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Wondrous Words Wednesday

June 24, 2009

vocabulary

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.  Feel free to join in the fun.  (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)

My first word this week comes from Into the Beautiful North by Luis Urrea.

1.  rocanrol – “Sounding like a city tough was so rocanrol.”

Rocanrol means rock and roll.

I discovered my second word in The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos by Margaret Mascarenhas.

2.  palliating – “Lily was more careful now, palliating, as though Luz might be a ticking bomb.”

To palliate is to cover by excuses and apologies.

I found my last new word in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

3.  jicama – “Heather nibbles through her jicama and whole-grain roll, and blows me off while she eats her baby carrots.”

Jicama is an edible starchy tuberous root of a tropical American vine of the legume family that is eaten raw or cooked.

What new words have you discovered lately?

29 Comments leave one →
  1. June 24, 2009 7:10 am

    Interesting words. I like jicama best.

  2. June 24, 2009 7:43 am

    A nice wide range of words this week. I actually saw jicama in the grocery store once. Strange.

    My words are at Joyfully Retired. I’m hosting a book tour today so scroll on down for my new words.

  3. June 24, 2009 8:04 am

    Oh, these are fabulous. I especially love palliating, and what a fantastic sentence.

  4. June 24, 2009 8:06 am

    Jicama is new to me, but I don’t remember seeing it when I read Speak! My words are here.

  5. June 24, 2009 8:15 am

    Those are such FUN words. 🙂 I love “rocanrol” the best. I assume it’s pronounced like “rock and roll”?

    My words this week come from “Planet Google.”

  6. June 24, 2009 8:19 am

    Rocanrol! I had never seen that spelling before.

  7. June 24, 2009 8:42 am

    Jicama is in our grocery stores all the time in Fl. I like that palliating word but rocanrol, huh, why would someone spell it like that? Odd!

  8. June 24, 2009 8:51 am

    I just had jicama and tortilla salad this past weekend when we went to the Hotel Hershey for brunch!

    • June 24, 2009 9:22 am

      We have jicama in all the groceries in Tucson also because it’s a popular Mexican food. I guess it is even called “the Mexican potato.” But basically it’s a low-calorie vegetable. I’m afraid that if I were in Hershey, like Julie, I would be gravitating toward something else! :–)

  9. June 24, 2009 9:19 am

    Well, I just discovered rocanroll and palliating. I knew jicama — good stuff, by the way.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

  10. June 24, 2009 9:19 am

    I have a jicama salad recipe – want me to send it? That is, if I can find it. Haven’t made it for years….

    My wordy Wednesday post is embedded in my book review for today. 🙂

  11. June 24, 2009 9:21 am

    I remember eating jicama, years ago now. Here’s my list for this week: http://wordlily.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/words-from-my-reading-11/

  12. June 24, 2009 9:43 am

    I haven’t come across that word in Irene yet, buy now I’ll be looking for it. So far I am enjoying the books and looking forward to the chat.

  13. June 24, 2009 10:02 am

    Great words…I wonder what jicama tastes like. My word is here:
    http://jo-jolovestoread.blogspot.com/2009/06/wondrous-words-wednesday-june-24.html

  14. June 24, 2009 10:47 am

    Oh, neat, I learned ‘jicama’ from Speak as well!

    Hi, I’m new.

    http://dustandspores.blogspot.com/2009/06/wondrous-word-wednesday.html

  15. Carol permalink
    June 24, 2009 10:53 am

    Interesting words. Mine are up, too.

    Wondrous Words Wednesday

  16. June 24, 2009 11:53 am

    Those were all new to me.

    Here are my words:

    http://mercysnumber1fan.blogspot.com/2009/06/wonderous-words-wednesday-6.html

  17. June 24, 2009 11:56 am

    I have never heard of those words before here are mine.

    http://shannanlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/wonderous-words-wednesday_24.html

  18. June 24, 2009 12:45 pm

    I love learning new words…palliating stumped me!!

  19. June 24, 2009 2:14 pm

    Yum, jicama!

    My WWW are up to this week. (I know, I know, I’ve been quite the slacker lately.)

    Also, I tagged you for The State of Mt. TBR meme. 🙂

  20. June 24, 2009 4:01 pm

    These are all new to me 🙂
    I like palliate the best

  21. June 24, 2009 4:43 pm

    Jicama is better than the description would lead you to believe! It’s a little sweet, a little crunchy, a little watery…kind of refreshing. You should try it!

  22. June 24, 2009 5:40 pm

    Love the sound of rocanroll. I’ll try it out on my kids, to show them I can be cool, too.

  23. June 24, 2009 6:02 pm

    One word I discovered this week was terpsichorean: of or relating to dancing [from Terpsichore, the Muse of dance in Greek mythology] , often used facetiously.

  24. June 24, 2009 6:33 pm

    Can I take this opportunity to complain about how lame my word of the day calendar is? The best week – meaning it had interesting words I didn’t know – happened while I was in DC. Next year, I’m going to forget the calendar and read everyone’s posts on Wednesdays.

  25. June 24, 2009 7:00 pm

    Rocanrol is kind of hilarious and horrifying. Looks like a so-called “coined word”. Oh, how I hate coined words (misspelled for business purposes, usually, like LaundRmat).

  26. June 25, 2009 12:22 am

    My mom used to make turkey soup with jicama in it. I hated it. 🙂

  27. June 25, 2009 12:50 pm

    Nope, not a fan of jicama.

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