Yvonne
I hope that everyone is managing to stay safe and well!
My first word I ‘borrowed’ from my blogging friend, Kelly at ‘Kelly’s Thoughts & Ramblings‘, with her permission of course, as we both thought it was a great fun word which needed to be shared. Kelly was reading SERENA by RON RASH
…, but then a big hoot owl flapped over the pasture and give him the fantods again. He figured it for a portent of something bad a-coming.
FANTODS –
A state or attack of uneasiness or unreasonableness.
…
My next word, is one I read in a recent ‘tweet’ from one of my Twitter followers @wetdarkandwild – AKA Kate ‘For Winter Nights – A Bookish Blog‘
After reading and liking the tweet, I decided that I really ought to look up this particular word, as for one thing I felt a fraud liking something I was unsure I fully understood, and secondly I felt very stupid that I didn’t know the word as I thought I should have!
Kate’s tweet read:- “I have four days off to go nowhere but hoping to spend some time writing. We had a little rain this evening. The smell of petrichor was magnificent! It perked the birds up, too. Beautiful birdsong at dusk. No reading today yet but now after some historical fiction.”
PETRICHOR –
Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪkɔːr/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra (πέτρα), meaning “stone”, and īchōr (ἰχώρ), the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.
…
And finally… A word from the book I am currently reading and which my US readers may already be familiar with, but which is definitely new to me!
“She wasn’t even sure they recognized her when they passed on the street, with a nod and maybe a smile. She had only moved back to Galena, what? Ten, twelve years ago? And she looked different. Not platinum blonde anymore, not so zaftig either.”
ZAFTIG – Has Yiddish origins. Over the centuries, some women have been approvingly described as full-figured, shapely, womanly, curvy, curvaceous, voluptuous, and statuesque. Such women are, in a word, zaftig.
…
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!
…
A fun group this time, Yvonne! Glad you liked “fantod” as much as I did. Now if I can just work it into a conversation. 😉
I feel like I’ve seen that second word before, but I don’t think I could have put a definition to it, even if you’d given me a multiple choice selection.
The third word is new to me – not a yiddish word I remember hearing before. Maybe it’s because I can’t be described as zaftig. 😉
Hi! Kelly,
I enjoy weeks like this!
Words that, whilst being new to me, are not too heavy going, are quite fun and which I just might be able to fit into a conversation without too much trouble:)
Don’t get me wrong! I do enjoy my research into more complicated or unusual words, but with life as it is right now, anything which injects a little levity into the day is always appreciated.
I can definitely be described as ‘zaftig’, probably far too much so 🙂 although I actually don’t think it sounds like a very nice word and I might be quite insulted if someone called me it to my face!
To be honest, even when Kate put ‘petrichor’ into a complete sentence in her tweet, I couldn’t have guessed what it might have meant if you had paid me, so I think that is probably my personal favourite this time.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that all is well with you 🙂
I’ve been purging my shelves and came across Serena. I decided to save it and hope I remember what fantods means when I read it. You find the most interesting words and all of these are new to me.
Hi Kathy,
Serena is neither a book or film I am familiar with and not one I shall probably be rushing to add to my list any time soon!
If you follow the link to Kelly’s review post, you will see that she was more taken by the social history aspects of the storyline, rather than the plot or characters themselves.
I seem to find a whole batch of new to me words in a short space of time, or none at all for ages – go figure! I am constantly surprised that the words do keep coming though, the vastness of the human language is amazing!
Thanks for continuing to host this fun meme and I hope that you stay safe 🙂
Hi,
Love all your words…didn’t know the meaning of any of them.
Have a great day!
Hi Sherrie,
Thanks for stopping by today, it is good to ‘meet’ you. I love new visitors and appreciate any and all comments!
I never knew there were so many words that I didn’t know – if you know what I mean!!
Some weeks, the words can be just too complicated for my little brain to figure out, but this selection was real fun to work on and I’m pleased that they caught you out – in the nicest possible way of course 🙂
Stay Safe
xx
The first two words are amazing — I can’t remember hearing them. However, I’m very familiar with zaftig, both as a compliment and as an insult. Standards of beauty have changed!
be well… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae,
‘Petrichor’ was my personal favourite word this time, however ‘fantods’ just appealed to my sense of humour and with not much other cheery news right now, it brightened my day!
I didn’t think that ‘zaftig’ was a particularly nice or kind word and is one I can imagine being used more as a form of derision, rather than as a compliment, although as the person using it, is talking about herself, I’m not sure that it is meant to be as bad as it sounds! I guess under those rules, I am very zaftig, although I think I would probably prefer plain ‘fat’ and that way, we all know where we stand! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, I love receiving visits and comments, so please feel free to drop by any time 🙂
Well, this time all of those are new words to me. I particularly like ‘petrichor’. I had no idea that particular lovely scent had a name like that.
I noticed a new word in a book I’ve been reading too. It jumped out at me partly because I didn’t know what it meant but also the author, E.M. Delafield, kept using it in The Provincial Lady Goes further, written in the 1930s. It’s ‘recrudesce’, meaning ‘to break out again, to recur’. Have you heard of the word, Yvonne? I’m assuming it was in common use back then but it’s not one I’ve heard before.
Hi Cath,
I have to say that my favourite word this time is ‘petrichor’, it just sounds so nice and reflects the nature of its definition.
Thanks for joining in with your own word this time, I really like it when commenters contribute something new to a post, it broadens the discussion exponentially.
I definitely haven’t come across ‘recrudesce’ before, however it does seem particularly relevant in these strange times, as many of the definitions use the example of a virus or disease returning!
I see that ‘Recrudesce’ was also the name of little known 2011 film, about a spy who comes out of retirement…
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5268996/
Thanks for taking part and stay safe 🙂
I thought ‘recrudesce’ was unusual and I’m pleased to have it confirmed. (Fascinating that there was a film by that name.) I wish now I’d taken more notice of the various contexts she used the word in, I don’t think it was illness but am not sure. Rather interesting that many of the definitions mention viruses though. Rather spooky. When I read the next book in the series I’ll keep an eye out for further use of the word and its context. Isn’t this fun? 🙂
I think I am probably a bit more alert to it right now, but I am amazed at all the different television films and programmes which mention viruses and pandemics, let alone books I have been checking out for various publishers. The spectrum is so varied that I really can’t see it being a subliminal message to us all to stay at home – but who knows!
Hubbie does laugh at me, but I always have a pen and paper at hand, just in case a new word crops up when we are watching a TV programme, and it has happened several times. Depending on what programme it is, I can then either rewind so that I can jot down the context sentence in which the word was used, or replay the programme later on the PC! – Sad I know, but it has to be done!
Have a good weekend 🙂
Thank you for these wondrous words Yvonne. Despite my having read Serena, of the three it is only ZAFTIG I knew as I was once called it by a Jewish friend of ours.
Hoping you are yours are keeping well. Regards from the Terry household.
Hi Felicity,
The jury is still out on the word Zaftig, although I am trying to remember that it is basically not an English word, so may sound a little more harsh than perhaps its meaning suggests.
Had I not known what it meant, I might well have been offended if someone had called me Zaftig, but if you could see me, I guess you would realise that they would only be telling it like it is, so what’s to worry about!!
I wonder what you thought of the book ‘Serena’? Kelly seemed to say that she appreciated the book more for its social history context, rather than for the storyline as it was intended. The film certainly wasn’t too well received and I wonder if you have seen that too?
I have a few more words ready to work into another WWW post, but that won’t be for a few weeks probably, as I have quite a busy posting schedule coming up!
Thanks for stopping by, it is great to catch up with you again and I hope that you are both keeping well in these rather surreal times 🙂
All new words to me, but at least I now know what that smell is called! 😀
Hi Nikki,
The garden has been smelling something like that most evenings lately, where we have been watering new plants in after the long hot days, although I have to admit that to get that genuine full-bodied petrichor, it really does need to be rain falling!
We have also dressed the flower beds with bark chippings and that has an amazing smell when it gets wet, although the downside is that the cats love it as a dirt box substitute, so I can see hubbie falling out with a few of them very soon!
Glad you enjoyed the post and I hope that all is well with you and yours 🙂
Interesting words this week and I hadn’t heard of any of these. I can relate to fantod lately unfortunately. Now I want to watch Serena, I like the both of them.
Have a nice weekend and stay well 🙂
Hi Naida,
Actually, I couldn’t have really looked at the context in which ‘fantods’ is used, as that definitely does reflect my mood for much of this past week, when I seem to have hit the metaphorical brick wall – well spotted!
‘Serena’ the film, just isn’t our kind of viewing at all and I’m not too sure that I would enjoy the book either, however I look forward to hearing what you think of them, should either make it to the top of your list anytime soon!
People over here are beginning to take things into their own hands and break the lockdown laws. I know the balance to be struck is a difficult one, but I really hope they don’t live to regret it, so for now we are staying put and not venturing out.
I hope that you are all staying safe and well 🙂