Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (113 page)

HERE WE ARE, AND KA STANDS TO ONE SIDE AND LAUGHS. WE MUST DO AS IT WILLS OR PAY THE PRICE:
Sometimes it is fate, and not free will, which decides our destinies. If we try to buck fate, we will be punished for it. V:395

HIDE UP:
To haul up, as in to haul up somewhere and wait out a storm. W:14

HIDE UP:
When you hide up in a place you take refuge there. W:14

HIGH PURE:
The Low Pure was the foothill meadow below the salt-houses in Debaria. The High Pure was the meadow on higher ground, located to the east of the salt-houses. W:63

HILE:
Unlike most words,
hile
is used in both low and High Speech. The Manni call it
fin-gan,
or the first word. They believe that the word
hile
set the world spinning. In low speech, hile is a formal greeting. Roland greets Blaine by saying “Hile, Blaine.” Blaine returns with “Hile, Gunslinger.” This verbal exchange makes Susannah Dean think of Hitler, but it is actually a formal Mid-World greeting. This term is also used to call animals.
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH
. IV:21, IV:261, V:107, W:201, W:202

HILE AND MERRY-GREET-THE-DAY:
A form of “Good morning.” The response is “Merry see, merry be.” VII:310

HILE GUNSLINGER. I SALUTE THEE.
This honorary greeting made to a gunslinger is usually accompanied by dropping to one knee and placing a fist to the center of the forehead. W:8

HILE SIR THROCKEN:
This saying comes from
The Throcken and the Dragon,
W:7

HIS KA’S GONE INTO THE CLEARING, BUT WHAT’S LEFT IS HERE:
His spirit has passed on, but here are his mortal remains. W:177

HOBS (FOO-LIGHTS):
A hob is like a will-o’-the-wisp. Susannah sees these orange lights swirling while she and Roland travel through the White Lands of Empathica. A hob is also a kind of demon. Roland calls the Crimson King a hob. VII:630, VII:730, VII:799

HODJI:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

HOLD YOUR GABBER:
Be quiet. W:272

HOLLERED LIKE AN OWL:
This is Roland’s phrase. It expresses disapproval of those who aren’t stoic enough to withstand pain. VII:191

HOLLOW CHAMBER, THE:
Roland’s gentle tutor, Vannay, taught his pupils that violence worsened problems more often than it solved them. He called violence the hollow chamber where all true sounds become distorted by echoes and can no longer be clearly understood. V:78–79

HONOR STANCE:
This is the term Cort uses for a boxer’s opening stance. The lobstrosities that live on the shores of the Western Sea stand like this whenever there is an approaching wave. II:16

HOO-HOO BIRD:
A nocturnal bird, probably an owl. VII:164

HORROR’S A WORM THAT MUST BE COUGHED OUT BEFORE IT BREEDS:
This saying comes from the Prioress of Serenity, Everlynne. W:51

HORSEAPPLES:
Horse droppings. W:79

HOSS-CLINKUM:
A bridle-ring. W:94

HOT-ENJ:
This is the Old People’s term for an atomic locomotive. VII:531, VII:678

HOT-LUNG:
See entry in
CALLA BRYN STURGIS DIALECT

HOUKEN:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

HOUSIES:
Ghosts or whispering voices that murmur in the shadows. Housies are quite nasty, and although they can’t usually hurt humans, they can harm small animals like BILLY-BUMBLERS. VII:590

HOWLERS:
This is Roland’s term for sirens. II:153

HUBBERWOMEN:
Hubberwomen are magical or fey women. E:177

HUMES:
See entry in
END-WORLD TERMS

HUMPIES:
Roland uses this term for the cowboys that work Eisenhart’s ranch. V:489

HUNCH-THINK:
To go on a hunch. VII:217

HUNKER (TO HUNKER):
To crouch down or squat. V:509

HUNTRESS MOON:
The red Huntress Moon is the first moon of FULL EARTH. It marks the end of summer.
See also
MID-WORLD MOONS
at the beginning of this
Concordance. V:4, V:138

I CAN’T FORK HAY WITH A SPOON:
I can’t do this; what I’m being asked to do is impossible. W:237

**I CRY YOUR FAVOR:
I ask for a favor.

I CRY YOUR PARDON:
I beg your forgiveness. III:177, III:269, V:154

I HAVE FORGOTTEN THE FACE OF MY FATHER:
This is a term often used by Roland. It is a phrase of shame. When one has forgotten the face of one’s father, it means that one has behaved dishonorably. Mid-World is patriarchal, a cultural structure that is older than either the aristocracy of gunslingers (the Barons of Mid-World), or the kingship of Arthur Eld. When Eddie and Susannah visit the Cradle of Lud, they see the sculpted visages of “stern men with the harsh
faces of executioners who are happy in their work” (III:343). We do not know whether these men were judges, justices, politicians, or legendary forefathers, but their sculpted faces, somehow reminiscent of busts of Roman senators, tell us something about both the pride and the unrelenting harshness of the Great Old Ones. Like the Romans, or our own culture, they were guilty of
hubris.
I:97

I HAVE JUST BEEN CASTLED:
“I’ve just been stumped” or “I’ve just been outdone.” It’s similar to saying “touché” or “checkmate.” V:482

I ONLY DO AS KA WILLS:
I do only what fate demands of me, and what honor demands of me. V:336

I PULLED YOUR SNOUT:
I pulled your leg. W:155

I’M JUST WHAT COMES IN THE SAME SADDLEBAG:
I just come with the rest of the package. W:121

IN THE PROPER HAND, ANY OBJECT CAN BE MAGIC:
This is one of the Covenant Man’s sayings. He is evil, but this statement is true enough. W:242

I SEE YOU VERY WELL:
“I see you,” but it also implies a deeper and more profound focus upon the person being viewed. This phrase seems to imply that the speaker sees the whole person—their past and present, their needs and desires.
See also
MID-WORLD GESTURES
VII:115

I SET MY WATCH AND WARRANT ON IT:
I bet my life on it. V:30, V:538, VI:7

I SWEAR ON THE FACE OF MY FATHER:
I swear upon all I hold sacred. VI:188

I TELL YOU TRUTH:
See
MID-WORLD GESTURES

I WILL SET MY WATCH AND WARRANT ON IT:
I’ll bet on it, or I’ll guarantee it. It’s damn true. III:332, III:353

I WON’T WORRY THAT OLD KNOT:
I won’t go back and dig up that old business. V:477

I WOT:
“I believe so” or “I reckon so.” IV:104

I WOULD SPEAK TO YOU AN-TET:
I would speak to you in private, of important matters, etc. When you speak AN-TET, you speak honestly and intimately. V:117

IF IT’S KA
,
IT WILL COME LIKE THE WIND:
If it’s meant to be, it will be. IV:157

IF KA WILL SAY SO, LET IT BE SO:
This was one of Steven Deschain’s phrases. VII:442, VII:516

IF—THE ONLY WORD A THOUSAND LETTERS LONG:
The word
if
encompasses a thousand possibilities. V:109

IF YE’D STEAL THE SILVER FROM THE DINING ROOM, FIRST PUT THE DOG IN THE PANTRY:
A famous saying from the Barony of Cressia. IV:175

I’LL HAVE YOUR WORD, SWORN UPON THE FACE OF YOUR FATHER:
If you ask someone to swear in this way, it’s like asking them to swear an oath upon a sacred book. V:481

ILL-SICK VAPORS:
According to Roland, tobacco keeps away ill-sick vapors. In other words, it chases away all those nasty viruses and diseases. Eddie Dean doesn’t think that the Surgeon General would believe such a statement. VI:299

IRINA:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

IRONWOOD (BLACK IRONWOOD):
Ironwood trees grow in many of Mid-World’s forests, most famously the Endless Forest of North’rd Barony. Their wood is hard and durable. In fact, it’s too hard to burn. Many of the doors between worlds (including the Beach Doors) are made of ironwood. Black Thirteen’s box is made of black ironwood, a type which is also known as GHOSTWOOD. In “The Little Sisters of Eluria,” we are told that this tree is also known as the seequoiah. Cort’s stick was made of this durable material.
See also
IRONWOOD
in
CHARACTERS
section
E:151, V:74, V:81, V:316

IT’S ALL THE SAME JOLLY FAKEMENT TO ME:
This is a Lud term for “It’s all the same to me.” III:297

IT’S LONG SINCE I WAS WEANED:
I wasn’t born yesterday. W:49

IT’S THE WAY OF THE ELD. WE ARE OF THAT AN-TET, KHEF AND KA, WATCH AND WARRANT:
Roland uses this phrase. In other words, he and his KA-TET are descended from the Eld and follow the Way of Eld in this life and every life. V:156

I-WANT LINES:
The lines that carve their course from the sides of the nose down to the chin. V:122

JACKAROE:
A strong alcoholic drink. W:128

JACKS POP UP:
A card game played by children. W:105

JAKES:
Toilet or outhouse. W:36

JESUS DOG (CROSS DOG):
This is the term used to describe dogs with a cruciform shape upon their chest fur. As Roland finds out when he faces the Little Sisters of Eluria, they can prove extremely useful when confronting vampires.
See also
ELURIA CHARACTERS
,
in
CHARACTERS

**JILLY:
The term
jilly
is another spelling of the word
gilly,
which was used frequently in
Wizard and Glass.
Whichever way you spell it,
jilly
means concubine or mistress. This particular use of
jilly
should not to be confused with the jilly of Punch and Jilly (a Mid-World version of Punch and Judy). Its plural form is gillies or jillies. Arthur Eld had forty jillies, and it is from one of these women that Roland is descended. Although many great men of Mid-World had jillies and many more were born of jillies, there is a certain disgrace attached to this state of being. In Mid-World, where mutations abound and where sterility is common, jillies are seen as necessary if not necessarily respectable. Roland is shocked to find out that Susan Delgado will soon be Hart Thorin’s jilly. Susan receives disapproving stares from the women of Hambry because of the “service” she is about to render the town’s mayor. IV:207, V:7, V:632

**JILLY-CHILD:
A young jilly or gilly.
See
JILLY
,
above

**JILLY-COME-LATELY:
A sarcastic comment about youth. An old woman can also look like a jilly-come-lately when compared with a much older woman.

JIN-JIN:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

JING-JANG:
An old-fashioned telephone. In Debaria, their jing-jangs used to be able to call all the way to Gilead. Now the telephone lines only reach as far as the Jefferson Ranch to the north, Sallywood in the south, and Little Debaria to the northeast. W:54

JIPPA:
To go jippa is to go crazy. This is an unpleasant term that people in Tree Village use for someone who has lost his mind. W:219

JUGWEED:
A weed that grows in the alkali ranchlands north of Debaria. W:74

KA HAS NO HEART OR MIND:
Ka
does what it must do without considering the emotions of mere mortals. VI:16

KA IS A WHEEL:
Ka
is a wheel. Its purpose is to turn and to bring us back to where we started, or to an equivalent place. W:60

KA LIKE A WIND:
Ka
comes with a force of its own. V:31

KA SPEAKS AND THE WIND BLOWS:
Ka
is the force behind all events. VII:305

KA WAS A WHEEL, ITS ONE PURPOSE TO TURN, AND IN THE END IT ALWAYS CAME BACK TO THE PLACE WHERE IT HAD STARTED:
This is another Mid-World truism. What you do comes back to haunt you. What goes around comes around. III:394

KA WAS OFTEN THE LAST THING YOU HAD TO RISE ABOVE:
Ka
doesn’t always bring what we want it to bring. It can bring death and failure too. V:661

KA WORKS AND THE WORLD MOVES ON:
Roland utters this phrase in anger after Ben Slightman apologizes for supplying information to the WOLVES of Thunderclap and their masters. Roland’s exact response is “Balls to your sorry.
Ka
works and the world moves on.” V:658

KA WOULD TELL. IT ALWAYS DID:
In the end,
ka
has the final say over our fates. V:160

KA-DADDY:
A slang term for one’s boss. VI:144

KA-DINH:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

KAFFIN TWINS:
Identical twins who are joined at the body. In our world, we often use the term “Siamese twins.” V:675

KA-MATE:
Your
ka
-mate is your tet-mate, or a person bound to you by
ka.
W:31

KAMMEN:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

KA-SHUME:
See entry in
HIGH SPEECH

KEEP EM WELL, DO:
Keep them safe. W:15

KEN (TO KEN)
To know.
See also
CALLA BRYN STURGIS DIALECT
. W:17

KENNIT:
See entry in
CALLA BRYN STURGIS DIALECT

KEY WORLD:
Our world is the key world because Stephen King, the key maker, lives in it.
See also
KEYSTONE EARTH
,
in
END-WORLD TERMS
. VI:200