Screaming, Howling Fantods

All through Infinite Jest, central character and possessor of "what's ever beyond eidetic" memory, Hal Incandenza, who has like memorized the O.E.D., is dealing with other characters or situations that give him the "fantods"--either screaming or howling fantods.

Worldwidewords.com defines fantods as: a state of extreme nervousness or restlessness.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-fan1.htm
And even quotes Twain's use of the word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
“These was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn’t somehow seem to take to them, because if ever I was down a little they always give me the fan-tods”.

Something else DF Wallace did in Infinite Jest: Ex-crooner and now President of the United States Johnny Gentle (The only president ever to twirl the microphone by its cord during his Inauguration) changes the calendar by selling each year's title to major corporations to help offset the cost of giving half of New York and New England to Canada. The New Calendar features, chronologically, these Revenue-Enhancing Subsidized Years:
(1) Year of the Whopper (2) Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad (3) Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar (4)Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken (5) Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishwasher
(6) Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/Interlace Teleputer Systems For Home, Office, Or Mobile
(7) Year of Dairy Products From The American Heartland (8) Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (9) Year of Glad

At page 469, most of the narration has been about events in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, or Y.D.A.U. There are 184 footnotes this far, and you can go to the backpages and read the notes that enhance the history described.

To learn more about David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, and fantods, visit The Howling Fantods website, http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/ Here you'll fond some real and sincere work done by fans and friends of the recently deceased writer. Included is a link to the memorial article in Rolling Stone by David Lipsky: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23638511/the_lost_years__last_days_of_david_foster_wallace