And where, exactly, is the Slough of Despond? Dear Word
Detective: The word “matross” was used extensively in a novel I
just read. The context is 18th century naval warfare and the
American Revolution. The word is used as a noun describing
members of the ship’s crew. Can you tell me the origin and a
more precise definition? I do wish authors and publishers would
include more glossary and map material in books with historical
settings and dialects. — Forrest. Oh boy, me too. It drives me
nuts to get a third of the way through a book and realize that,
apparently overnight, I have lost track of who the characters
are, who is married to whom, and which one is the werewolf.
Sometimes, in fact, my memory lapses wander out of one book and
into another. I have read, for instance, both Tolstoy’s Anna
Karenina and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, but I couldn’t for the
life of me tell you in which novel the heroine dives under a
train. It’s even worse when authors, as in the book you cite,
sprinkle arcane terms into the text,