1:31 p.m. - 2008-07-26
Throe, Row, Go!
If you've read more than a couple of these Stevergo missives, chances are you've come across the phrase "throes of summer". I use this phrase because I don't enjoy the months of heat and tornadoes so much as feel like they've encroached upon me in an attempt to heat-stroke or dehydrate me. Yes, ME in particular. The seasons were designed specifically to persecute ME. And so I generate a lot of verbiage about summer and it's throes.
But what exactly are "throes"? I finally realize that I'm not only pathologically self-centered but have gaps in my mastery of the language. In order to begin to partially correct this, I'm looking up "throes" in the dictionary. It's the Webster's Ninth New Collegiate, Merriam-Webster, c. 1985.
Let's see: opening the book, it falls on the M's, myrobalan, that's an interesting looking word, turning the pages, rondeau-root cap, closer, turning more, unfasionable-Uniate, that's TOO far, take a few back, top boot (n(1768): a high boot often with light-colored leather bands across the upper part; now you know), yes yes, closer, just a few more, timeous, turning two more back, thunderstone-tick, now it may be just a page away, thromb or thrombo, try ONE MORE PAGE, and...YES, the bottom of page 1229.
Throe: n 1) PANG, SPASM
So there you have it: from throe to KNOW. I think I've been using the word correctly, subscribing to the second definition, although I was under the impression that a throe was less of a struggle and more of a passive state of siege. Still, I like the phrase and I'm going to stick with it for a while.
Thank you, Dear Reader, for joining me on this journey of discovery. See you in the autumn!
