THE IOWA CULT

Alias the Rat Pack. So here's the mystery. Again, another etymon.

Those who watched or participated in Erik's playwrights workshop on the first night remember the homemade Tarot deck.

Unless you were there, it's hard to explain how weirdly dominant the verb "to gnaw" became.

Run to your Moby Dictionary and harpoon an etymon for rat. Latin rodere to gnaw. So to say RAT is to say GNAW.

The hard fact is these rats must continue to gnaw otherwise their teeth grow so long they can no longer eat.

They starve.