Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wondrous Words Wednesday - June 23, 2010

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy aka Bermuda Onion where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun.

THE HOUSE ON OYSTER STREET by Heidi Jon Schmidt

gouaches - Instead, anxious to please this woman she'd never met before and would never see again, she gave up the crystalline gouaches on the living room wall. (p. 72)

gouaches: a technique of painting with opaque watercolors prepared with gum.

THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE
by Julie Orringer

tatterdemalion - It didn't cheer him to think he was preserving its memory in cardboard; his model was a flimsy homage to a tatterdemalion relic. (p. 82)

tatterdemalion:
ragged; unkempt or dilapidated.

oubliette - He turned away and moved on to the next model, and Andras fell into an oubliette of humiliation and misery. (p. 98)

oubliette:
a secret dungeon with an opening only in the ceiling, as in certain old castles.

What new words did you discover this week?

4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I'll probably be able to remember tatterdemalion if I see it again since it starts with tatter, but I doubt I'll ever use it! Everyone would think I was pretentious. Thanks for participating!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I love words like tatterdemalion that sound exactly like what they mean!!!

Lisa notes... said...

Yikes. I can't imagine "real" people using those words. ha. Great finds!

Margot said...

Tatterdemalion is a good word but I see why people shorten it and just say, "I'm feeling tattered and worn."