Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion’s Weblog. For other participants, visit Kathy’s website. I’ve been reading Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader. It’s a great spy novel in the tradition of the other great Jason Bourne thrillers. I found a few new words to share with you.
1. Grupperovka was found in this sentence: “Ten days ago,” Karpov went on, “we initiated the final phase of a drug bust in Mexico, one we’d been working on for more than two years because one of our Moscow grupperovka, the Kazanskaya, has been searching for a secure pipeline as it moved into the drug trade.”
Grupperovka is a term used for Russian mafia. It’s a term that appears in lots of the Jason Bourne novels.
2. Chimeric was in the middle of a very long sentence. Here’s part of it: . . .he contemplated the chimeric landscape of his own soul . . .
Chimeric means a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve.
3. Escritoire as seen in this sentence: There was an excellent escritoire, a matching pair of sofas of cinnamon-colored leather, a sideboard on which were arranged five delicate orchids, like girls at a beauty pageant.
Escritoire means a small writing desk with drawers and compartments.
What new words have you discovered this week?
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You always find the best words! I guessed escritoire right from my crude French. Thanks for participating today!
Wow, if you try to say escritoire repeatedly, you get a very interesting effect! I think I’ll stick with “small writing desk”!! :–)
You found exotic words!
Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wow, grupperovka is quite the mouthful! I was familiar with your two other words, but I’ve never seen that one before!