You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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YLTO!! Glossing the Glossary
I googled pattypans to see pictures and I recognized them, but never new what they were called. Of course, over here in the US they are probably called something completely different.
From Wikpedia: Pattypan squash, sunburst squash, cibleme in Cajun French, white squash, scallopini or yellow squash in Australian English, is a summer squash (species Cucurbita pepo) I've seen them before too but have never tried them. They look like the cactus I've seen on the prairie.
Yummmm cactus. I did see a spaghetti squash at the markets today as I was looking. But I had 3 bags full of vegetables I probably won't eat (my chickens love it when I go to the farmers markets) already, so i didn't pick one up.
But I know they are there so I'll pick one up after all your recommendations in a week/fortnight.
Debra wrote: "I googled pattypans to see pictures and I recognized them, but never new what they were called. Of course, over here in the US they are probably called something completely different."I think pattypan squash is also called a summer squash - and there is the link to zuchini, which is also a summer squash along with yellow crookneck squash. When I was reading the conversations and even responding above, I was thinking about this one. It is THE only one I have never liked to eat.
Rusalka - I hope you like the spagetti squash. It is the only one my family really likes. My daughter cooks it and serves it with spagetti sauce on it. I like it best with butter and parmesan cheese.
I'm reading The Name of the Wind at the moment and came across two new words:Belicosity - Warlike or hostile in manner or temperament
Fripperer - A fripper. One who deals in frippery or in old clothes
The spell check on Goodreads doesn't seem to like either of the words!
Another two more words learned from the same book:Paucity - The presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity
Bailiwick - A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority. It also means The office or district of a bailiff but the usage in this book was the first definition.
This second word sounds made up to me especially when I say it although I'm probably pronouncing in wrong!
I'd heard bailiwick before, and may have even used in it in conversation, but not paucity. It's amazing how many words us well-read readers haven't heard of, yet!
Oh, paucity is such a common word here. I was surprised and thought Sarah might not have come across it but when Debra said it too, I was shocked. Is it a cultural thing? Perhaps.
Maybe Pragya - will have to see if anyone else has heard of it/use it much! I would have used scarcity for that meaning. Perhaps that is where Pauper comes from as in someone with a presence of insufficient money?!? Only a guess. I might have to go google where it originates from!
Maybe my sister, Almeta, will chime in to say if she's heard the word before. I just don't remember ever running across it, but my memory ain't what it used to be! It could be a cultural difference.
I'm familiar with paucity and have heard it used as in the context Sarah describes. To my mind scarcity means x is rare, whereas paucity means you don't have a lot of x, it isn't commenting on the general rarity of x. I may, of course be entirely wrong there >;-)
Belicosity and belicose are such a lovely word. Doesn't sound at all warlike & argumentative to my ear.
Belicosity and belicose are such a lovely word. Doesn't sound at all warlike & argumentative to my ear.
Thanks Helen - I can see the difference now between scarcity and paucity - I think I will definitely use this word now I know it.I agree with you Helen with the loveliness of the word belicosity - it has a nice ring to it.
Sarah wrote: "Thanks Helen - I can see the difference now between scarcity and paucity - I think I will definitely use this word now I know it.I agree with you Helen with the loveliness of the word belicosity ..."
It probably from the latin bellum (war). We have a french adjective, belliqueux.
That would make sense Esther. Thanks for that!
LOL, Debra! I totally agree. That's what keeps me coming back every day to read through the discussion threads. I learned about magical reality from New Purchases and the definitions of Southern Literature from the new one posted by Susan.
GR and especially this group has expanded my horizons. The challenges and group reads have urged me into new genre directions and I've read some great books I would have never picked up before. And I'm even learning some new words! lol
I'm with both of you, Cherie and Debra! It's a great group - new books read, new words, learned, new genres discovered!
One reason I love reading with my Paperwhite Kindle is that whenever I run across an unfamiliar or unknown word, one touch and the definition is right there. Sometimes a paper book has quite a lot of new words for me, (such as Strangers that I'm reading now) and getting up to check the dictionary isn't convenient most of the time, like when I'm reading in bed. Anyone else like that ebook feature?
I just got a Simple Touch Nook which is a bit more user-friendly than the original basic Nook I had. I'm looking forward to trying out the dictionary while reading in bed!
Diane wrote: "One reason I love reading with my Paperwhite Kindle is that whenever I run across an unfamiliar or unknown word, one touch and the definition is right there. Sometimes a paper book has quite a lot..."Yes I really like that feature on my kindle too and I have to say I've learnt more new words since having it than when I just read paper books. I generally feel "sort of" able to work some words out given the context they are used in so I don't tend to get the dictionary out when reading a normal book but I might look up a word which I have absolutely no idea what it could mean.
Diane wrote: "One reason I love reading with my Paperwhite Kindle is that whenever I run across an unfamiliar or unknown word, one touch and the definition is right there. Sometimes a paper book has quite a lot..."I agree, Diane. The "look-up the word feature" on the eReaders is one of my favorite features, except when they are "not found".
Yes, Debra, the Simple Touch Nook is much easier than the original Nook for looking up words - by light years!
If you download a lot of PDF formatted books this is dissabled. :(
I find myself using my iPod to look up words or subjects on Safari when I am reading a hard copy book in bed because it is always hooked up to my wiFi.
I keep a dictionary on my desk at work.
If I am reading and have nothing to look up a word on, I keep a notepad in my purse to write them down or use a sticki note in my book for checking later.
Cherie wrote: "Diane wrote: "One reason I love reading with my Paperwhite Kindle is that whenever I run across an unfamiliar or unknown word, one touch and the definition is right there. Sometimes a paper book h..."Very good ideas, Cherie. I like the idea of using the iPod to look up words in bed. I get frustrated when words are "not found" too. Most times they are slang words in the vernacular, and I just roll with it. I can usually discern what is meant.
I was reading last nigh and the Prelude to Chello Number One by Bach was mentioned. I used my iPod to look it up and got to watch Yo Yo Ma play it from a You Tube video on the Google link. How good does that get?
I am reading the 2nd Sherlock Holmes story called The Norwood Builder from "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" and came across this word I have never seen before.Watson wrote: "My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition."
(No, I did not leave out "to" between him and presume in the sentence above. That is how it was written. My head wants to insert it, but I think that it is grammatically correct that way.)
Definition of BILDUNGSROMAN: a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character
Origin of BILDUNGSROMAN
German, from Bildung education + Roman novel
First Known Use: 1910
Now that's a mouthful of a word! I just finished Joyland and that was a bildungsroman!
Debra wrote: "Definition of BILDUNGSROMAN: a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character
Origin of BILDUNGSROMAN
German, from Bildung education + Roman novel
First Known Use: 1910
Now ..."
That´s funny. Eventhough I´m German, I´ve never heard of a Bildungsroman (shame on me). Literally translating it would be a novel with an educational purpose.
That's funny you've never heard the word, Alexandra. I certainly never had!
Debra wrote: "That's funny you've never heard the word, Alexandra. I certainly never had!"I know. I always find it strange when I suddenly stumble over a German vocabulary while reading a book in English. For example last week the word "Doppelgänger" appeared in an English book and it took my brain quite a while to recognize it as German :-)
Definition of PUISSANT: having puissance : powerful
Examples of PUISSANT
First Known Use of PUISSANT
15th century
Synonyms
heavy, heavy-duty, influential, mighty, potent, powerful, important, significant, strong
That word almost sounds/looks obscence...:D
Jim Thompson uses the word frammis quite a bit in his book I'm reading, A Hell of a Woman. I found this interesting blurb about the word AND Jim Thompson here: http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2...
while reading Trapped I learned Foodgasm - the seemingly orgasmic sensation experienced by tv chefs while eating whatever delectable delights they have whipped up on their show.
buttload - a word I have used many times but never had an exact amount for which it represented luckily once again the iron druid chronicles help clear this up. Spoiler due to cuss words (view spoiler)
Travis of NNY wrote: "buttload - a word I have used many times but never had an exact amount for which it represented luckily once again the iron druid chronicles help clear this up. Spoiler due to cuss words [spoilers..."ROFL!!! I always wondered about that too!
Travis of NNY wrote: "buttload - a word I have used many times but never had an exact amount for which it represented luckily once again the iron druid chronicles help clear this up. Spoiler due to cuss words [spoilers..."You can learn so much useful information reading books. Who knew?
Travis of NNY wrote: "while reading Trapped I learned Foodgasm - the seemingly orgasmic sensation experienced by tv chefs while eating whatever delectable delights they have whipped up on their show."
Ah, so that's what they're doing.
Travis of NNY wrote: "buttload - a word I have used many times but never had an exact amount for which it represented luckily once again the iron druid chronicles help clear this up. Spoiler due to cuss words [spoilers..."ROFL! Thanks for the laugh, Travis!
In Murder as a Fine Art I found out that bloomers were first introduced by a woman named Amelia Bloomers, and were part of the movement towards woman having more independence. Woman were wearing Parisian fashions of hooped skirts that weight 32 pounds and corsets tightened to accomplish size 18 waists. This was unhealthy and the poor gals were fainting all the time. Wearing bloomers and un-corsetted and un-hooped dresses was first very much frowned up by society.So, I'm adding bloomers to our glossary!
They could be frowned upon too, kind of like pedal pushers were in the 1950s and early 1960s. :D
The female character in the book who was wearing this new style was getting really evil looks from the other ladies. She is a very independent woman and doesn't care what others think of her. I really liked her character.
sawbuckOriginally slang for a sawhorse, fashioned iin the 18th century by lashing together two pieces of wood into an "X" shape. With an X-shaped support at each of two ends, the contraption served to hold wood for cutting.
With the advent of the U.S. 10 dollar bill, which bears the Roman numeral X, "sawbuck" became slang for the bill, as people associated the shape with the sawhorse. The slang term "buck" originated in the mid-19th century in reference to the dollar.
In the mid-1900s "sawbuck" became street slang, apparently originating in Chicago, for a 10-dollar bag of marijuana. Since 1985 or so, the term has referred to a 10-dollar "bag" (actual bag or any kind of package) of any street drug (heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, etc.).
Occasionally, addicts use the term sawbuck to refer to 10 dollars, particularly when they intend to use the money to purchase drugs (e.g., "Borrow me a sawbuck so i can get my sick off").
"Sawbuck" is also the name of a Chicago-based media production company that focuses on documentary films on the street-level drug world.
"Gimme a sawbuck blow" (blow means heroin in Chicago's street level drug market).
There were SO many words in Jane Eyre that I had to stop and look up. I don't have the strength to write them all down here. :(At least I was reading it on my Nook EasyReader and it has a built in dictionary and a touch screen. I did not have to keep reaching for the dictionary or my iPod. The only one it did not have, that I have finally gotten around to looking up is:
cicatrised ; to heal by forming scar tissue
In the book it was "cicatrised visage" - Rochester was worried that Jane would be repelled by his scars from the fire at Thornfield.
What do the people do about this when they are listening to audio books? Do they stop and look them up? Or they just go on and not worry about the meanings?
Cherie wrote: "What do the people do about this when they are listening to audio books? Do they stop and look them up? Or they just go on and not worry about the meanings? "I have generally just carried out and then I forget about looking it up later. I don't stop to look it up as I tend to be listening to it when I'm out and about on the bus or doing choirs at home. What I find more difficult with audiobooks is names of characters and places and how they are spelt - this is mainly a problem with fantasy books. I like to be able to see a person's name as it helps me to remember it in the future. As I don't know how the names are spelt, it can make it more difficult to write a review afterwards and I often have to go look up the character names online.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Black Sheep (other topics)Black Sheep (other topics)
The Apartment Next Door (other topics)
The Apartment Next Door (other topics)
The Apartment Next Door (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Georgette Heyer (other topics)Georgette Heyer (other topics)
Jim Thompson (other topics)
Pattypans are what you cook muffins and small cakes in. The paper or foil linings you put in the muffin tins.
In fact, my mother was lamenting just last night that we call them cupcakes now because we have been "infiltrated by American TV language". She calls them pattycakes (and I remember that from a kid) as they are baked in pattypans.