watchin' that blackboard: During this era, employment agencies would post available jobs on a blackboard in front of their offices. Prospective employees would wait in front of the offices, watching the blackboard for any new jobs. Weed: A mining town in Northern California, near Mt. Shasta.
a lamp with a base made from a children's toy. liniment. a soothing or pain-killing liquid used on sore body parts.
Roll your hoop. a popular amusement of children in the past was running while rolling a large metal hoop with a stick. Telling Curley's wife to "roll your hoop," is Candy's way of calling her young and immature. Bindle. Blanket rolled with one's belongings.
• yella- jackets in his drawers: Yellow- jackets are a form of wasps (see a picture of. some wasps). Drawers, in this case, are underwear. Whit's description of Curley is a. lot like saying that he has ants in his pants; that is, that he is restless and nervous.
Curley's wife is never named in the novel, which reflects how she is not valued as a person. Her character demonstrates the negative attitude towards women that may have been held by men such as the ranchworkers at the time.
morosely = unhappily. George stared morosely at the water.
Buck Barley: To throw large bags of barley on a truck. Lynch: To illegally execute a person, generally applied to the hanging and/or burning of African-Americans in the south.
burlap ticking. cloth case for a mattress made from a coarse, inexpensive, woven fabric. occupant. someone who lives at a particular place for a prolonged period or who was born there. talcum powder.