(urth) Grand Unified Theory

[Roy C. Lackey]

Antonio Pedro Marques quoted and wrote:
> > If Tussah was a clone of Typhon, where did he get his penchant for
viragos?
> > Typhon's mistress, personified on the _Whorl_ as the computer entity
Kypris,
> > is a veritable Aphrodite, the very essence of things womanly and not in
the
> > least a virago.
>
> You're reading 'manliness' in Chenille's description where I think the
text
> only means size. Don't forget Chenille was the kind of woman Horn and his
> mates would have loved to see naked.
> (Granted, petiteness is sometimes associated with womanliness, but not
synonym.)

I'm willing to abide by dictionary definitions of the word, and I don't need
a lecture on the etymology of the word -- I know it. <g> It was James who
brought up the word yesterday in connection with Chenille being a "masculine
woman" (his words). The word is also used near the beginning of Chapter 4 of
EXODUS to indicate a lack of womanliness: "As a precociously pious boy, he
[Silk] had considered Sphigx the least attractive goddess, a tawny-maned
virago, more lioness than woman." (p-71)

As used in the text, virago is not about size.

-Roy