Comments on: Help me find a word in Infinite Jest

Question: Help me find a word in Infinite Jest

:-) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:02:08 -0800

While reading Infinite Jest, I looked up a word in the dictionary only to discover that the example sentence in the definition on my Kindle was exactly the same sentence I had just read in the book.

I've since forgotten the word/sentence, and it doesn't seem to be in my bookmarks. I have a second generation Kindle, and I think it uses the New Oxford American Dictionary behind the scenes (not 100% sure).

This is a long shot (especially since this is pretty much all I remember about the situation), but does anybody know what the word was/where it was used?

By: sleepingcbw

sleepingcbw — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:10:21 -0800

I don't have access to the New Oxford American Dictionary, but here are the words from the OED that quote Infinite Jest: affront, economy size, ka-ching, map, militarily, mini-,
mokus, neurochemistry, O, pancreatitis, play, predesignate, presbyopic, Priapean, psycho-, Quonset. Is it any of those?

(oops! fixed it. thanks :) )

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:13:10 -0800

Damn, sleepingcbw beat me to it. Note that "mini-" and "mokus" are two separate entries.

By: :-)

:-) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:45:18 -0800

I don't know why it suddenly came to me, but I found it:

'He's hard to pin down if you get him on entertainment qua entertainment'.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/qua

Thanks!

By: eyesontheroad

eyesontheroad — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:10:24 -0800

I had a similar experience, looking up qua for clarity on usage, a week or so after reading the same passage. I used Apple's supplied "Dictionary" on my MacBook at the time.

It's still there.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:21:34 -0800

If you have a Mac, make liberal use of the thesaurus and its accompanying word notes while you read because David Foster Wallace is in your Mac.