Wondrous Words Wednesday 14/12/11

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

A Wet Week in Sydney

A few weeks ago I got to spend a week in Sydney at a conference. Usually Sydney Harbour is like a gorgeous turquoise jewel. A joy to behold. A bit like this

This particular week supplied only 45 minutes of sunshine, and Sydney was looking grey and drab, and more like her winter self, than her usual springtime loveliness. Still a week in Sydney is always a great thing. The views were more often like this though.

I became increasingly distracted by the jewel like painting that was down a corridor at the Convention Centre. It looked like a Brett Whiteley. But could it really be a Brett Whiteley? Just sitting out there? Not in a gallery? With no guards to guard it?

It's really quite big

On the last day I went down to check it out. And there it was. It was a Whiteley! Just hanging there with no gallery guards to guard it!

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

Hello Dolly

I made the boys watch Hello Dolly for our family movie night tonight. To be honest I don't think I'd ever seen it before either. The idea came to me recently when we rewatched Wall-E. 

Wall-E has a desolate life on a ruined Earth, and he keeps himself sane by watching two songs from Hello Dolly over and over again. (Put on Your Sunday Clothes and It Only Takes a Moment). Which delighted both Wall-E viewers and the composer of Hello, Dolly! I've now seen Wall-E often enough that I was keen to see the original inspiration.

Explains why Barnaby is in the song so many times

My desire was strong enough to counter my natural reluctance to watch any movie with Walter Matthau in it (he's never been a favourite). In the end I was glad to watch it. Even if the plot is a bit improbable. Dolly and Mr Vandergelder? Really?

It was fun to see such a famous movie. Thankfully the boys didn't complain (too much). And it was fun to note that

Gene Kelly directed it.

She's Barbra, not Barbara.

There is a lot of Frank Spencer in Cornelius Hackl.

Very sad to note that Danny Lockin who played Barnaby Tucker, met a tragic and unfortunate end.

Walter Matthau is still annoying. And couldn't really sing either. Although his major song It Takes a Woman is perhaps the funniest scene in the whole movie. I can't find a youtube video of the song from the movie (and have no idea how to upload it), so you'll just have to find a copy of Hello, Dolly! and watch it yourself.

December 6 Top Ten Childhood Faves

Of course this is going to be a subject close to my heart. I loved reading as a kid. Love reading now. And I particularly love reading kids books as an adult. Indeed I embarked on a quest nearly 2 years ago to read 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. So much so that I started my own Yahoo reading group for like minded souls to gather.

I have such a strong visual memory of the illustrations of this book

And this one

I know I read this repeatedly

It's kind of odd to realise that I read so many books that were from a series. I'm not that into reading series of books now, and would generally much rather read stand alone books.

And most interestingly not an Aussie amongst them! I'm glad that's changed.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Pollyanna

As ever with any book that you're a bit unsure about, I wasn't expecting to fall in love with Pollyanna. I should have known better! As with any enduring classic, Pollyanna has a lot to teach us about our modern lives from almost 100 years ago. Pollyanna was published in 1913, just before the start of the First World War. Of course it reflects a simpler time in some ways. Every house seems to have a porte-cochere. And Pollyanna spends much of her free time in the summer walking to visit various invalid neighbours to take them calf's foot jelly. 

Pollyanna like many famous children's book characters before her has been recently orphaned. She is looked after briefly by the local Ladies Aid Society, but is then sent to live with her Aunt Polly. Of course Aunt Polly is not thrilled to have her ordered life disturbed by the presence of an unruly child. Even if that child is very well mannered, and awfully glad. Pollyanna joins other plucky, optimistic orphans such as Heidi and Anne of Green Gables in changing the lives of their new carers. 

Miss Polly is introduced to us by her young maid Nancy on page 2:

She knew Miss Polly now as a stern, severe-faced woman who frowned if a knife clattered to the floor, or if a door banged- but who never thought to smile even when knives and doors were still. 

Pollyanna is an enthusiastic child with a sunny disposition who wants to get the most out of life. 

"Just breathing isn't living!"

She began playing her famous "glad game" with her minister father after a disappointment. Pollyanna's family were poor and reliant on missionary barrels sent to them with supplies. Once Pollyanna asked for a doll, but received crutches instead. Pollyanna's father invented the game with her to help counter her disappointment. The game was to find something about everything to be glad about. Of course Pollyanna could be glad that she didn't need the crutches. Rather a hollow feeling at that point I'm sure. 

Pollyanna makes the game her own, and shares it with the adults around her who all need it in some way. Apparently after the novel was released Glad Clubs were set up, and a Glad board game was on sale until the late 1960s. In some ways, Pollyanna seems to be a forerunner of more modern endeavours such as The Happiness Project. A very interesting audio exploration of Pollyanna from America's NPR reminds us that even though Pollyanna's message to rejoice may come from the Bible, and her minister father, gladness doesn't require religious faith.

Superb Fairy Wrens make me glad.

I hope modern girls are still reading Pollyanna. I hope some other modern adults get to read Pollyanna too, after all, it's not every character that enters the lexicon as a noun. But Pollyanna isn't a Pollyanna in the modern sense that the word has taken on. She is not "foolishly or blindly optimistic". Indeed, after Pollyanna has a serious accident she can't feel glad about anything. She becomes so distressed that she needs to be given a quieting powder! What was this mysterious quieting powder? Google is surprisingly circumspect, and keeping secrets hidden. Although I did find one reference to nutmeg being used in small doses to quieten irritable children. Perhaps Pollyanna was enjoying some nutmeg?

After her accident the townsfolk all come to help Pollyanna, to show her their gladness for the help she has given them. One particular passage appealed greatly, and stood out from the generally more sedate nature of the rest of the book.

Not long after Mrs Tarbell's visit the climax came. It came in the shape of a call from a certain young woman with unnaturally pink cheeks and abnormally yellow hair; a young woman who wore high heels and cheap jewellery; a young woman whom Miss Polly knew very well by reputation- but whom she was angrily amazed to meet beneath the roof of the Harrington homestead. 

Rhododendron Garden Blackheath

Blackheath in the Blue Mountains (2 hours west of Sydney) is a lovely spot. They are very famous for their Rhodendron Garden, the town even holds a Rhododendron Festival each spring. Our recent visit was a few weeks after the festival, but the gardens were still worth visiting, even though they were past their best. 

Waratahs- our state flower

Hopefully next year we'll make it back when the garden is at it's peak. 

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

Guest blogger!

Today is quite the Red Letter Day for me. I've risen to the exalted status of Guest Blogger!

I was So Very Excited recently when the opportunity came up to write a guest post for the wonderful and esteemed Whispering Gums. I loved the opportunity to showcase five of my favourite Aussie children's authors and illustrators. There are many more out there of course. There was no particular rhyme nor reason for my choices, just my love and admiration for their works.

My Guest Blogger post is here.

A celebratory Red message!