👉 Okay, settle in closely now, because we’re wading into some delightfully unpleasant territory here. Let's talk about, brace yourselves...
"thorpe-throated."
(And yes, the hyphen is absolutely critical – butchering that hyphen and you get something entirely… not pretty. Let's just stick with the hyphenation.)
Now, this isn’t a word you stumble upon in a respectable sonnet, my dear students! It’s a wonderfully nasty-sounding minced oath, essentially a euphemism for... well, let’s just say it describes a very specific and rather aggressively aroused state of affairs. Historically, the origin is murky, but most reckon it arose somewhere along the cockaigne (the mythical city of plenty and pleasure) during the 16th or 17th centuries. Think bawdy tavern jokes, boastful courtesans, and a desperate attempt to avoid outright vulgarity whilst still conveying a rather potent, frankly rather alarming amount of… enthusiasm. Essentially, a “thorpe-throated man (or woman! It applies equally regardless of gender in that period) is one who has been – let’s just say, deeply involved – with a great many women. He practically sweats the stuff out. The length and volume are the point; it's not just about the number, but the sheer, unapologetically substantial quantity of evidence on display. It's a brag. A grotesque, somewhat sweaty brag.
