Wondrous Words Wednesday
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.)
All of my words this week come from April & Oliver by Tess Callahan.
1. pellucid – “She felt a desire to touch the milky, pellucid scar, but knew enough not to.”
Pellucid means admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion.
2. merganser – “In the mirror, she sees Bernadette staring up at the stuffed merganser with cigarette holes in its wings, her forehead tense.”
Since wings were mentioned, I guessed that a merganser is a type of bird – it is actually any of various fish eating, diving ducks.
3. rondos – “Wind groans against the side of the house, and Oliver’s rondos rise in her mind, circling there as they have all night .”
A rondo is an instrumental composition typically with a refrain recurring four times in the tonic and with three couplets in contrasting keys.
4. plangent – “The surf echoes in her apartment, plangent as trains.”
Plangent means having a loud reverberating sound.
What new words have you discovered lately?
Bermudaonion's Weblog 
Very nice set of new words. I like how I get the flavor of the book just from the words.
You can find my new words at Joyfully Retired. I’m hosting a book blog tour today so scroll through my review first to my Wondrous Words.
Great words. I would have trouble remembering them to use in my everyday language though. Perhaps I need to participate in this to widen my vocabulary.
no way! I was just about to post mine and I have plangent, too! It was in Olive Kitteridge.
Poor merganser!
I like this – words rarely known, not often used.
I did know one – merganser – as it relates to a duck, anyway.
New words! Everybody loves new words. It’s a writer’s equivalent of fancy high heels.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Great words…I will have to try to remember these when I read April and Oliver. My words are here:
http://jo-jolovestoread.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15.html
I wonder if I could apply plangent to my grandson. Hmmm. . . . .
Here are mine: http://wordlily.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/words-from-my-reading-715/
Pellucid was familiar to me, but I didn’t know its meaning was so precise. And I like plangent. I want to find a way to use it. My new words are here.
Merganser is the only one I know because my husband is a duck-hunter. And my daughter is a duck-raiser. But they get along fine. 🙂
My words are here.
I knew merganser and I knew that rondo was a musical term, but now I know them more precisely. Good words!
My words are here.
I’ve played rondos on the piano!
I’ve come across plangent before and I thought it had a plaintive connotation… I just looked it up on Wikipedia and they define it as “having a loud, mournful sound,” so I guess I was right!
My words are here:
http://shereadsandreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15.html
Meant to ask last week – is there a common dictionary everybody is using for this meme?
Michael, the answer is no. I generally use my Canadian Oxford, but there are lots of words I have to look up online. Other folks just use online dictionaries. (Kathy, I hope you don’t mind me answering this question!)
I have finally done it! My first Wondrous Wednesday post is up. I think it’s a wonderful feature that makes you pay more attention to the words you’re reading.
http://lilly-readingextravaganza.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday.html
I’m totally digging “plangent” regarding the waves as I’m headed to the beach, soon. Ah, I can hear the ocean already!
This is such a great idea! I just posted my first Wondrous Words on my blog http://bookatopia.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15-2009.html.
There is something about discovering new words that is a lot of fun. I am enjoying reading the answers to this meme as I find it is actually expanding my vocabularly. Which, I guess is the point…
Great words!
Sassy
🙂
I think your words go to show just how poetic Ms. Callahan’s writing is.
I’m so glad that you listed these words because I’m getting this book from the library soon!!
Interesting words. I have never heard of those either. I hope to get a chance to read that book as well. Here is my link: http://shannanlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/wonderous-words-wednesday.html
Here’s mine this week. :]
http://www.vombatiformes.com/booklog/?p=529
From your words, I really like “rondos”. It even sounds interesting.
My week has been horribly busy, but my post is up, too. Rondo was the only one of yours I was familiar with.
Great list of words… I love how you do this. It really gives me a sense of how the language of the book would flow.
Interesting word choices this week. I love reading these posts.
–Anna
I only have one word this week, so I didn’t create a post for it.
skittle – 1. a pin used in the game of skittles 2. a game played with usually nine wooden pins set up at the end of an alley to be bowled down usually with wooden balls or a wooden disc
Also, I have an award for you here.
I love it when you have words from a book that I have read. I get to be lazy. A lot of these I went with the context, but it’s good to have confirmation.