cold iron blade

English translation: stem of his eyeglasses

09:43 Mar 28, 2020

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: cold iron blade

I'm a bit puzzled by a scene in an American novel (it is science fiction, but it does not seem to matter a lot). Could you please help me out?

Some context:

Charles Britt listened to the bell. His office was diagonally across the street from the cathedral, and each peal of the massive bell made his walls shake, and he was contemplating a lawsuit, for he maintained that its constant tolling had loosened his fillings and was causing his remaining teeth to ache. [dental things mentioned]

He brushed a wisp of white hair back from his forehead and squinted through the bottom of his bifocals [glasses mentioned]. He turned a page in the massive ledger and lowered his head to read further.

[a long description of losses incurred by an epidemic, not relevant to the question. He smiles because he had bought a lot of coffins, so it will compensate his losses. Then it is announced that the dead will be cremated, and he seems to get really angry]

Charles Britt closed his ledger, removed his glasses, and began to polish them.
He resolved to bring suit in the morning, as his jaws tightened upon the COLD IRON BLADE, relentless, and a metallic taste filled his mouth.

So, what exactly his jaws tightened upon? I would logically suppose that a man in distress could chew on the arm of his glasses, but "blade" puzzled me. (Side note: the author, Roger Zelazny, was very fond of bizarre wordings, so perhaps I just see the things more difficult than they really are. But then, maybe I miss something, not being a native speaker...)

One more thing: dental things having been mentioned in the very beginning, I thought about blade dental implants, presented by Dr. Linkow in 1968 (and the novel was published in 1969). But still it does not seem to be a valid guess.

I've had a look at several translations, but this place is mostly omitted or rewritten. There's even a version that he was killed at the moment (but I don't think it is correct at all, "THE blade" seems to suggest that the thing is already there and not brought in by some sneaky assassin).

Denys Dömin KudoZ activity Questions: 30 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 936 Ukraine
Local time: 10:20

Selected answer:stem of his eyeglasses

Explanation:
from the context it seems that perhaps he bit the stem of his eyeglasses, and the author is calling it a blade, perhaps to create some bizarre sensation.

Selected response from:

Leora Kamornick
Israel
Local time: 10:20

Grading comment

Thank you for your opinion, Leora. It was my first guess, too, but I'm not sure (especially now)
1 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

stem of his eyeglasses

Leora Kamornick

Discussion entries: 6

Andrzej Mierzejewski

Poland

Let me put a short note

14:12 Mar 30, 2020

...from English-Polish translator:

Roger Joseph Zelazny was born in Euclid, Ohio, the only child of Polish immigrant Joseph Frank Żelazny and Irish-American Josephine Flora Sweet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny

The name of Żelazny means literally: PL żelazny = EN made of iron. Just a coincidence. ;-)

BTW Polish character ż reads exactly like "j" in FR "je" (= EN I, DE ich). I believe the dot was removed in order to simplify the spelling and writing for personal documents etc.

B D Finch

France

Pirate

17:56 Mar 29, 2020

The only interpretation that makes any sense to me is that he is imagining hiself as a pirate holding a blade between his teeth (to have his hands free for climbing the rigging or boarding a ship). Also, note that in the days when blades were made of iron, rather than steel, the only dentistry available was extraction, not fillings.

Tony M

France

@ Asker

11:52 Mar 28, 2020

Ah yes, with the pirate reference already, it all makes a lot more sense then!

philgoddard

United States

11:39 Mar 28, 2020

I think Tony's interpretation is probably right - the sword of justice. But this is bad writing, and I can understand your posting this question, because the meaning is not at all clear. It's even possible he omitted a sentence by mistake.

Denys Dömin

Ukraine

ASKER

@ Tony M

11:14 Mar 28, 2020

Hmm, I did miss the possible figurative meaning.
A knife or a cutlass between one's teeth seems to be a pirate stereotype, indeed (like in this thread: https://bit.ly/2UH0jlR), and the guy IS described as a stereotypical business pirate, a suit-and-tie cut-throat... Thank you for the hint.

Tony M

France

@ Asker

10:16 Mar 28, 2020

I think you are trying to look at this literally, when it is meant figuratively.
I would see his anticipated lawsuit as being imagined as a sword or dagger, and as he sets his teeth in determination and grips the 'blade' tighter (we say in EN: 'to get your teeth into something' meaning to really get started on something), and he gets the metallic taste in his mouth, presumably referring to the (usually sweet) taste of revenge — but also with a possible allsuion to 'tasting blood' (which further excites hunting dogs, say).
We do also have the expression 'to have the bit between his teeth' (equine reference), meaning someone who is all fired up to go — which kind of fits here too.

Answers

15 days confidence:

stem of his eyeglasses

Explanation:
from the context it seems that perhaps he bit the stem of his eyeglasses, and the author is calling it a blade, perhaps to create some bizarre sensation.

Leora Kamornick
Israel
Local time: 10:20
Meets criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 1

Grading comment

Thank you for your opinion, Leora. It was my first guess, too, but I'm not sure (especially now)

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English translation: stem of his eyeglasses

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