Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday-April 8

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

The new words that I found were from the ARC of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See.

Cheongsams: [chawng-sahm] a form-fitting, knee-length dress with a mandarin collar and slit skirt, worn chiefly by Oriental women.

Karst: [kahrst] an area of limestone terrane characterized by sinks, ravines, and underground streams.

These words were actually in the same sentence on page 153 from the ARC edition:

Instead of beautiful girls reclining in their budoirs, sending a feeling of ease, relaxation, and eroticism, the artists have chosen to paint uninspired landscapes of the Great Wall, the sacred mountain of Emei, the mystical karsts of Kweilin, or insipid looking women wearing cheongsams made from shiny cloth in geometric patterns and sitting in poses meant to convey the virtues of moral rearmament.

So what new words have you found this last week?

11 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I'll have to remember those words when I read Shanghai Girls. I can't wait to see your review of the book. Thanks for playing along.

Serena said...

Wow, I would never remember those words. I'd have to read them over and over with their pronunciations.

Toni said...

thanks... I love to read about Wondrous Words. I keep seeing that everyone has this book.. serious book envy going on here.

Ti said...

I won a copy of Shanghai Girls so those definitions will come in handy :)I try to keep a small dictionary handy but sometimes I am too comfortable to get up and get it if I've forgotten to beforehand. Lazy, I know.

Jeane said...

Karst- that's an interesting word.

SmilingSally said...

These are new to me too, and I doubt that I'll be able to remember them. LOL

Lisa said...

One of my good friends wore a cheongsam to her wedding. Those are excellent words.

I always find it interesting how many of the words on these lists are foreign languages - it really is a small world!

Anonymous said...

Great words. I doubt I'll ever have a use for them, though, which is a shame.

Margot said...

Isn't reading great? Without it we never would know about karst or cheongsams. I'm looking forward to reading this book. I watch for your review.

avisannschild said...

Ooh, I was familiar with both your words, although I had no idea how to pronounce the first one! I came across karst when I was reading Sing Them Home, but decided not to mention it in my post since I already had so many other words from that book!

Karen Harrington said...

Looking for a place to include those words in the new novel just to increase word count. :)