Wondrous Words Wednesday is a fabulous weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion, where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our weekly reading.
Julian Barnes' The Pedant in the Kitchen was such a rich source of Wondrous Words that I have more this week. I blogged the first installment back on November 23.
1. Risible (Adjective)
We've all done some pretty risible things in our time- I know a Canadian novelist who once tried to make pesto from dried basil- but nothing quite as risible as this.
i) Relating to laughter or used in eliciting laughter
ii) Eliciting laughter; ludicrous
iii) Capable of laughing or inclined to laugh. The Free Dictionary.
2. Strimmer (Noun)
I shan't enter the absorbing debate- a recent long-runner among correspondents to the Guardian- over how to peel one without blubbing, except to warn you that if, as I once did, you try wearing a pair of strimmer's goggles, the plastic lens will quickly steam up and there will be much blood on the chopping board.
Moderately obvious from context, and easily solved by a Google image search, but I'd never come across strimmer before. It is what we Aussies would call a whipper snipper.
Picture source |
3. Obeisance (Noun)
In any case, what do cookbook writers want? More obeisance?
i) A gesture or movement of the body, such as a curtsy, that expresses deference or homage.
ii) An attitude of deference or homage. The Free Dictionary.
4. Voluptuaries (Noun)
Perhaps there really were houses with a butler's pantry; perhaps voluptuaries really did pile slag heaps of soft fruit on to stemmed porcelain display plates, and serve dishes of stuffed quail in the shape of a Ruritanian crown.
A person whose life is given over to luxury and sensual pleasures; a sensualist. The Free Dictionary.
5. Marmande (Noun)
"Now we might extend the picture to include high-rise blocks, patched with vegetation on every balcony- Marmande and plum tomatotes in pots, herbs in window-boxes, courgettes and squashes trailing round the doors.
Marmande is a variety of tomato, and also a town in France.
Picture credit |
6. Capybara (Noun)
His alimentary canal has down the years played host to cayman, capybara, rat, agouti, armadillo, monkey, monitor lizard, maggots, palm-grubs, and other life forms.
Capybara is the largest rodent in the world. They live in South America.
Picture from wiki |
7. Mangel-wurzel
Similarly 'magel-wurzel'. This began life as 'mangold-wurzel', literally 'root of the beet'; but people (German people, that is) misheard it as 'mangel-wurzel', 'root of scarcity'.
It is a root crop generally grown as fodder for stock, but can be eaten by people too.
Picture from wiki |
8. Toby jug (Noun)
Having Mrs Beeton on your shelf was like having a chromolithograph of Queen Victoria on the wall, or a toby jug of Florence Nightingale. It was both reassuring and a vaguely patriotic statement.
A Toby jug is a pottery jug in the form of a seated person, or the head of a recognizable person (often an English king). Wiki. The Americans even have a Toby jug museum.
Picture credit |
11 comments:
The Toby jug is so cute ! I knew partly the other words (risible, obéissance, Marmande) because they look like French but never saw "capybaras". I wonder what to do with a stimmer in a kitchen !
The capybara is a little scary.
"Oi you! How dare you use your strimmer on my mangel wurzel! I demand obeisance from risible voluptuaries such as you and if I don't get it you'll be getting a visit from my capybara!"
A couple of those were familiar, but those are some really wonderful words! I like the book already!
I knew Toby jug! I love strimmer - it's much easier than string trimmer.
I knew Obeisance, Risible, and Capybara. Risible from watching 'Akeelah and the Spelling Bee' (I think)
some are familiar but did not know what they really meant.. strimmer - totally new
We call them "weed whackers" but "strimmer" has a much nicer sound. I think that "risible" is a word that should become part of my working vocabulary. It seems a bit onomatopoeia-ish - hehehe.
Bises,
Genie
Glad to finally know what a toby-jug is (and equally glad to know what the name is for those little gnome-like jugs!). Rumpole taught me risible, reading about ancient Egypt a lot taught me obeisance. Capybara I must have picked up on the Discovery Channel or something, back when they actually showed programming that taught people things.
JNCL
The Beauty of Eclecticism
I knew Toby Jugs because my grandma and then my mum had some. I've always liked them. I knew quite a few of the other words but "strimmer" is a new one for me.
And of course, there's always Wurzel Gummage.
That's hysterical Kath!
Janine- I've never read wurzel gummage! Wonder if he's made of magel-wurzels?
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