👉 Okay, alright settle down class, letās tackle this one. Now, youāll see a rather⦠prickly little word here:
intestation
. (Let the dramatic intake of breath subside, I know that looks like something dredged from the bottom of a medieval torture pit.)
Right, let's unpack that. 18th and early 19th century gentlemen, specifically during the age of the English gentleman and their rather⦠theatrical proneness to extreme emotion, were absolutely OBSESSED with it. It basically meant:
a stubborn and determined insistence upon something, usually a grievance. But not just about being right; it was a refusal to let that grievance go. You wouldn't just
say
you were wronged, no, youād
intestate your outrage
. 1.
Now the origin is what makes this a fascinating little beast. It comes from the obscurely pretty word of the French language: "intestinĆ©e". You guessed it! Relating to the gut, the bowels ā hence, that internal struggle, that churning, and the unwillingness of an aggrieved man to simply let his belly settle.
The whole thing's rather wonderfully overblown, you see? People would
intestate
about everything - a slight drizzle on a ball bore, the fact the vicarās hat was slightly askew, whatever! There was this whole performative level of righteous indignation. It practically required a very large brandy for the proper enactment.