"becoming boats" - WTH does this mean?

[Irishman]

I’m reading The Devil in the White City, and came across a phrase I cannot interpret.

Author Erik Larson is describing the vision of landscape architect OImstead for how to lay out the Chicago grounds for the 1893 World’s Fair, and he says the following:

He wanted lagoons and canals strewn with waterfowl of all kinds and colors and traversed continually by small boats. Not just any boats, however: becoming boats… But it was crucial to choose the right kind of boat. He dreaded what would happen if the decision were left to one of the fair’s many committees. He wanted Burnham to know his views from the start.

“We should try to make the boating feature of the exposition a gay and lively one,” he wrote. He loathed the clatter and smoke of steam launches; he wanted electric boats designed specifically for the park, with emphasis on graceful lines and silent operation. It was most important for these boats to be constantly but quietly in motion, to provide diversion for the eye, peace for the ear.

Emphasis in original, paragraphing by space instead of the textual indentation because of software features.

Google is no help. It does pull up the book. See page 116.

What the hell does “becoming boats” mean? Is that a goofy way of saying something like “up and coming boats” or “cutting edge boats”?

I R confoos-ed.

[hogarth]

be·com·ing (b-kmng)
adj.

1. Appropriate, suitable, or proper.
2. Pleasing or attractive to the eye.

[GrandWino]

@hogarth

be·com·ing (b-kmng)
adj.

1. Appropriate, suitable, or proper.
2. Pleasing or attractive to the eye.

Yep, this. It’s like when you call someone attractive by saying they’re “quite becoming.”

[Amateur_Barbarian]

Dictionaries really are your friend, no snark intended.

[Inner_Stickler]

Pretty boats.

[bup]

Mourning Becomes Electra was the most confusing title I ever encountered as a kid. I don’t remember when I finally parsed it right, but I was much older than I should have been.

[TruCelt]

Now that that’s been answered - Ho.ly. Cow. what a book, right?

Dang, I read it at least a decade ago and I still shudder just thinking about it.

[Ulf_the_Unwashed]

@bup

Mourning Becomes Electra was the most confusing title I ever encountered as a kid. I don’t remember when I finally parsed it right, but I was much older than I should have been.

Then there’s A Farewell to Arms
The story of Venus deMilo, right?
(Actually, I DID come i n to answer the question, but seeing as it has been answered–I’ll just change the subject.)

[BlueMit11]

Attractive boats. You know, the kind that attract huge ships.

[Inner_Stickler]

@bup

Mourning Becomes Electra was the most confusing title I ever encountered as a kid. I don’t remember when I finally parsed it right, but I was much older than I should have been.

Totally random and unrelated but speaking of mis-parsing titles, I somehow missed that a focal point of Must Love Dogs was personal ads like in the newspaper and I spent a good month or so wondering what sort of dog would be a must-love dog.

[Irishman]

@NitroPress

Dictionaries really are your friend, no snark intended.

How the hell was I to know that? I tried googling the phrase. I was trying to figure out what kind of boat a “becoming boat” is. I mean, that page goes on to list nine different kinds of boats, including “birchbark canoes”, “Malay proas”, and “Esquimaux kiacks”.

Frankly that’s an antiquated use of the word “becoming” and didn’t come to my mind at all.

@Bob Ducca

Yep, this. It’s like when you call someone attractive by saying they’re “quite becoming.”

So, like, never.

[Skammer]

The question’s been answered but I just wanted to say – that was really a great book.

[tdn]

“If your shoes aren’t becoming to you, you should be coming to us.”
-Walter “Radar” O’Reilly

[Balance]

@Irishman

So, like, never.

You might be more familiar with its usage in “unbecoming”, as in “conduct unbecoming an officer”–meaning “inappropriate conduct for an officer”. (Military and legalistic phrases often include fossils of archaic words, and this one is both.)

@BlueMit11

Attractive boats. You know, the kind that attract huge ships.

Do they have big outriggers?

[Ludovic]

They race on huge tracts of … land?

[Sunspace]

@Ludovic

They race on huge tracts of … land?

Underwater land.

It’s deep. Quite profound, actually.

[BlueMit11]

For the OP. It’s received very good reviews, some of which I’m almost positive were written by Dopers.

[tdn]

@Balance

Do they have big outriggers?

They’ve got impressive poop decks.

[Slithy_Tove]

@BlueMit11

Attractive boats. You know, the kind that attract huge ships.

Yeah, not some cheap hooker.

[Ferret_Herder]

It really was a great book. I find myself trying to imagine what the White City must have looked like to people at the time. The Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute are the most significant still-remaining structures from the fair.