Regency novels always provide new words. Authors are usually good about making it clear what the meaning is from context so you don’t have to figure it out, as in this passage from An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley, about … Continue reading →
In Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, this week I read a description of the shipyard of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, 1684: This was a wonder all by itself, with its ropewalks–skinny buildings a third of a mile long–windmills … Continue reading →
The second page of Elizabeth Peters’ The Murders of Richard III stumped me with quondam: He had private reasons for wanting Jacqueline Kirby to develop an interest in Richard III, quondam king of England, who had met a messy death … Continue reading →
I’m still enjoying Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, which is good because I’m on page 294. Only 622 pages left to go. I get a little lost, sometimes, in the 17th century English and European geopolitical intrigues. It helps if I … Continue reading →
Today’s words are from Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. The definitions are from my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1979). In a description of an older man: His ears are elongated and have grown a radiant fringe of lanugo. p. 37 lanugo: … Continue reading →
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson is going to be good for lots of new words, with its setting in the 17th and 18th centuries and characters who established the basic scientific principles we use today. I thought I’d start with the … Continue reading →
In The Gospel According to Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo resisted advice to make an appointment with a shopkeeper who specialized in vintage haute couture. I’d complained to my French friend that this approach seemed so formal. Guess what? The French … Continue reading →
Can I claim that my goal to learn a hundred words in French is complete since I learned to count to 100? I guess that doesn’t seem quite the challenge I was looking for, but I’ll give myself another twenty … Continue reading →
My quest to learn 100 French words was helped by reading French Women Don’t Get Fat. Here are some of the phrases Mireille Guiliano uses for her American audience. Since French women do not live by bread alone, much less … Continue reading →
I’m trying to learn a little French in advance of our trip to France in May. I thought I would report here on my progress and the interesting little things that I’m learning about differences and similarities between French and … Continue reading →