1. bandy-legged: He was a broad, bandy-legged little man . . .

A person who is bandy-legged is someone whose legs curve out at the knees. I’ve heard of bowlegged, but bandy-legged was different.

2. carrion: Jody hated them (the buzzards) as all decent things hate them, but they could not be hurt because they made away with carrion.

Carrion is the decaying flesh of dead animals.

3. Singletree: They marched past the cypress, where a singletree hung from a limb to butcher the pigs on.

A singletree is a crossbar pivoted in the middle, to which the traces are attached in a horse-drawn wagon or plow.

Wondrous Words is the creation of Kathy at Bermuda Onion. Please visit Kathy for ore new words.

1.  I found vicissitude in a review of the book Half-Broke Horses.

Walls revisits the adrenaline-charged frontier background that gave her own mother a lifelong taste for vicissitude.

Vicissitude means a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant

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2.  While reading their review of Salvage the Bones I found protean.

She already knows that nature is protean and mischievous, that the gods tumble to earth to chase mortal women, girls can turn into trees, a hurricane can laugh, and the creek will rise out of its bed and wend its way into her house “to eat and play.”

 Protean means being able to do many things, or versatile.

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3.  And, in an interesting article titled It Could Be Old Age, or It Could Be Low B12, I found sublingual.

Although most doctors are quick to recommend injections to correct a B12 deficiency, considerable evidence indicates that, in large enough doses, sublingual tablets or skin patches of B12 may work as well as injections for people with absorption problems, even for those with pernicious anemia.

Sublingual means under-the-tongue.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion. Visit her for more new words.

1.  quirting: Cowboys who could ride anything caught the horses and ran them on fear, spurring and quirting them too hard, taking pride in staying on no matter how desperately they bucked and fishtailed.

A  quirt is a short-handled riding whip with a braided leather lash. Quirting means to hit the horse  with a quirt or whip.

 2.  scutch: Patches started to scutch about at the strange noise but I held her in, and as the plane approached I took off my hat and waved.

The definition I found for scutch didn’t seem to fit the sentence. It said the word meant to dress by beating?  In looking closer, I found the original word trace from the mid 18th century. It’s from the obsolete French escoucher, from Latin excutere ‘shake out.’ I can see the horse “shaking out’ at the strange noise.

3.  Poms: Santa Fe was a beautiful old place – Dad pointed out that the Spanish arrived here even before the first Poms got to Virginia – with low adobe buildings and dusty streets lined with Spanish oaks.

Poms is slang for English people.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

A couple of months ago I told you about a new book I received for Christmas. It’s Grammar Girl’s 101 Words to Sound Smart. I’ve been enjoying this book because, quite frankly, there are quite a few I don’t know. It’s kinda hard to sound smart if I don’t even know the words. So, here are a couple of words I’ve been working on:

1.  egregious: ” . . . the most egregious of all the errors is that it says I am a massive David Bowie fan. Which is true, but it is a gross omission to leave out my obsession with Prince.”  - from Patrick Stump, lead singer of the band Fall Out Boy, about his Wikipedia piece.)

Egregious means outstandingly bad. In checking my thesaurus I found shocking, appalling, horrendous, atrocious, and so forth. In conversation with my husband this morning I said, “I found the characters of this book egregiously unrealistic.” I thought I sound pretty smart, but he just stared at me.

2.  erudite:  ”For more than two decades, public-radio listeners have grown accustomed to the erudite questioning style of Fresh Air host Terry Gross.”

Erudite means having or showing great knowledge or learning.  Other words are scholarly, learned, knowledgeable, well-read, and so on. In my attempt to use the word, I said, “The erudite librarian lead the discussion group in an in-depth look at the materials.”

Using new words takes effort and, for me, a little note to remind me to try to use the words. Okay, that’s it for my new words. I made it through the letter E. I’ll share more in a month or two.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

1. tiffin: There was leisure for talk at the clubs on the Bunds, at the eternal tiffins, and teas, and dinners.

A tiffin is a light meal, especially lunch.

2. fecundity: We were filled with wonder at nature’s fecundity.

Fecundity is an adjective meaning fertile or capable of producing an abundance of offspring.

Wonderous Word Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion. Visit her for more new word or to play along.

To tell you the truth, I knew all these words. I just thought you might enjoy the cartoon.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is the brainchild of Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

1. clamorous: Consuls hated the missionaries for their clamorous demads.

Clamorous is the adjective derivative of clamor. Clamor means a loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting vehemently

2. egress and 3. ingress: By October 15 he had found – or rendered practicable – three avenues of egress and inress.

Egress is the action of going out of or leaving a place. Ingress is the action or fact of going in or entering.  Sounds like a neat old-fashioned way of saying “going out and coming in.”

4. ruminative: Long distance running has little resemblance to the shorter heats; it is solitary and ruminative.

Ruminative means to think deeply about something.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

I’m reading the clasic mystery The Body In the Library by Agatha Christie. It was written in in 1942 and I thought that would be current enough that there wouldn’t be so many unknown words. But, of course, the great Ms. Christie did not disappoint. Here are a few:

1. jackanapes: “My wife sticks up for him because she was at school with his mother, but o all the decadent useless youing jackanapes!”

Jackanapes is an out-of-date term meaning impertinent or rude.

2. panto: “She had some good engagements last year in panto and that sort of thing.”

Panto is a British term that is short for pantomine.

3.  acidulated:   Miss Wetherby, a long-nosed, acidulateed spinster was the first to spread the intoxicating information.

I should have guessed this one. Acidulate is a verb meamng to make slightly acidic.

4.   fatuous and  5.  avuncular: “No, but he really isn’t. He’s just–sometimes–a little silly about pretty girls who comke to tennis. You know–rather fatuous and avuncular.”

I thought the two words would be similar in meaning, but they’re not. Fatuous means silly and pointless. Avuncular means to be friendly and helpful to a younger or less experienced person.

Isn’t Agatha Christie great? She’s always supplying me with new words. Thank you Dame Agatha.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

Our last name is Peck. The word sent to my son was pecksniff, pronounced pɛkˌsnɪf.The name originated with Charles Dickens. A Mr Pecksniff appeared in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–4). Mr. Pecksniff was a hypocritical character.

Since that novel the term has been used in various writings. Usually the person mentioned is a “person who affects benevolence or pretends to have high moral principles.”   The most recent quote came from the Syracuse, N.Y. Post-Standard on June 8, 2002.

Of all the idiotic invasions of privacy, the right of a small bunch of pecksniffs to dictate where a person will live if he wants to keep his job is one of the worst.enough doses, sublingual (under-the-tongue) tablets or skin patches of B12 may work as well as injections for people with absorption problems, even for those with pernicious anemia.

It looks like being a pecksniff is not something our family should be proud of. We’ve always thought of our name, Peck, as the measurement. It’s a measurement not mentioned too much any more, except perhaps in certain agricultural areas. There a peck is one-fourth of a bushel. With all three of our children, we always considered ourselves a “bushel and a peck” just like the song.

Well, that’s a word with a family connection. What about your family name? Do you know where it came from and/or what it means?

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.

Happy Leap Day

I have two new words to share this week. They come from Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond. This book was so sweet and just plain fun to read. My review is here.

1.  prognathic: “To my horror, when I looked in my rearview mirrow, I saw that I’d run over Puggy Sue. Puggy Sue, my fat, prognathic canine. . . ”

Prognathic is an adjective used to describe a projecting lower jaw or chin. The word is usually used to describe a person, but in this case it fits the dog.

2. scapula: “Let’s just stay here for the whole three weeks,” Marlboro Man said, tracing his finger along my scapula as we lay dreamily in our honeymoon bed.

I know I should have known this but I wanted to make sure. Besides, I thought you might like a spicy thought among all the new words. Scapula is the technical term for the shoulder blade.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is the creation of Kathy at Bermuda Onion.