Yvonne
Wondrous Words Wednesday … Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading
This would usually be my post as part of the ‘Wondrous Words Wednesday’ meme, which is hosted by the lovely Kathy @ BermudaOnion blog. However, Kathy is taking an extended and well-earned break from blogging, so I am sending her all Best Wishes and hope to have her back again very soon, she is sorely missed 🙂
I have so many new to me words stacking up, that I thought I would share just a few of them with you anyway, in the hope that Kathy won’t mind too much!
First off, here is a word I discovered in one of my latest review schedule reads.
“If he’d started to lift his right hand even an inch, I was pretty sure I could jerk my own .45 out of my shoulder holster and drop D’Angelo before he could raise his gun, aim, and fire. This wasn’t solipsism. It was cold analysis. I know my reflexes and I knew from experience, how long it would take me to nail him.”
SOLIPSISM – Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one’s mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one’s own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind.
The next two words come from a great fun read, which broke my lockdown run of thrillers and literary fiction.
“I was a little confused. His train of thought was so tangential, it was difficult to decide which question to comment on.”
TANGENTIAL –
If you describe something as tangential, you mean that it has only a slight or indirect connection with the thing you are concerned with, and is therefore not worth considering seriously. Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues.
Tangential thought processes are when thoughts have some connections between the preceding thought and the following thought, however there is a loosening of associations. When there is enough meaning attached to one utterance, the dialogue continues in a continuous fashion.
“After my bath, I dried off and put on one of Brady’s dress shirts. I started reading a listicle online to get my mind off it, but it was about how to find a man, and it was completely unrealistic.”
LISTICLE –
In journalism and blogging, a listicle is a short-form of writing that uses a list as its thematic structure, but is fleshed out with sufficient copy to be published as an article. A typical listicle will prominently feature a cardinal number in its title, with subsequent subheadings within the text itself reflecting this schema. The word is a portmanteau derived from list and article. It has also been suggested that the word evokes “popsicle”, emphasising the fun but “not too nutritious” nature of the listicle.
My review for this book, is still far away, but this word appeared in the first page of my reading.
“In Oxford there lies a small river island called Paxton’s Eyot. It is secluded from the nearby colleges, partly because of the dense trees growing at the perimeter. The Thames flows to the west, the Cherwell to the north, and a narrow ditch curves round the south-easterly side.”
EYOT – A small island in a river or lake is an eyot or ait.
This lyrically written book was an amazing read.
“The case against Schonauer was convoluted and required an understanding of driving-reins, traces, whippletrees and clevis hitches, together with a knowledge of the terrain on the far side of Lake Losnes, where nobody liked to go.
WHIPPLETREES – Whippletrees are used in tension to distribute forces from a point load to the traces of draught animals (the traces are the chains or straps on each side of the harness, on which the animal pulls). For these, the whippletree consists of a loose horizontal bar between the draught animal and its load. The centre of the bar is connected to the load, and the traces attach to its ends. A whippletree, or whiffletree, is a mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages. It is also referred to as an equalizer, leader bar, or double tree. It consists of a bar pivoted at or near the centre, with force applied from one direction to the pivot and from the other direction to the tips. Several whippletrees may be used in series to distribute the force further, such as to simulate pressure over an area as when applying loading to test airplane wings. Whippletrees may be used either in compression or tension. They were also used for subtraction and addition calculations in mechanical computers.
Five new to me words this time, how many did you recognise?
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Tangential is like in maths, so it’s a word I might use.
I had no idea about the other ones, including listicle. I love the sound of listicle and I have articles as lists on my lifestyle blog, so, unknowingly, I made listicles before. Of course, this is a word I need to remember.
I do enjoy your wondrous words posts a lot.
Hi Anca,
Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t associated tangential with the mathematical context – although having said that, it is many, many years ago since I had cause to use it. It is one of those many mysterious mathematical theories we had to learn, and have never had any cause to use since!
I am really good at making lists, so I’m sure I could ‘pad’ them out enough so that they could officially be re-classed as listicles, and as you say, it is an ideal word for us and our fellow bloggers!
As you live in Oxford, I’m surprised you hadn’t come across the ‘Eyot’, which in the real world is called ‘Aston’s Eyot’?
Thanks for stopping by, I always seem to have plenty of words to share 🙂
Aww, but I don’t live in Oxford. I commuted before COVID, as I’m studying part time. I didn’t spend enough time to learn about Aston’s Eyot. 🙂
Duh! I’m an idiot, of course I have seen you mention Liverpool Library in your ‘about’ page. I just remembered you saying you were studying at Oxford, so I put 2+2 together and got 5!! – I’m so sorry, call it an age thing 🙂
I’ve seen solipsism but, since it doesn’t roll off the tongue, I’ve never been tempted to use it!
Hi Mary,
I just noticed that I slipped up with that particular definition, as there is another word within the definition itself that I didn’t know either…
SOLIPSISM – Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one’s mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one’s own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind.
‘EPISTEMOLOGICAL‘ – relating to the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
Now that one doesn’t trip off the tongue any more easily than ‘solipsism’!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading! 🙂
Hi Yvonne! I’ve been meaning to do another WWW for weeks now, but there just isn’t time. I did schedule one for next week Wednesday, so I do hope I will get to it.
I’ve actually heard of tangential before. Wow, quite proud of myself.
I enjoy these Wednesday words so much. Just love words!
Hope you are doing good otherwise.
Elza Reads
Hi Mareli,
I keep scheduling posts and then never get the chance to put any content into them, so have to keep pushing back the publication date! Some things like Blog Tours or Review Requests, just have to take priority, as they are time critical!
I hope that you get time to share some words next week, it will be fun to check them out. I always give a small cheer to myself when I know a word – sad I know, but it makes me happy!
Everything as good as it can be right now, given that we never know where we stand from one day to the next. With every part of the country under different restrictions, it ‘s a struggle to keep up with what we can and can’t do! I think I am better off by just staying indoors, then I can’t get it wrong? 🙂
The only one I knew this week was “tangential”. (thinking of the expression, “off on a tangent”)
I’m sure I’ve seen the word “eyot” before, but certainly couldn’t have defined it out of context.
I love the word “listicle”! I hope I can remember it to work it into my vocabulary!
Hi Kelly,
We used to live near to Oxford and spent a lot of time there, but I can’t recall ever seeing or hearing the word, and we certainly never came across ‘Aston’s Eyot’ (I guess it was changed to ‘Paxton’s Eyot’ for the purposes of the story) on our travels!
Yep! ‘tangential’ is definitely one word I should have been able to work out for myself – point made by just about all of you this week! 🙂
I think any blogger would probably be good at making ‘listicles’. In fact my husband would probably say that most women in general are more than capable of coming up with lists of jobs that need doing, together with the extra padding of suggesting the way in which they would probably be best done, thus making them more of a D.I.Y. ‘listicle’ 🙂 🙂
Well now, that’s an interesting list of words for this week, Yvonne. I had heard of ‘solipsism’ but could not for the life of me have said what its definition was. As for the rest, I ‘think’ I’ve heard of eyot but am not sure, the rest are all new. The Thief of the Winged Horse is looking interesting, any good?
Hi Cath,
The new to me words just seem to keep coming, so either there are new words being invented on an almost daily basis, or my memory / intellect (maybe both?) are sadly lacking !! 🙂 🙂
‘The Thief On The Winged Horse’, my review due 30th November 2020, is a great story, beautifully written and very original in its premise. I know that you are sometimes partial to a good smidgeon of fantasy reading, so I think you might appreciate and enjoy the nuances of the story, even more than I did. I recommend! 🙂