North American Indians, according to Zyzzyva. I always thought the NOTOCHORD was the embryonic structure that develops into the spinal cord in vertebrates, so I have no idea what this has to do with "Indian getup," but maybe someone can enlighten me.
The Scrabbliest sentence: "It wasn't the Indian getup - the ragged bearskin, the string of seawant, the notochord cinched around his cousin's brow - or the fierce primordial reek of him either." SEAWANT (also SEAWAN or SEWAN) is a former currency used by North American Indians, according to Zyzzyva. I always thought the NOTOCHORD was the embryonic structure that develops into the spinal cord in vertebrates, so I have no idea what this has to do with "Indian getup," but maybe someone can enlighten me.