A whoreson dog, that shall palter with us!
Would he were a Trojan!
-Ajax
Troilus and Cressida Act II, Scene iii, Line 231
For clarity’s sake, palter means to quibble or deal
evasively with. For further clarity, Ajax is talking about Achilles, and the
whole group of Greeks present is discussing the fact that Achilles has decided
not to do any more fighting in the battle against the Trojans. Do we think that
Ajax would be saying these things to Achilles’s face? Good question. I’m afraid
I don’t know Ajax well enough to answer that. He does seem to be pretty willing
to speak his mind in Achilles’s absence though, doesn’t he? And that, in and of
itself, can be rather telling.
BTW, the meaning of whoreson is a little different if you look it up in a modern dictionary versus a Shakespearean glossary, but neither is particularly complimentary. I think you can figure out on you own the general meaning. It's a pretty good expression to use about someone that you really feel is a very rotten person, but it's not a very nice thing to say. And my mom always told me, if you have nothing nice to say, better to say nothing at all. So, yeah, you're bound to run into a whoreson dog or two, but better to take the high road and say nothing at all.
And here you go, a pic of nothing at all. Remember a few days ago I said that I was going to put the emphasis on posting everyday, even it meant posting with no pic? Well, here you go. I couldn't think of any pic to go with a whoreson dog, so that's what I'm posting: no pic. Rather than saying nothing at all, I'm posting a pic of nothing at all.
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