👉 Okay, let’s tackle the wonderfully prickly beast of the phrase, emphatically, unapologetically… "purple throated."
Now, when you hear that, most immediately envision a fancy parrot decked out for a ridiculously kitsch soirée – perhaps sporting a tiny purple boa and a judgmental glare. And honestly? That's not entirely off-base! Historically (and here I lean into the delightfully obscure corners of natural history - giggle!) the term originally described certain pheasant breeds where the throat plumage had a rather striking, almost bruised, lilac hue. Think a velvet lining on a very dramatic, slightly melancholy pheasant. We now largely use it as an antiquated, somewhat flamboyant way to describe something that is… mottled, vaguely violet, and frankly, a little bit unsettling. Basically, you're saying something has a throat that looks like the inside of a bruised plum, which then inevitably leads to a whole lot of head-scratching on whoever’s listening! There isn't really an exact photographic equivalent anymore – it just… is. It suggests . Let’s just say, the descriptor itself carries a certain theatrical weight, like you're over-the-hill describing something that shouldn't even exist in this reality. It's fancy, slightly mournful, and probably not entirely accurate. --- Here's an unsettling, perhaps a little too on-the-nose, example sentence for you: The old
