Wuthering - essay

Again, I am temporarily so sick of politics, and especially this absolutely dismal incompetent administration, I must seek some temporary escape. So here is another unwanted, uncollected, unfinished, and uninspired essay:



Just what is wuthering? Even among people who have actually read Wuthering Heights, how many do you suppose understand what wuthering means, or, indeed, even if there is such a word as wuthering, apart from the title? And how many people nowadays read Wuthering Heights anyway? In short, is there such a word and, if so, what does it mean? If you randomly peruse most ordinary American English dictionaries I assure you, you will not find the word wuthering. If you are persistent enough and go to the Oxford English Dictionary , or look far enough on the internet, you will learn that although there is such a word it is not well known or widely used as, for example, in “the wuther of the wind through the trees,” or “the wind wuthered wearily.” In other words it has to do with the sound of the wind in the trees and is considered part of an obscure dialect found in the moors of Yorkshire in northern England. It seems to me that a fine and suggestive word like wuthering should not be allowed to slowly disappear. I suggest it might well be apt, descriptive, and useful in a wide variety of contexts.
For example, why could one not say the weather is “wuthering” on those dark, dreary, rainy days whether the wind was blowing or not? Or let us say a mother is home while her son is out on his first date. She could be said to be “wuthering,” in this case a combination of wondering and worrying. If someone is driving joyfully in their convertible with the wind in their hair and only pleasure on their minds it might be appropriate to say they are “wuthering on down the road.” How about a person aimlessly puttering about in their garden. Could they not be said to be “wuthering?” What about a mother hovering (wuthering?) over the dinner table, concerned that her youngster may not eat heartily enough? Or a child is anxious and not very confident about a mid-term examination – he or she keeps turning answers over in their mind. Could they not be described as “wuthering?” How about all those people who seem to be endlessly wandering in the malls, indecisive and procrastinating. Why should they not be described simply as “wuthering?” Or a mother smothering her child with attention, oblivious to the child’s obvious discomfort. Smothering, wuthering. Think of two people at a football game, dressed in their warmest clothes and bundled up in blankets and ear muffs, “wuthering” down to watch the game. “Hunkering down” by itself I think is not descriptive enough for this situation. Similarly, you could be “wuthered down” in your duck blind waiting for some action. When your friends call and ask what you are doing on a rainy or snowy day you could reply, “why, I’m wuthered down watching the TV,” or “I’m wuthered down with a good book.” Of course you could be a purist and say “the wind is wuthering through the trees,” or “the wind wuthered wearily,” but who would ever say things like that nowadays? And if you did people would no doubt think you were at least eccentric if not worse. Wuthering is a word that no one uses anymore. I believe that should be changed and this beautifully descriptive word should be kept alive in the language and used widely. If young people can use “awesome” or “cool” to describe almost everything why should we older folk not be allowed to use wuthering? Indeed, I use it often (now that I know it exists). When people ask me how I am I reply that I am “wuthering.” In this particular context it describes a combination of withering and weathering.