Skip to main content

In Bud, Not Buddy, Steady Eddie says, ". . . that's my bread and butter in there." What does Steady Eddie mean when he says that?

The line spoken by Steady Eddie means that his ability to earn money is in the black case.  With money, he can buy food for himself (bread and butter if desired).


The line is spoken in chapter 13.  The band is getting ready to go out to eat, and they have decided to take Bud with them.  Bud isn't along for just the ride though.  He has to work for his spot among the band members.  Steady Eddie gives Bud one of his first duties.  Carry his saxophone to the car.  Before Bud picks up the instrument case, Eddie reminds Bud to be careful with it.  



"Grab that case over there and put it in the trunk of the Buick out back."


He pointed to a long skinny black suitcase that had a leather handle on top of it and said, "And be careful, that's my bread and butter in there." 



Bud is super confused by the comment, and Bud probably thinks that Eddie has actual bread and butter in the case.  Eddie politely explains that the case holds his instrument.  



I must have looked confused because he told me, "That's my horn, my ax, my saxophone, the thing I make all my money with, so don't get butterfingers and drop it."



As a musician, Steady Eddie gets paid to play music.  Without his instrument, he can't perform.  If he can't perform, he won't get paid.  He needs his instrument to do his job and earn enough money to house and feed himself.  This is especially important considering that the book is taking place during the Great Depression.  Steady Eddie's entire livelihood is in that case.  He needs Bud to be careful with it.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more