a staggerline of Trubies
In Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Ours is the Prettiest" (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015), I found the following sentence (emphasis mine):
I swung aside the skeletal bustle that was the skirt of my gown just in time to get it out from underfoot of a staggerline of Trubies, everyone of them dressed to pussfoot in gleaming white canvas bell-bottoms, sailor shirts and beanies.
Earlier in the story, the narrator had said that the eyes of her companion Gladstone were "silver, from the Trubie side of her family", so "Trubie" is clearly a family name. However, I couldn't find "staggerline" in Wiktionary, the online Collins dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionaries (I have no access to the OED), the online Cambridge Dictionary or with a more general web search.
So what does "staggerline" mean?
meaning
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
add a comment |
In Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Ours is the Prettiest" (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015), I found the following sentence (emphasis mine):
I swung aside the skeletal bustle that was the skirt of my gown just in time to get it out from underfoot of a staggerline of Trubies, everyone of them dressed to pussfoot in gleaming white canvas bell-bottoms, sailor shirts and beanies.
Earlier in the story, the narrator had said that the eyes of her companion Gladstone were "silver, from the Trubie side of her family", so "Trubie" is clearly a family name. However, I couldn't find "staggerline" in Wiktionary, the online Collins dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionaries (I have no access to the OED), the online Cambridge Dictionary or with a more general web search.
So what does "staggerline" mean?
meaning
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
1
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
add a comment |
In Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Ours is the Prettiest" (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015), I found the following sentence (emphasis mine):
I swung aside the skeletal bustle that was the skirt of my gown just in time to get it out from underfoot of a staggerline of Trubies, everyone of them dressed to pussfoot in gleaming white canvas bell-bottoms, sailor shirts and beanies.
Earlier in the story, the narrator had said that the eyes of her companion Gladstone were "silver, from the Trubie side of her family", so "Trubie" is clearly a family name. However, I couldn't find "staggerline" in Wiktionary, the online Collins dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionaries (I have no access to the OED), the online Cambridge Dictionary or with a more general web search.
So what does "staggerline" mean?
meaning
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
In Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Ours is the Prettiest" (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015), I found the following sentence (emphasis mine):
I swung aside the skeletal bustle that was the skirt of my gown just in time to get it out from underfoot of a staggerline of Trubies, everyone of them dressed to pussfoot in gleaming white canvas bell-bottoms, sailor shirts and beanies.
Earlier in the story, the narrator had said that the eyes of her companion Gladstone were "silver, from the Trubie side of her family", so "Trubie" is clearly a family name. However, I couldn't find "staggerline" in Wiktionary, the online Collins dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionaries (I have no access to the OED), the online Cambridge Dictionary or with a more general web search.
So what does "staggerline" mean?
meaning
meaning
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
asked 17 hours ago
Christophe Strobbe
1,8362927
1,8362927
Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
1
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
add a comment |
Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
1
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
1
1
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
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The word is not listed in the OED, so I think it’s a portmanteau of stagger and congaline. Or just line. The story has that type of a conversational tone, so I think it would fit. Given that this story was published in several different places this way it seems very unlikely it’s a typo.
Later on that page it does say that they were going in a line, careening, stumbling, and zigzagging. Or as the narrator describes it: “‘Truebloods playing Drunken Sailor mas’”.
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
add a comment |
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The word is not listed in the OED, so I think it’s a portmanteau of stagger and congaline. Or just line. The story has that type of a conversational tone, so I think it would fit. Given that this story was published in several different places this way it seems very unlikely it’s a typo.
Later on that page it does say that they were going in a line, careening, stumbling, and zigzagging. Or as the narrator describes it: “‘Truebloods playing Drunken Sailor mas’”.
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
add a comment |
The word is not listed in the OED, so I think it’s a portmanteau of stagger and congaline. Or just line. The story has that type of a conversational tone, so I think it would fit. Given that this story was published in several different places this way it seems very unlikely it’s a typo.
Later on that page it does say that they were going in a line, careening, stumbling, and zigzagging. Or as the narrator describes it: “‘Truebloods playing Drunken Sailor mas’”.
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
add a comment |
The word is not listed in the OED, so I think it’s a portmanteau of stagger and congaline. Or just line. The story has that type of a conversational tone, so I think it would fit. Given that this story was published in several different places this way it seems very unlikely it’s a typo.
Later on that page it does say that they were going in a line, careening, stumbling, and zigzagging. Or as the narrator describes it: “‘Truebloods playing Drunken Sailor mas’”.
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
The word is not listed in the OED, so I think it’s a portmanteau of stagger and congaline. Or just line. The story has that type of a conversational tone, so I think it would fit. Given that this story was published in several different places this way it seems very unlikely it’s a typo.
Later on that page it does say that they were going in a line, careening, stumbling, and zigzagging. Or as the narrator describes it: “‘Truebloods playing Drunken Sailor mas’”.
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
answered 16 hours ago
Laurel
31.1k660111
31.1k660111
add a comment |
add a comment |
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Perhaps a typo, intended to be a ‘staggering line of Trubies’?
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago
@JanusBahsJacquet That possibility can't be excluded, even though I can't remember seeing other typos in Hopkinson's stories (at least in print).
– Christophe Strobbe
17 hours ago
1
Another possibility is that it was simply a nonce word that came to the author and is meant to bring associations of a staggering line of people. (A lack of typos in a printed book usually means good editors and proofreaders – but even good editors and proofreaders miss things. It sometimes happens that typesetters accidentally introduce new errors when fixing old ones, and not always in a place the editor thinks to reread if it’s late enough in the process.)
– Janus Bahs Jacquet
17 hours ago