Pâro
n.
the feeling that everything you do is always somehow wrong—that there’s nothing you can eat that’s actually healthy, nothing you can say that isn’t problematic, no way to raise your kids that won’t leave them traumatized—which makes you wonder if there’s some obvious way forward that everybody can see but you, each of them leaning back in their chair and calling out helpfully, “Colder... colder... colder...”
From par 0 (par zero), a theoretical hole on a golf course in which it’s already too late—no matter how well you hit the ball, you’ve already fallen behind. The circumflex on the â is a tiny symbol of someone trying for something then retreating. Compare the Spanish paro, a stoppage or a freezing-up. Pronounced “pahr-oh.”
