Incidentally, "strike off" can also mean "get going", as in "to strike off on one's own". Perhaps Baldanders is just telling Severian to leave him.<br><br>Paul<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 7:00 PM, Son of Witz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sonofwitz@butcherbaker.org">sonofwitz@butcherbaker.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="">,<div>I had the same thought about striking off heads, then checked the book. Severian interprets Baldanders this way.</div><div>but as Paul points out Severian is often pretty off base. I think Wolfe does this as misdirection. we get a sort of decent 'explanation' for one of the four statements, but if he's referring to his headsman role, "You--strike off." would end with a question mark. no?</div>
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