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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 11:10:39 GMT -5
(This is a thread I started over a TKIN, reposted here because this is a more active board...love it!) I went to google books and tried to find a reference to the phrase "glass onion" from a book older than 1968. Amazingly, the phrase is found in the 1936 Yearbook of Japanese Art, called Nihon Bijutsu Nenkan. Google books returns two other books containing the phrase "glass onion." One is called A Manual of Experiments in Elementary Science, 1918. The other is called Genetics Abstracts, and was published in 1968, the same year as the white album. Given the rarity of the phrase, and given that John was shagging a Japanese artist, I am going with the Yearbook as the most likely connection. Google books shows only a fragment of a page, which as you can see is a huge tease because it cuts off right at the important spot! But you can see on the line after "Looking through the" that the first two words could very well be "Glass Onion." Google books reports that several libraries have this book, but I am too far from any of them... This link will take you to a page that lists the libraries where it can be found. worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/1645544According to google books, the relevant page is 31. Can somebody on this board get to the library and make a copy of that page??? -j
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Post by fourthousandholes on Jun 24, 2007 14:45:44 GMT -5
Even so, the term "glass onion" is known to be used for:
a. an underwater window on a boat
b. a magnifying glass
and could have one of those meanings in the cited Japanese text. Example: Looking through the glass onion, the captain caught sight of the enormous squid.
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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 15:04:33 GMT -5
Even so, the term "glass onion" is known to be used for: a. an underwater window on a boat b. a magnifying glass and could have one of those meanings in the cited Japanese text. Example: Looking through the glass onion, the captain caught sight of the enormous squid. I have also heard that "glass onion" means monocle, but I dispute that the phrase is "known" to mean that, or to mean any of the things you listed either. According to Wikipedia, a glass onion is a handblown glass bottle used on a sailing ship to hold wine or brandy. But they cite no references so that definition is worthless. If "glass onion" was in common usage or had a well known meaning, then the phrase would be found in the written word, i.e. the literature, but the phrase is markedly absent from the literature. Google books has nine million books in its database, and only three contain the phrase "glass onion." So far I have yet to see any credible definition for the phrase. I suspect the expression lacks any authoritative definition whatsoever. -j
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Post by fourthousandholes on Jun 24, 2007 15:13:16 GMT -5
OK, but clearly the idea seems to be a glass that is convex on both sides, (and consequently "onion shaped") whether as in a magnifying glass, an underwater window, or a hand-blown glass bottle. Glass that is basically shaped like an onion. A monocle, being of that shape, might qualify. The term may have been in common use as naval slang. I don't think you'd find "shit on a shingle" in the dictionary, or in much literature for that matter, but it's a well-known dish.
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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 15:18:21 GMT -5
OK, but basically, the idea seems to be a glass that is convex on both sides, (and consequently "onion shaped") whether as in a magnifying glass, an underwater window, or a hand-blown glass bottle. Glass that is shaped like an onion. Possibly. It could also simply be a metaphor for a many-layered thing that is transparent, i.e. a complex mystery hidden in plain view. I would like to see what this Japanese art book has to say. Glass Onion might be the title of a work of Japanese art. For now, we will have to wait and see if anybody lives close enough to a library to find the book and get a copy of the page. Then if someone can translate it... Geesh!!! -j
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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 15:20:06 GMT -5
Let's not forget that looking through an onion is likely to make you cry pretty profusely.
I'm crying!
-j
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Post by JoJo on Jun 24, 2007 17:04:34 GMT -5
I put in an ILL request, chances are good it will be granted. Might take a week and a half to two weeks, so be patient. I have to admit, the English words "looking though a glass onion" sitting there in the book got me curious..
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Post by beatlies on Jun 24, 2007 17:12:26 GMT -5
Lots of Japan clues in Sgt. Pepper and MMT, and of course there is Yoko Ono. "Ocean Child" of "Julia" in the white album is an English translation of "Yoko Ono" ("the child of one who is far away across the ocean") and "Glass Onion" also on the white album has "fixing a hole in the ocean" in its lyrics.
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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 17:18:00 GMT -5
I put in an ILL request, chances are good it will be granted. Might take a week and a half to two weeks, so be patient. I have to admit, the English words "looking though a glass onion" sitting there in the book got me curious.. Wow I never thought of that! Good thinking JoJo. I doubt an ILL request would work for me - I live in a small town with no college except community college, and only a little podunk city library. I can't wait to see the whole page and find out if it really says what it looks like it might say! I am dying to know the context. -j
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Post by JoJo on Jun 24, 2007 17:24:09 GMT -5
Yeah, it's a college library with a fair amount of muscle in getting ILL requests through. Now, they balked at obtaining the Derek Taylor book that had only 1000 copied published. Maybe the fact that it's worth thousands of dollars had something to do with it? I'll take care of it, I promise! ;D
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Post by jarvitronics on Jun 24, 2007 18:38:02 GMT -5
Lots of Japan clues in Sgt. Pepper and MMT, and of course there is Yoko Ono. "Ocean Child" of "Julia" in the white album is an English translation of "Yoko Ono" ("the child of one who is far away across the ocean") and "Glass Onion" also on the white album has "fixing a hole in the ocean" in its lyrics. And they toured Japan in 1966. Very connected to Japan these Beatles. -j
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Post by Mellow Yellow on Jun 24, 2007 21:37:17 GMT -5
It's normal for Japanese books to have some English in them (if it doesn't translate well). I can read the 2 Japanese alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana) however I only know about 70 Kanji (most Japanese natives know 2000+) and so I can hardly read any of that snippet. However, there is a Katakana phrase on it which reads: "annaburunahima-ru". Katakana words are simply "japanized english".... So it's basically someone saying an English word/phrase with a thick Japanese accent. However, I can't figure out what "annaburunahima-ru" is trying to say
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Post by brotherdave on Jun 24, 2007 22:09:23 GMT -5
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