Howdy--

Some biographers of Twain assert that "Mark Twain" was chosen as a
pseudonym by the author because, when a riverboat approached the shore of
the Mississippi, the "depth-seeker" (I know there's a word for him, but I
can't think of it at the moment) hollered "Mark twain!" meaning "We've
approached two fathoms."  What makes that a good interpretation of the
pseudonym, of course, is that "Mark twain!" could mean either "We're in
_deep_ water now" or "We're in _shallow_ water now," depending upon
whether the riverboat was approaching or leaving the shore
(a somewhat sly flagging of the never quite discernible depth/shallowness
of Twain's own fiction).

Others. however. argued that "mark twain. . ." was what the bartenders
were asked to do when Samuel Clemens stopped in to drink: to mark on his
tab two drinks at a time--thereby casting Clemens not only as a sturdy
drinker, but also as someone who never had the money to pay for it.

Gay Sibley
Department of English
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI 96822