Happy Wednesday — it’s time for some new words! You know how this works – share a few words from your current book that you had to look up, then head over to Bermuda Onion’s Weblog to learn some new ones.
This week, my words are from The Face Thief
1. Agnosia – The inability to interpret sensations and hence to recognize things, typically as a result of brain damage.
“…had sustained damage to the occipital lobe og the brain and would thereafter suffer permanently from visual field cuts and movement agnosia.”
2. Stertor – laborious or noisy breathing
“His mother was overweight and the stertor of her breath on the phone as she breathed in and out for a few seconds was like a piece of paper being repeatedly crumpled in his ear.”
3. Satori – A spiritual awakening sought in Zen Buddhism, often coming suddenly.
“This was an exercise recommended by his men’s group as a way, they claimed, of laddering one’s self nearly physically into a state of sartori.”
4. Furze – This is a tough one. It’s the Middle English name for a a variety of shrub with golden-yellow flowers. In this case, I think the definition the author is going for is the way the shrub is usually described: spiky and very dense.
“And here she gave a shake of her head, with its cropped furze of blond hair;”
5. Guanciale – unsmoked Italian bacon
“‘She seems demure,’ she bellowed over the portobello spears, the fried guanciale rolls, and the Kobe carpaccio…”
That’s an interesting assortment, don’t you think? Says some interesting things about the book, too.
What new words did YOU learn this week?