English Language & Usage Asked by ZwaiWng on March 14, 2021
from Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Chapter 4:
He looked around and yawned. “I haven’t been sleeping well. It’s nice in here. But after a while the lushes will fill the place up and talk loud and laugh and the goddam women will start waving their hands and screwing up their faces and tinkling their goddam bracelets and making with the packaged charm which will later on in the evening have a slight but unmistakable odor of sweat.”
I am confused by the term "packaged charm" here.
As first I interpreted the whole phrase "making with the packaged charm" as "turn on the charm which is as insincere as packaged food." But a simple Google search of "packaged charm" returned a bunch of "a small ornament worn on a necklace or bracelet", which also make sense to me…
I am not a native speaker of English and wonder how native speakers render this sentence.
As it happens, Oxford English Dictionary (paywalled) uses the quote from Chandler's The Long Goodbye (1953; 1971 linked) to attest their sense 2 of 'packaged', adj.:
Put together as a single unit for sale, presentation, etc.; presented in a particular way, esp. for promotional purposes.
...
1953 R. Chandler Long Good-bye iv. 22 The goddam women will start..making up [sic] with the packaged charm.
The sense OED presents for 'packaged' is accurate for Chandler's use of 'packaged' in the quote. In context, the packaged 'charm' is not a charm such as might be found on a charm bracelet (which may have one or many charms attached), but rather a figurative sense of 'charm':
Any quality, attribute, trait, feature, etc., which exerts a fascinating or attractive influence, exciting love or admiration.
OED
The use of 'make with' (here in the form "making with") is US slang, meaning
To bring into operation; to use, affect....
op. cit.
Women of the sort Chandler described were likely to wear multiple bracelets, on one or both arms, which explains the "tinkling their goddamn bracelets".
Correct answer by JEL on March 14, 2021
It means conventional, pre-fabricated, standard, ready to be exploited when needed.
And NOT natural, spontaneous, or sincere.
Your gut feeling was close.
Answered by Ricky on March 14, 2021
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