UK Book Club discussion

One of the great things about the kindle is that it has a built in dictionary so it's easy to look up new words without interrupting the reading flow.

My new word today is:
Denouement - the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.

It's a good reading word.

i like this too, I've also got an dictionary app for my iPod:)

Andy wrote: "One of the great things about the kindle is that it has a built in dictionary so it's easy to look up new words without interrupting the reading flow.

My new word today is:
Denouement - the fin..."

I really like that feature.

Andy wrote: "One of the great things about the kindle is that it has a built in dictionary so it's easy to look up new words without interrupting the reading flow.

My new word today is:
Denouement - the fin..."

You could sit with a dictionary on the couch beside you, that wouldn't interrupt the reading flow either.. ;0)

Hit another new word today:
Palaver - to talk profusely and idly.

I love this facility on my kindle. Words that I vaguely know the meaning of, I now look up.
Never did this with a paper book and dictionary as too much of a "palaver"....
I've always used this word as a noun with a meaning of "unnecessary trouble and anxiety that makes something seem more important than it really is" but Andy's version is right as well which I didn't know.

O the beauty of language!!

In my family, we have always used the word 'palaver' to describe a task that was fussy and overly complicated.....e.g. 'I would like to try out that new recipe, but it seems such a palaver'.
I'm really surprised to learn the true meaning.

Susan wrote: "In my family, we have always used the word 'palaver' to describe a task that was fussy and overly complicated.....e.g. 'I would like to try out that new recipe, but it seems such a palaver'.
I'm re..."

I use it this context too!

Andy wrote: "Hit another new word today:
Palaver - to talk profusely and idly."

'Ooh, what a palaver!' Great expression, my mum used to say it often.

I have new word- DISCONFUMIGATED DISCONFUME DISCONFUMIGTE DICONFUMIGATORY

Use it as you will

I could try to use that word, but I imagine it would be a bit of a palaver!!!!

stan wrote: "I have new word- DISCONFUMIGATED DISCONFUME DISCONFUMIGTE DICONFUMIGATORY

Use it as you will"

Well, every day - obviously!!!! ;)

I had a Homer Simpson moment over the weekend. Talking about Palaver to a friend they pronounced it properly pa-lav-er and i immediately new the word, doh! This matches what you guys have been explaining; you must have been thinking me a right idiot. I had been reading it pal-a-ver, however i think i can claim back a little bit of credibility in that the dictionaries do not give it as "fussy and complicated" at all, but have "to talk profusely and idly" which fits the context in which i found it "At that point a certain amount of palavering ensued". Has the meaning of the word changed over time?

I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers.

Dan wrote: "I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers."

My dad always beat me too! I sure he used to swallow the dictionary for breakfast!

Lynne - The Book Squirrel wrote: "Dan wrote: "I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers."

My dad always beat me too! I sure he used t..."

I was beginning to wonder if he was cheating (shame on me). We play electronically using 'Words with Friends' on the iPod/iPhone and he gets away with some of the most obscure and (frankly) bizarre words. Some of them don't appear in my dictionary, but the game's in built dic seems to allow it. I reckon he's in cahoots with the people at apple or something. They're all out to get me . . .!!!

Hi Andy........palaver originated as a piece of 18th C naval slang picked up by English sailors in Africa. There they came across Portuguese traders negotiating with the local inhabitants, a process known in Portuguese as palavra ‘speech’. They took the Portugese word over as palaver, applying it first to ‘negotiations’, and then by extension to ‘idle chatter’.

The meaning you found is for the verb....to palaver.... whereas the meaning most of us others knew is the noun as in "what a palaver."

stan wrote: "I have new word- DISCONFUMIGATED DISCONFUME DISCONFUMIGTE DICONFUMIGATORY

Use it as you will"

I prefer discomknockerated........much more tattyphilarious.....it does sound like another Doddy word

Bet you guys are good at crosswords!

Dan wrote: "I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers."

Perversely apparently, the best people at Scrabble are mathmeticians- they just memorise the words that are going to get the most points and then are able to quickly know how best to use them.

Allan wrote: "Dan wrote: "I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers."

Perversely apparently, the best people at Scrabble are mathmeticians- they just memorise the words that are going to get the most points and then are able to quickly know how best to use them. ..."

Aw, surely, focusing on the maths takes all the fun away!

Found the scrabble board the other day and played with my other half (can you tell, we don't get out much now we have kids?). He's just too damn good at it - doesn't seem to be trying and still manages to win every time (and there am I, desparately wanting to win, yet knowing I shouldn't care so much about a simple game of scrabble!)

Liz wrote: "Found the scrabble board the other day and played with my other half (can you tell, we don't get out much now we have kids?). He's just too damn good at it - doesn't seem to be trying and still manages to win every time (and there am I, desparately wanting to win, yet knowing I shouldn't care so much about a simple game of scrabble!) "

I know EXACTLY how you feel. He seems to get just the right letters and lay them just where you were setting up for a good score.

Allan wrote: "Dan wrote: "I could do with memorising some good words. Might help me finally beat my Dad at Scrabble. He keeps winning and it's driving me bonkers."

Perversely apparently, the best people at Scra..."

That explains it. My maths is awful, but my Dad's is very good. There may be some truth in your theory.

Em wrote: "Bet you guys are good at crosswords!"

Just love language in all its forms, though funnily, I've never taken to Scrabble.

In the last two books I have been enjoying there have been some great words including Palaver!

Discombobulate - confused - I love that word!

Inimical - tending to obstuctor harm

Malarkey - Nonsense and a bit like palaver.

Never the Bride and Something Borrowed both by Paul Magrs

Struggling through the foreword to Howards End and Benjamin DeMott, who wrote it, used two new words for me..

'feelinglessness' and not two lines away, 'mannerlessness'.. Sheesh...

Lynne - The Book Squirrel wrote: "In the last two books I have been enjoying there have been some great words including Palaver!

Discombobulate - confused - I love that word!

Inimical - tending to obstuctor harm

Malarkey -..."

nice, i like discombobulate.

Andy wrote: "Lynne - The Book Squirrel wrote: "In the last two books I have been enjoying there have been some great words including Palaver!

Discombobulate - confused - I love that word!

Inimical - tendi..."

I'm a fan of discombobulate too... Even managed to get my four year old using it (helps that it sounds so funny!)

there was a book doing the rounds a year or two back called 'totally discombobulated' can't remember who wrote it, I'll try to find it, I remember it was an absolutely compelling read.
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

Hi,
Me again, found it, Evelyn Fort Stewart; well worth the effort to find.
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

Words...love learning words thus taken to keeping a dictionary next to me whilst I read. I roll the word around saying it aloud. While writing my novel I would have a word that caught my interest and create a sentence in the book just for it. thanks for this post. The Skye in June

I had to put a posting up about some words I used in 'The Day the Ravens Died' a terrorist action thriller I released last year. Three which come to mind, and I suppose they are slang really were:- Numpty, Pillock and embuggerance.
See what you come up with for their meanings. I've had a very long day, Wakefield and back to Norfolk, so I'm off to bed! nite-night.
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

The words you mentioned Paul are often used in the military - as an army wife we know these things! They know loads of words that may not be in any dictionary!

Hi Lynne,
I know just what you mean, and the more stripes on the arm the greater the vocabulary.
All the best, Paul rix [oldgeezer]

Not a new word to me, but had to look it up last night to check the exact meaning......"curmudgeon".....basically a grumpy git.......and as I am a chap of middle age.....yes the cap fitted!

Ian wrote: "Not a new word to me, but had to look it up last night to check the exact meaning......"curmudgeon".....basically a grumpy git.......and as I am a chap of middle age.....yes the cap fitted!"

I know the feeling, Ian.. :0)

Hi Ian, Bill and all'
If you're going to form a 'curmudgeon' club sign me up!!
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

Timothy wrote: "Hi Ian, Bill and all'
If you're going to form a 'curmudgeon' club sign me up!!
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]"

Trouble with being properly curmudgeonly is that any club we set up would probably fail at inception as so many people with views that annoy us (including those of each other)would be barred from joining - bah humbug!!

Hi Ian,
absolutely!! but it might be fun trying, see who can up with the daftest idea 'barring' someone.
all the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer].

I had another new word today (and a good use of it):

Froward - difficult to deal with; contrary.

"faithful heart may have froward tongue"

Froward is fantastic.

Ideogram -- a character symbolizing something without indicating it's name. Numerals, Chinese characters, pictograms, etc.

Froward is great - an excellent characteristic to filter out non curmudgeons

I love this feature on the kindle. I shall have to make a note of what I look up now!

Andy wrote: "I had another new word today (and a good use of it):

Froward - difficult to deal with; contrary.

"faithful heart may have froward tongue""

Great word and highly relevant to one or two individuals in my life! As is Curmudgeon for that matter.

Shame on you Em....you hardly know me...tee hee

New word to me recently - Ziggurat - have come across it in two recently read novels: and and had to look up its meaning both times - the grey matter not what it was.

"the Mesopotamian equivalent of the Egyptian pyramids: large artificial square mountains of stone."

Now trying to work out how I can casually drop it into everyday conversation, without just talking to myself......"is that a ziggurat I see before me?" etc

It's used in junior school, Ian. My year 2s use diurnal now too, one mum asked me what it meant!

Keep taking the pills Helen

Hi Ian,
I first came across the Ziggurat reading a book called UR of the Caldies, apparently the oldest city on record. Apart from that I can't remember much about about the book, it might be in a box in the loft.
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

Helen wrote: "It's used in junior school, Ian. My year 2s use diurnal now too, one mum asked me what it meant!"

I think my daughters (in Y2) know "diurnal" as in the opposite of nocturnal animals - I was surprised!

The company I used to work for had a HO in St Alburns which I think was called Ziggurat - very uncurious of me not to wonder about the origins of that.