Me, I’ve got a date with a dame who winks neon, serves bourbon,
lives light, loves rough, and lets me have all the best lines. (BBC.
Radio 4)Does the bold-faced part mean she winks and becomes neon, or she winks of the type of neon?
Answer
This is a parody (but apparently a fairly affectionate one) of the “tough talk” of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930’s pulp detective novels; it’s based on the end of “The Maltese Falcon”.
Hammett’s style is marked by marrying literary rhetorical devices such as metaphor to vernacular languge—”an easy ride to top-shelf displays”. The key to this one is the parallelism:
You’ve got an appointment with the DA. Me, I’ve got a date with a dame …
That is, “You’re going to jail; I’m going to my favorite bar.”
As Emmabee says, “wink neon” refers to flashing neon signs; “blink” is more common, but “wink” is not unknown, and suits better with characterizing the bar as an old girlfriend.
If you enjoyed this, try Garrison Keillor’s very funny parodies on A Prairie Home Companion.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Listenever , Answer Author : StoneyB on hiatus
