The second theme in the Sirens overture,
"Imperthnthn thnthnthn," is unintelligible until one begins
reading the chapter and hears a testy exchange between the
barmaid Miss Douce and the "boots," a young male servant in
the Ormond hotel. She rebukes his "impertinent insolense," and
he mockingly apes her: "Imperthnthn thnthnthn."
The "boots" is a boot boy, a young servant in a house
or hotel. In chapter 7 of A Study in Scarlet (1887),
Arthur Conan Doyle shows Lestrade arriving at "Halliday's
Private Hotel, in Little George Street" and using the same
idiomatic tag: "The Boots volunteered to show me the room.”
These bottom-rung hotel workers got their name from cleaning
the boots of guests, though presumably they were often
assigned other menial tasks as well. The one in the Ormond is
bringing the two barmaids a tray of tea. They ignore him, but
he demands to be noticed: "For them unheeding him he banged on
the counter his tray of chattering china. And / — There's
your teas, he said." They continue to ignore him, staring out
the window at the viceregal cavalcade:
— What is it? loud
boots unmannerly asked.
— Find out, Miss Douce retorted,
leaving her spyingpoint.
— Your beau, is it?
A haughty bronze replied:
— I'll complain to Mrs de Massey
on you if I hear any more of your impertinent insolence.
— Imperthnthn thnthnthn,
bootsnout sniffed rudely, as he retreated as she threatened as
he had come....
On her flower frowning Miss Douce
said:
— Most aggravating that young
brat is. If he doesn't conduct himself I'll wring his ear for
him a yard long.
Ladylike in exquisite contrast.
— Take no notice, Miss Kennedy
rejoined.
The holiday card shown here suggests that boot boys may have
had a reputation for salacious curiosity about the guests
staying in hotel rooms, which would be consistent with Joyce's
depiction of the young servant clamoring to find out what the
women are looking at and inferring an erotic motive. He is
correct to do so: Miss Douce has called Miss Kennedy's
attention to "the fellow in the tall silk" in one of the
carriages rolling down the quay, and she has told her coworker
that "He's looking.... He's killed looking back." Perhaps the
boy picks up on this vibe, or perhaps he merely sees an
opportunity to flirt with the barmaids. He is hardly the only
one: after this early flurry of heterosexual sparks Sirens
shows Simon Dedalus, Lenehan, Boylan, and Bloom all responding
to the charms of the attractive young women, and the women
(particularly the bold Miss Douce) actively cultivate the
men's interest.
By turning Miss Douce's very conventional reproach into a
nonsensical collection of taunting repetitive syllables, the
boot boy replaces verbal communication with pure performative
sound-patterning. Which is no doubt why "Imperthnthn
thnthnthn" earns a place in the chapter's opening statement of
musical motifs.
