On page 1 of  PNIN)   we read  "His sloppy socks were of scarlet wool with lilac lozenges; his conservative black Oxfords had cost him about as much as all the rest of his clothing (flamboyant goon tie included)
 
snip
 
The term "goon" remains obscure but was apparently a slang term with the definition "(ice hockey, pejorative) An enforcer or fighter"    {presumably applied  to the team Cornell was playing  against).


--------->  His tie was probably something a gangster might have worn.

Walter Miale
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