Earl Grey an expensive brand of brewing tea.
old man Lipton's instant refers to a brand name of a popular instant tea.
miscegenation a sexual relationship between two people of different races.
Congo an African country that gained independence from France in 1960.
phosphorous a poisonous chemical that is highly reactive. Milkman avoids Guitar's eyes because he knows he will see a venomous, agitated look in them.
Pall Mal a brand of cigarettes.
Planter's a brand of peanut products, including peanut butter.
Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice the Michigan state motto; Latin, meaning "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you."
Jack Daniel's a medium-priced whiskey.
lethargy sluggishness.
infanticide infant-killing; a person who kills an infant.
grits ground dried-and-hulled corn kernels that are boiled and eaten.
lye a white, crystalline substance, derived from ash and lime water, used to make paper, detergent, soap, and aluminum.
enema injecting liquid into the rectum, which then expels the liquid and all waste.
Argo cornstarch a brand name of cornstarch, a thickener in cooking.
pistil the seed-bearing sex organ of a flower.
nicotiana commonly called flowering tobacco and native to South America; an annual or perennial flower with branching stalks and starburst-like flowers of white, pink, yellow, red, or green.
anaconda a large South American snake that suffocates its victims. Morrison characterizes Hagar's feelings for Milkman as an "anaconda love" because Hagar's love is all-consuming.
haint ghost, from the vernacular spelling of haunt.
a root worker a fortune teller, or spell caster, using various root concoctions.
Society of Friends the Quakers, a religious denomination. Quakers were instrumental in helping runaway slaves reach freedom in the North.
the crash of 1929 refers to the United States stock market crash of 1929, which precipitated the Great Depression and contributed to a worldwide financial collapse.
truculent in a fighting mood.
