Mark Elf sounds like a name (in fact there is a famous guitarist with this name). I assumed that the purpose was to misdirect us so that there was an "a-ha" when you discovered the real meaning of the words, a-la a garden-path joke.

I might be reading too far into it though, apparently the story _was_ originally published as MARK XI[0].

[0] http://mporcius.blogspot.ca/2014/05/three-stories-by-cordwai...