… a rebuke to Merrygreek's rude mode of speech: to have an M under one's girdle = to use a respectful forefix (Mr., Mrs., &c.) when addressing or mentioning a person.

With the important exception of religious myths, the hybridized and grafted Marxist myths are like whole-dessert wagons with almost everybody's favorite sweets—all of them with no calories (costs) and chock-full of nutrients (benefits) guaranteeing everything good for almost everyone, except the few rich; yet all of them also are enflamed by fears and hatreds of the mythical Satans conspiring to steal the dessert wagon and immiserate all the rest of us.

He had seen the boothmen and horse dealers at fairs playing brightly colored cards, and gentlemen at Shea's with their cards, cigars, and brandies.

spawn of a lentous and transparent body