Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

<< [masahiko]
The word " raw " has various meanings according to my dictionaries.

 1 said of meat, vegetables, etc: not cooked. 2 not processed, purified
or refined • raw silk. 3 said of alcoholic spirit: undiluted. 4 said of
statistics, data, etc: not analysed. 5 said of a person: not trained or
experienced. 6 said of a wound, etc: with a sore, inflamed surface. 7
said of the weather: cold and damp. 8 said of an edge of material: not
finished off and so liable to fray. 9 particularly sensitive • touched a
raw nerve.

Will you tell me which of them is a proper meaning of the "raw" in the
following sentence?

We neared a solitary house at the edge of the woods.
"I thought that house was abandoned," Augustino breathed, his voice raw.
[end quote] >>

<< [Pat Durkin]
I interpreted the "raw voice" as having come from a throat sore from
shouting, screaming, or drying out in a long, panting run.
[end quote] >>

That is the usual way a voice is raw.  But here I think it is somewhere
between 5 and 8, or as my dictionary puts it: untrained and inexperienced.
He is scared and his voice does not work as well as usual.

--                       ---------------------------------------------
Richard Maurer              To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California       of a homonym of a synonym for also.
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