“Associated value” still seems a bit weird. I wonder if it would be clearer to say The exception type is stored in a static global variable . . . A second global variable stores the exception instance passed to :keyword:`raise` . . . Also further down that section it looks like there are other problems. “Exception object” is perhaps actually a C object referencing the exception class (type). ‘Python string object . . . stored as the "associated value" ’ should perhaps be the exception instance (object). I think a long time ago Python may have actually worked this way, but not any more, and the whole section probably needs updating.