Hi,
First of all a big thank you to all of you who maintanin the boards, you've been very helpful in informing us of the latest news concerning Ray and clearing up our doubts.
I just had a question on Sth Wicked. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read it yet, I've just started reading it, and I'm finding lots of 'difficult' words or phrases. I'll only ask you about the ones I cannot find anywhere and are bugging me the most. These are:
-Chapter One: "curlicues and DOOHINGIES had been soldered on...".
-first sentence of Chapter Two: "books on water cures"?
-few paragraphs later: "...named a goal and LIT for it, SCISSORS AND ELBOWS."
Thanks,
Diego.

Donkeyjote,

Let's see if I can help, without actually getting up and looking at my copy of the book:

1.) Chapter One: "curlicues and DOOHINGIES had been soldered on...". This is a reference to the seemingly curious items attached to whatever's being referred to. The lightning rods, I think. If so, this describes the various bits of metal attached to the rods. They wouldn't be straight rods of metal but something more elaborate.

2.) -first sentence of Chapter Two: "books on water cures"? Water cures would be strange, old remedies of curing illnesses or other maladies. Think of old wives tales. Or something mysterious.

3.) -few paragraphs later: "...named a goal and LIT for it, SCISSORS AND ELBOWS." This is one of my favorite techniques of Bradbury's. A little puzzling at first but give it a minute: think of how two boys would run, or light out (lit, being the past tense. See the end of Huck Finn about lighting out for the territories. A good old-fashioned, American word. I like it.), for a goal. They'd be, what, a jumble of legs and arms, as they dashed off? Their legs might be scissoring under their flying elbows? Notice how Bradbury evokes that image with just those three words: scissors and elbows? The image comes instantly to mind of just how these boys would run from one thing to the next. Perfect.

Hope this helps. And if I'm wrong on any of this, by all means, someone, jump right in.

Best,

Pete

Thanks very much, Pete. I imagined something along those lines for the 'scissors' phrase but thought maybe it was an idiomatic phrase I didn't know! :P
Almost finishig the book now. Pure magic!

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many resorts in Europe and America were built around natural mineral water springs, which were claimed to offer cures for a variety of illnesses for those who drank the water or bathed in it. One of the most famous was Spa, in Belgium, from which we get the word "spa" to describe any such resort.

"Doohingy" is just a substitute word used for some device or object that you don't know the name for. It's a funny-sounding synonym for "thing".

The form of this term I was used to was "doohickey." Bradbury was either unfamiliar with this form or had other reasons for choosing the other.