Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated

by Robin Furth

  GAN’S BLOOD: This is an exclamation equivalent to My God or By God. W:247

  GENTLE FELLOWS: Gentlemen; wellborn men. W:44

  GHOSTS ALWAYS HAUNT THE SAME HOUSE: This explains why ghosts don’t take vacations. A person who dies in a place under unhappy circumstances remains there, quite possibly because he or she does not understand that he or she is dead. Roland uses this term to explain why the VAGS (or vagrant dead) always remain close to the places where they died. V:288

  GHOSTWOOD: Ghostwood is another name for black ironwood, which is heavier than the usual ironwood. Black Thirteen’s box is made of ghostwood. V:316, VI:83

  GILLY: See JILLY, below

  GIVE YOU PEACE: See MID-WORLD GESTURES

  GIVE’EE: To give thee, or to give you. (I wish I had more food to give’ee.) W:16

  GLAMMER: Magic or enchantment. Susannah Dean thinks that glammer has its own rules. Unfortunately, we mere mortals rarely comprehend them. See entry under MANNI TERMS. I:211, V:469, VII:690

  GLEEP: To have a gleep is to have a long look, a stare, a gape, etc. W:54, W:279

  GOAT MOON: Also known as “Goat with beard.” In our world, it would be the February moon. It is the moon under which Eddie Dean was born. V:138, V:530

  GOBBLE O’CLOCK: This is an Eddie Dean saying for, it’s dinnertime! W:7

  GOD-DRUMS: As we learned in The Waste Lands, the Grays of Lud broadcasted the god-drums throughout the city so that their enemies, the Pubes, would kill each other. The Pubes believed that the god-drums were the voices of the ghosts in the machines, which demanded human sacrifice. If they didn’t ritually sacrifice one of their band each time the drums began, the dead would rise up and devour the living. In actuality, the Grays only thought they played the god-drums. The whole sadistic scenario was the creation of Blaine, Lud’s mad computer brain. (Lud’s Blaine was the same as Blaine the Mono.) Sadly, the god-drums were nothing more than the backbeat of ZZ Top’s song “Velcro Fly.” As Eddie Dean wryly observed, the Pubes killed each other for a song that never even made it as a single. VI:205

  GODS-A-GLORY: “Oh my God” or “Oh my gosh!” V:332

  GOLGOTHA: A place of the skull, or a dead place. I:197

  GOMPA HOLE: A horse that steps in a gompa hole will probably break his leg. W:92

  GONE DAYS: Those days are gone, and you can’t do anything to change them or to bring them back. V:101, W:31

  GONE WORLD, THE: This phrase refers to the world from which our own world has “moved on.” It is equivalent to “the olden days.” For the people of Mid-World and the borderlands, the gone world was a better world. Gilead is part of the gone world, hence Roland himself is also part of the gone world. V:214

  GONICKS: This is Mia’s word. We are not given a translation. VII:64

  GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD SWILL: The Pubes of Lud use this term instead of “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” III:324

  GOOK: A deep well. Common law says that any traveler may drink from a gook without let or penalty. W:18

  GOOSE JUST WALKED OVER YOUR GRAVE (A GOOSE JUST WALKED OVER YOUR GRAVE): This phrase is equivalent to “A cat just stepped on my grave.” In other words, you had a sudden eerie, inexplicable chill. VII:315

  GORMLESS: Stupid or foolish. W:134

  GRAF: An apple beer that seems to be a specialty of Mid-World. It is offered to Roland, Susannah, Eddie, and Jake when they visit the elderly people of River Crossing. It is also served in Hambry. Mid-World is full of orchards (both Roland and Tick-Tock have memories of them), so it makes sense that the Mid-World drink of choice should be a kind of hard cider. III:234, V:127, W:123

  GRANDFATHER FLEAS (LITTLE DOCTORS): Grandfather Fleas are the parasitic bugs which feast on the GRANDFATHERS’ leftovers. If you see Grandfather Fleas, you know that the Grandfathers can’t be far away. For more information, see VAMPIRES: TYPE ONE: GRANDFATHER FLEAS, in CHARACTERS

  GRANDFATHERS: The Grandfathers are TYPE ONE VAMPIRES. They are the nastiest of the demons that the receding PRIM left stranded upon the shores of Mid-World. The Grandfathers are monstrous-looking creatures. They have shriveled faces and black, oozing eyes. They have so many teeth that they can’t close their lips, and even their skin is scaled with teeth. These Type Ones don’t just drink human blood—they eat human flesh as well. For more information, see VAMPIRES: TYPE ONE, in CHARACTERS

  GRANTHER: Grandfather. W:80

  GRASS-EATERS, GRASS-EATING LOOK: Roland thinks that most civilians look more like grass-eaters, or sheep, than people. VI:131, VII:39

  GRAYS: See GRAYS, in CHARACTERS

  GREAT DARKNESS: The End-World region of Thunderclap. W:10

  GREAT FIRE: See GREAT POISONING, below

  GREAT GROTTING IDIOT: A Mid-World insult. If you call someone a great grotting idiot you are telling them they are a big dummy. W:69

  GREAT LETTERS: The letters of High Speech. V:93, VII:494

  GREAT POISONING (OLD WAR, THE GREAT FIRE, THE CATACLYSM): This horrific event took place more than a thousand years before the grandparents of the River Crossing folks were born. It caused the animal, plant, and human populations of Mid-World to give birth to muties, and it made great swaths of land turn into wasteland. It was the beginning of all Mid-World’s troubles. III:284–85

  GREATER DISCORDIA: See PRIM, below

  GREEN CORN A-DAYO: See entry in CALLA BRYN STURGIS DIALECT

  GREENSTICKING: To put pressure on someone, or “to twist an arm.” V:92

  GREEZY: This is Lud-speak for “greasy.” III:327

  GROUND-SHAKERS: Many of the railroad tracks of the Western Line have been destroyed by washout and ground-shakers, in other words by floods and earthquakes. W:40

  **GROW BAG: A grow bag is a magical purse that grows money. Roland’s grow bag was given to him by his father, Steven Deschain. Roland’s purse can be emptied three times, as we see in Calla Bryn Sturgis when Roland gives money to his three KA-TET mates. The first time the purse spills silver, the second time it spills gold, and the third time it spills garnets. We don’t know whether the grow bag always grows the same riches or whether it responds to the needs of the receiver. At the end of the 2003 version of Gunslinger, while he holds palaver with Walter in the golgotha, Roland hints that his grow bag can grow tobacco as well as money and gems. V:401

  GUARD, THE: This is a gun-holding position used by gunslingers. In the guard position, the gun barrel rests on the hollow of the left shoulder. VII:192

  GUARD O’ THE WATCH: An officer of the law. Roland uses this term for both the guards of his world and the police of ours. I:109, VI:258, VII:463

  GUIJARROS: In Spanish this means cobbles or pebbles. Both the stone walls and the cracked guijarros of Rhea’s roof are slimed with mold. IV:394

  GULLYWASH: This is Gasher-speak and is probably part of Lud’s slang. It seems to mean penis. III:298

  GUNBUNNY: A gunbunny is a gunman. W:272

  GUNNA: See entry in HIGH SPEECH

  GUNNIE (YOUNG GUNNIE): Young gunslinger. W:49

  GUNSLINGER BURRITOS: The vegetarian wraps which Roland makes for his KA-TET while they are traveling. Eddie Dean prefers meat. V:134, W:7

  GUNSLINGER LITANY: Every gunslinger must learn to recite the following litany: “I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.” III:14, III:68, V:155–56

  GUNSLINGER QUESTIONS: See WILL YOU OPEN TO US IF WE OPEN TO YOU?

  HACI: Short for hacienda or house. IV:191, W:47

  HAI: This is the term Roland uses to call his hawk, David. I:169

  HARD BISCUIT: If you pay for something in hard biscuit, you are paying in silver or gold, not SCRIP. W:101

  HARD COIN: Money, not SCRIP. W:114

  HARD RAIN MAKES FOR QUEER BEDFELLOWS AT THE INN (A HARD RAIN MAKES FOR Q
UEER BEDFELLOWS AT THE INN): We have a version of this saying in our world too: “Necessity makes for strange bedfellows.” VII:791

  HARRIERS: Bandits or outlaws. The harriers of Mid-World rob, loot, murder and destroy. The Grays are harriers, as are the Big Coffin Hunters. Harriers blinded Mercy of River Crossing with a branding iron because, they said, she was “looking at em pert.” III:226, III:230, V:92, VI:131, W:10

  HAVE YOU THUDBRAINS NOT KENNED EVEN YET WHO’S IN CHARGE OF THIS RAREE?: Haven’t you stupid men realized yet who is in charge of this operation? W:274

  HE KEPT HIS FACE WELL: His face didn’t betray his emotions. V:205

  HE’S MADE OF LIES FROM BOOTS TO CROWN: This is the Widow Smack’s assessment of the evil Covenant Man. W:175

  HEAD CLEAR. MOUTH SHUT. SEE MUCH. SAY LITTLE: Roland’s advice to Jake when the boy is about to go and stay at Eisenhart’s ranch. V:205

  HEADKNOCKER: A kind of club or nightstick used by Sheriff Peavy and other sheriffs. Headknockers are usually made of IRONWOOD. W:285

  HEAR HIM VERY WELL: Listen to what he’s saying. VI:193

  HEART OF THE BEAM: See BARREL OF THE BEAM, above

  HEART-STORM: See BRAIN-STORM

  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 t
o 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