noun:
A worn-out strumpet; a vixenish woman; a hag.
As the vulgar, scornful, desperate Martha, Miss Hagen makes a tormented harridan horrifyingly believable.
– Howard Taubman, “The Theater: Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid’”, New York Times, October 15, 1962Harridan probably comes from French haridelle, “a worn-out horse, a gaunt woman.”
Seems like I should have known this word. Do you?
Now that I had that exciting birthday, I’m particularly feeling the “worn-out” part of this definition. Not so much the strumpet part, although I do love the word, “strumpet.” It sounds so….perky and fun.
Buying these the other day at the grocery store may have added to my worn-out feeling:
I’ve been nearsighted for decades (oh, I AM so old). If I can’t see up close now as I round over the hill, what is left? Eyeball transplant? Next year, maybe I’ll have the thrill of graduating to bifocal contact lenses. I just don’t even comprehend how those work, swirling around on my eyeball. Look, up close! Now, look far away! How do you not get a headache?
At least now with these little blue babies, I can see my fingernails to file them. We harridans need to keep our nails in shape.
Know any harridans? You don’t have to name names….
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If it’s any consolation, —- If you are wearing only 1.25 vision enhancement, as your photo suggests, you have yet a long way to go! Or, you may be stuck at 1.25, which really is not so bad. You still look very young to me, anyway……
“Harridan” is good, but the old-fashioned words with whorish connotations are even better:
— Strumpet
— Roundheels
— Cornerwalker
— Slattern
Jim Thomsens last blog post..This, that and some other
Harridan is a good word and it happens I do know a few…not necessarily whorish but definitely haggard and meanspirited.
Consider the contacts they call mono-vision. One eye for distance and one eye for reading. The brain automatically compensates. You might need reading glasses for serious computer time or novel reading but my experience is that 95 % of the time, they are great. And far better than the bifocal contacts IMHO.
Just a suggestion that worked for me.
Cheers
GL, thanks, always room for worsening….
Jim, roundheels? Are you making that up?
Augusto, good to know about those contacts. I’ve heard of them but didn’t know what they were called. “My future” is probably what they’re called…
I was going to suggest mono vision, too, but someone beat me to it. I use only one contact and it has worked very well for me.
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