DIRE

 

Reporters and broadcasters have been using ‘dire’ to describe some of the war descriptions and one wonders?

Dire refers to situations or events that cause great fear and worry. A dire calamity causes much suffering. If a family is in dire need, they need immediate help. Dire predictions or warnings tell us that a disaster may happen in the future.

Dire and fury share a history in Roman mythology, as each of these words is connected to the Erinyes, the avenging and terrifying deities of ancient myth who tormented criminals. The Romans referred to these goddesses as either the Dirae or the Furiae. The former is from the Latin word dirus, from which dire is descended, and the latter comes from furere, from where we get fury.

The word dire is often found in conjunction with straits; in dire straits is used of a situation that is very bad or difficult. Our records indicate that this phrase began to be used in English at the end of the 18th century, when it appeared in Francis Fawkes’s The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius: “When now the heroes through the vast profound, Reach the dire straits with rocks encompass’d round.”

There are terms of disaster, catastrophe, calamity, cataclysm, tragedy, act of God, holocaust, accident, mishap, misadventure, mischance, setback, reversal, reverse of fortune, contretemps, stroke of ill luck, problem, difficulty, heavy blow, shock, buffet, adversity, trouble, misfortune, ruin, ruination, tribulation, woe, distress, casualty, bale, mishanter but calling a situation and calling it ‘dire’ seems there is no way out.

George Custer knew things were ‘dire’ at the Little Big Horn. The folks in the Twin Towers on 9/11 were pretty much in a ‘dire’ situation.

I’ve been in some unsavory or tight spots, but somehow always found a way.

Besides those of us who are on the other side of the world, dining on the veranda in Italy or climbing the trails in the Alps to watch the sunrise, will have some sympathy or empathy for the daily reports of people being blown up with no place to run to and then check the phone for some senseless influencer’s opinion or the latest must-have gadget. Stay tuned for the video.