quest - any inquiry or investigation made in order to discover some fact + questio (l) - complaint + kwestie (Dutch) - question.

a dime a dozen - so plentiful as to be almost worthless

ornery - ordinary

josser - fellow, chap

fortyish - being about 40 years old, looking forty years old

flatulent - pompous, self important, pretentious

ratiocination - analysis, reduction to elements

syncopation -  Gram. Contraction of a word by omission of one or more syllables or letters in the middle.

elucidation - the action or process of elucidating, throwing light upon, making plain or intelligible.

son of the gun - fellow + Crow: The Story of Confucius, Master Kung 104: (Lao-tsze told Confucius) 'He who is only the son of another has nothing for himself, for he owes all to his father'.

Crépieux-Jamin: Les Éléments de l'Écriture des Canailles 5-8: stresses the importance of examining the inscription of the address on the envelope as part of a graphological analysis of a love letter to compensate for the bias caused by the emotional state of the individual writing the letter.

admittedly - by general admission, confessedly

husk - outer covering, shell + FDV: Has anyone, it might with profit some cloudy evening be asked quietly suggested, ever looked sufficiently longly upon an env a stamped addressed envelope. Admittedly it is but a covering; it bears an economic classification: its character is the civil clothing of whatever purepassionpallid or nudity or plaguepurple nakedness it may or may not contain. Yet to concentrate solely on the psychological content or even the mental configuration of any document to the neglect of the facts which circumstance it is as hurtful to good sense (and let us add, good the best taste) as were the indian someone or other when perhaps presented by a friend of his to a lady of the latter's acquaintance straightaway to vision her in unapparelled naturalness deliberately closing his eyes to the fact that she was after all wearing some definite articles of clothing, inharmonious, a captious one might say, or not strictly necessary, or a little irritating but still suddenly full of local colour & personal colour perfume, suggestive of much more, capable of being stretched if need were, their parts capable, even, of being separated for closer comparison by the careful hand of an expert. Who in his heart doubts either that the facts of feminine clothing are there and that the feminine fiction, stranger than the facts, is there at the same time, and that one may be separated from the other, that both may then be contemplated simultaneously & that each may be considered in turn apart from the other successively?

Crow: The Story of Confucius, Master Kung 49: 'A Chinese historian has pointed out that though almost all men are imperfect in one or two of their features, Master Kung even in this showed his superiority for he was imperfect in all'.

nursery rhyme Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid: 'My face is my fortune, sir, she said'

(notebook 1923): 'civil and military tailor'

plague - trouble, a couse of irritation or distress

tuck - to thrust or put away (an object) into a close place where it is snugly held or concealed.

flap - part of the envelope (turnover)

sore - painful, grievous; severe, stern, hard

circumstantiate - to place in certain circumstances

intro - introduction

elaborative - capable of elaborating, tending to elaborate + elaborate - worked out in much detail, minutely careful, highly finished.

ancestral - of or inherited from ancestors

upstairs - at the top of, on a floor or in a room reached by, a flight of stairs; in one of the upper stories of a house.

straightaway - without hesitation or dalay

run off - to run away; to diverge, alter

plump - directly, at once, straight, without hesitation or circuitous action; directly facing in position.

in one's naturals - in a perfectly naked state

blinkard - one that blinks with or as if with weak eyes, one who has imperfect sight; a stupid or obtuse person.

etiquette vital in ancient Chinese society (frequently mentioned in The Story of Confucius, Master Kung)

evolutionary - evolutional (due to or produced by evolution)

inharmonious - not harmonious in relation, action, or sentiment

captious - disposed to find fault, cavil, or raise objections; fault-finding, cavilling, carping.

a trifle - in a small degree, a little

Lewis: Time and Western Man 81: 'the local colour, or locally-coloured material, that was scraped together into a big variegated heap to make Ulysses'.

coincidental - occupying the same place or portion of space, having the same nature, character, or value.

clothier - a maker of cloth, one engaged in the cloth trade

rere - rearwards

contemplate - look at, inspect, study