Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun! (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.)
All of my words this week came from Next by James Hynes.
1. remora – “Beyond the girl’s admirable clavicle he glimpses the low half shell of Austin’s terminal, blanched with morning light, airliners nosed up under the tall tinted windows, an accordion jet-way affixed to each plane like a remora to a shark.”
A remora is any of a family of marine bony fishes that have the anterior dorsal fin modified into a suctorial disk on the head by means of which they adhere, especially to other fishes.
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2. cordillera – “How it got there, under the elastic of his shorts, he had no idea, but now he had a reddened cordillera around the crater of his navel, a little archipelago of pustules that oozed clear liquid, and he was lying in warm water with a coffee cup full of warm Domeboro’s solution on the edge of the tub.”
A cordillera is a system of mountain ranges often consisting of a number of more or less parallel chains.
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3. prole– “Does your lumbering prole, stuffed into jeans and a gaudy sports jacket like a sausage in its casing, love where he shops?”
Prole means proletarian.
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What new words have you encountered lately?
Bermudaonion's Weblog 
I think I’ve heard of cordillera before, but wouldn’t have remembered the meaning. Never heard of remora or prole. Thanks for teaching me new things each week!
My words are here:
http://lisanotes.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-wednesday_17.html
New to me!!! I can’t wait to read NEXT!
I can always count on you to add to my vocabulary. I have never seen your words. I only have one that is new to me and it is posted here
CMash
The only one I’ve heard before is “prole” – it was a popular put-down at my high school, for some unknown (and probably totally weird) reason. “Next” sounds like a good read – I really enjoyed Hynes’ “Publish and Perish” a few years back.
Here are mine for this week: http://wordlily.com/2010/03/17/words-from-my-reading-40/
Here are my words:
http://www.capriciousreader.com/?p=3942
And I like remora. It feels good on the tongue! I want to go all Spanish with it and roll the Rs! In fact all of them have those lovely Rs!
cordillera is a good one! I have a few, here.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, all!
You found three good ones this week. All new to me.
You can find my new words HERE.
Here is my third and final post on Outlander! Boy my dictionary got a workout with this book.
http://carolinebookbinder.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-wednesday-is-weekly-meme_17.html
Great words! These are all new to me (will add them to master list). I hope to do this meme later today. 🙂
Good words! Here are mine.
I’ve been out of the loop for a month and a bit, but happy to be back in the meme!
here’s mine: http://gofita.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-wednesday.html
I never heard of remora. Love the sound of it.
I’m back because I just posted my words: http://suko95.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-wednesday-st-patricks.html 🙂
I think this is another book I’d need a dictionary to read! Thanks for teaching me new words.
Here are some words from Eggs Benedict Arnold …
http://westietherapy.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-eggs-benedict-arnold.html
I like how remora sounds. Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day today.
Is it just me or does “prole” in this context sound totally dirty?!
As usual, I’m only familiar with the Latinate word – cordillera 😛
I was thinking the same thing Lisa was about “prole.” 🙂
And that quote with “cordillera” sounded a bit disgusting. I guess that means it’s very descriptive writing.
Those are definitely new words for me!
My words: http://bookatopia.blogspot.com/2010/03/wondrous-words-wednesday-march-17-2010.html
The way #2 was used was a tad gross!! LOL!! 😀
Great words! All new to me.
I have none this week.
😦
I have been rolling the 1st two words and they really feel cool. Esp. Remora! 🙂
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I think remora would be a great SAT word — enough my spell check thinks it is wrong!
Please stop by here. I have something for you.
CMash
I didn’t learn prole until I came to Germany. It’s the same in German and they use it all the time.
I think Orwell uses the term prole in 1984. It’s a bit of a put down, a condescension.
On a trip to trip to South American I learned that Argentina and Chile use cordillera to mean the ridge line of the Andes (what we call the Continental Divide) which is the order between the two countries. On each side of the border we heard that when people get into trouble in one country they go “over the cordillera” to the other country.
Yes! I need this in my life! Definitely joining in next Wednesday!