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Sheesh--WAY too bogged down in minutiae for me! Both Joyce and the folks you quoted, HL. However, I did enjoy your "mote juste".
mot schmo.
P.S.
Homeric parallels in Ulysses are not "minutiae".
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The word "ruga" or its more common plural form "rugae" means in medicine "an anatomical fold or wrinkle especially of the viscera." The lining of the stomach is full of little ridges called rugae. I believe that Joyce was describing the appearance of an old-fashioned key, which would have had teeth that were cut in a series of ridges or rugae, with "arruginated" being to rugae as "irradiated" is to radiation.
Very interesting. You've thrown a whole new light on the offending word.
A certain Joyce on-line read-through community I sought for help had settled on a glorified "scraped"
Quote:
rugine
\Ru"gine\, v. t. [F. ruginer to scrape.] To scrape or rasp, as a bone;
to scale. [R.] --Wiseman.
rugine
\Ru"gine\, n. [F.] (Surg.) An instrument for scraping the periosteum
from bones; a raspatory.
But I think a key with "rugae" would make more sense here.
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 And trying to make Joyce make sense serves us how, exactly? 
TEd
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I am reminded of a tale Isaac Asimov told of the time he was sitting in on a college English class on science fiction. The professor spent a long time lecturing on the meaning of a certain Asimov story. Asimov came up to him after the class, introduced himself, and said that he never meant any of that. The professor went through the obligatory thank-yous for coming to the class and how much he admired Dr. Asimov and then said, "But just because you wrote the story, what makes you think you have any idea what it's about?"
I was never sure whether Asimov was telling the story on the professor or on himself.
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And trying to make Joyce make sense serves us how, exactly?
No comment.
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I am reminded of a tale Isaac Asimov told of the time he was sitting in on a college English class on science fiction. The professor spent a long time lecturing on the meaning of a certain Asimov story. Asimov came up to him after the class, introduced himself, and said that he never meant any of that. The professor went through the obligatory thank-yous for coming to the class and how much he admired Dr. Asimov and then said, "But just because you wrote the story, what makes you think you have any idea what it's about?"
I was never sure whether Asimov was telling the story on the professor or on himself.
James Joyce: "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality."
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Quote:
And trying to make Joyce make sense serves us how, exactly?
No comment.
Quote:
I am reminded of a tale Isaac Asimov told of the time he was sitting in on a college English class on science fiction. The professor spent a long time lecturing on the meaning of a certain Asimov story. Asimov came up to him after the class, introduced himself, and said that he never meant any of that. The professor went through the obligatory thank-yous for coming to the class and how much he admired Dr. Asimov and then said, "But just because you wrote the story, what makes you think you have any idea what it's about?"
I was never sure whether Asimov was telling the story on the professor or on himself.
James Joyce: "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality."
Quote:
And trying to make Joyce make sense serves us how, exactly?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Trying to run downt Joyce is so very silly. He is one of the most important writers of the modernist movement. Even the dictionary will tell you that. And unlike the hack blurb-authors of dust-jacket hyperbole, lexicographers don't throw superlatives at writers willy-nilly.
At the risk of offending some of you, I have to say that you are only making yourselves look stupid.
Now who was it said "it is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt" ?
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"it is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt"
Some of us, on the other hand, proclaim it.
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