Aug 3, 2014

Delicious New Words

I picked up a handful of new words in a really interesting read over the past two weeks - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  Here's what I nabbed ... in words AND a few delicious phrases/quotes I wanted to keep as well.  Favorite words got lucky enough to be in bold and defined here for your reading pleasure. :D
  • intermezzo
  • cerise - deep to vivid reddish pink
  • umbrage - offense or annoyance; shade or shadow - especially as cast by trees
  • ovoid
  • jib
  • shilly-shally - indecisive behavior
  • privet
  • mulattoes
  • exigency - urgent need or demand
  • grog
  • scuppernongs
  • trenchant
  • pilloried - to attack or ridicule publicly
  • elegiac - having a mournful quality, especially a work of art
  • fleabane
  • armature
  • rheumy - watery
  • There was so much in the world to be had and not had.
  • The ache of mis-belonging
  • There's a frightful muteness that swells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it.
  • ... fast as I could, fast at the earth would pass beneath me.
  • ... and I hated being a slave worse than being dead.  The hate I felt for it glittered so full of beauty I sank down on the floor before it.
  • The phantom of what might have been, the terrible allure of it could still snatch me.

2 comments:

Elizabeth Bradley said...

Your word posts always intrigue me. And just so you know, I signed up for dictionary.com's "word of the day" email after a vocab conversation with my husband when I told him about Noah's curriculum. ;-)

I felt a teeny bit impressed with myself though when I knew three words on your list: grog, mulattoe, and scuppernong (Shan's uncles grow scuppernongs in Alabama).

Shilly-shally is such a good word for indecisiveness. It just SOUNDS right.

Those phrases you included really make me curious about the book. Is it one you'd recommend?

Kimberly said...

Then I need to see your list of cool new words, missy!

And, yes - Shilly-shally totally hints in its name as to what it's about. :D

And I would definitely recommend The Invention of Wings. There were so many spots she threw in such beautiful verbage and language. I would stop in the story and read them over and over again just to think on them longer. Well written story!

You know you are my best kindred spirit, right?