Quote:

"If the allusions to popular singers were designed to attract readers, certain loans to the slang of the era necessity have a word of explanation, even for Steinbeck's contemporaries, as his editor commented to a point querying the following expression: " Isywybad ? "Steinbeck and to provide an answer in the margin, this aggregate of the initial letters resumes of the following words:" If I Tell You Will You Buy a Drink. (Get it?) "" If I tell you, you pay a drink. (Got it?) ")"