Yvonne
The first two words come from one of my recently finished books, Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn
“Avoid their table at all costs,” Wright said. “Rankin’s a bore, and his wife’s a regular Xanthippe.”
“Good Lord, Julia thought. Glennis might be simple-minded and prone to wild fancies, but that was better than this sly sophistry.”
XANTHIPPE – Definition: The wife of Socrates.
XANTHIPPE – Proverbial: As a scolding and quarrelsome woman.
SOPHISTRY – The use of clever but false arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving.
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This is a word I discovered whilst reading the official biography page of author:
ALFRED BIRNEY
“Alfred Birney (1951) is the author of an oeuvre of largely autobiographical fiction and non-fiction, in which his family’s Dutch-Indies history often plays a central role.”
OEUVRE – A substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer.
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Wondrous Words Wednesday … Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading.
It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’.
You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your own words of the week, or simply say Hi!
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Ha! I don’t think I even knew Socrates had a wife, much less her name.
I was convinced Oeuvre was going to have something to do with eggs. Wrong!
Sophistry was the only word I recognized, though I would have needed a multiple choice selection to come up with a definition. 😉
Hi Kelly,
Great minds think alike, as I too assumed that oeuvre was going to have something to do with eggs, although I couldn’t think what, when we were talking about an author’s work! Alfred’s use of language definitely translated from his biography into this book, which was definitely a work of literary fiction. Review goes live in July!
Dave was looking over my shoulder when I was writing part of the post and he saw that Xanthippe was associated with someone being a scolding and quarrelsome woman … Well! you can imagine how the prevailing conversation went! 🙂
I quite like the idea of the multi choice option for a word. I might see if the right word ever comes along and give it a try in one of these posts – Maybe give three options for a definition, with a link to confirm the answer, or for those who don’t want to stick their neck out to choose.
Thanks for visiting and take care 🙂