GLOSSARY
This page contains a glossary defining, explaining, and/or providing pronunciation for terms, phrases, names, concepts, etc. from the text of A/B Machines. They are listed in chronological order, and are listed with the page number the term can be found on in the current draft of the script. They also each correspond to a highlighted term found in the script linked below. If you would like something specific defined or explained that is not currently in the glossary, please let me know and I can add it!
If a definition or piece of information is directly quoted from somewhere else, the glossary entry will include underlined text, which is a link to the source. Quotes come directly from the link/source directly above it. Otherwise, definitions were compiled from personal knowledge.
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- A/B (Title Page)
- See The Philosophy of Andy Warhol page for a full explanation of "A/B"
- What is A/B?
- A/B is a methodology with which Warhol described his interactions with other people.
- Warhol is A
- B is a nameless other
- A/B is a methodology with which Warhol described his interactions with other people.
- Purgatory (p. 1)
- pɣɹgʌtoɹi // purr-guh-tour-ee
- An intermediary state between life and the afterlife, typically characterized as a place one is trapped after death
- Screen Tests (p. 2)
- “Warhol’s Screen Tests are revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, filmed between 1963 and 1966….When asked to pose, subjects were lit and Warhol filmed them with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black-and-white, 100-foot rolls of film. Each Screen Test took exactly three minutes to create, lasting as long as the roll of film took to spool through the camera. The standard formula of subject and camera remaining almost motionless for the duration of the film results in a ‘living portrait.’ When Warhol showed the films, he slowed them down slightly, extending their run time to about four minutes each, imparting a dreamy, slow-motion effect to the finished works.”
- Marilyn (p. 3)
- This story refers to the death of actor and movie star Marilyn Monroe.
- Monroe was a famous subject of Warhol's work.
- Monroe was found dead on August 5, 1962, as a result of overdosing on sleeping pills.
- This Vanity Fair article provides further insight into Monroe's personal struggles.
- Free weights (p. 4)
- “heavy objects that are lifted during exercising (such as dumbbells and barbells) that are not attached to a piece of equipment"
- Scotch purse (p. 7)
- Very small bag, similar to a clutch
- French wallet (p. 8)
- A type of wallet in which a small flap is folded over the top of the pouch where money is stored
- Amnesty (p. 8)
- “a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.”
- Rimmed (p. 12)
- Short for “rim job,” the act of providing oral stimulation to an anus, typically for sexual pleasure
- Acquiesce (p. 12)
- ækwiɛs // ack-we-ess
- “to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively”
- Seventh Heaven (p. 13)
- “a state of extreme joy”
- Rejuvenate (p. 14)
- ɹidʒuvɪnaɪt // re-jew-venn-ate
- “to make young or youthful again : give new vigor to”
- Litany (p. 18)
- lɪtʌni // lit-uh-knee
- “a resonant or repetitive chant”
- Incantation (p. 18)
- “a written or recited formula of words designed to produce a particular effect”
- Affectless (p. 18)
- “showing or expressing no emotion”
- Diffracted (p. 18)
- A state in which rays of light pass around the edges of an object, causing it to look fractured
- Languor (p. 18)
- laɪngɣɹ // layn-gurr
- “weakness or weariness of body or mind”
- Pallor (p. 18)
- pælʌɹ // pal-ur
- Lack of color in the face, causing one to look especially white or sickly
- Enthralling (p. 18)
- “holding spellbound”
- Chintzy (p. 18)
- tʃɪntsi // ch-in-tsee
- “gaudy, cheap”
- Tropisms (p. 18)
- tɹopɪzmz // trohp-is-mz
- A tendency to react a certain way
- Puckish (p. 18)
- “impish, whimsical”
- Voyeuristic (p. 18)
- vɔijɘɹɪstɪk // voy-ur-iss-tick
- “obtaining sexual gratification from observing unsuspecting individuals who are partly undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts; broadly : one who habitually seeks sexual stimulation by visual means”
- Knobby knees (p. 18)
- Bony knees that are generally bow-legged and very skinny
- Pinhead (p. 18)
- “a very dull or stupid person”
- Jackie (p. 19)
- This story refers to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, otherwise known as "Jackie," the former First Lady and widow of John F. Kennedy.
- Jackie was known to the nation as a symbol of strength during a collective time of grieving. However, she was still a human who just lost her husband. This Vanity Fair article examines Jackie's personal struggles following JFK's assassination.
- Resolute (p. 19)
- “marked by firm determination”
- Voluminous (p. 19)
- vʌlumɪnʌs // vuh-loo-men-us
- "having or marked by great volume or bulk : large"
- Extricates (p. 24)
- “to free or remove from an entanglement or difficulty”
- Apathetic (p. 28)
- “having or showing little or no feeling or emotion : spiritless”
- Guns in Action (p. 30)
- A defunct magazine geared towards gun enthusiasts
- Solider of Fortune (p. 30)
- A magazine for outdoor adventurers
- Automation (p. 37)
- “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically”
- Liz (p. 39)
- This story refers to Elizabeth Taylor, a world-famous actor and movie star.
- This specific story refers to the 1961 Academy Awards, where Taylor won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Butterfield 8 while wearing a dress that revealed the scar from her emergency tracheotomy she underwent while filming Cleopatra. You can see a photo from the evening here, and watch her acceptance speech here.
- Tracheotomy (p. 39)
- tɹeɪkiɒtomi // tray-kee-awt—oh-mee
- “the surgical operation of cutting into the trachea especially through the skin"
- Christian Dior (p. 40)
- dioɹ // dee-oar
- “A French fashion designer whose post-World War II creations were wildly popular, and whose legacy continues to influence the fashion industry.”
- Clairol 07 (p. 47)
- klaɪɹɔl // claire-all
- A type of hair dye, easily purchased at stores that sells cosmetics