Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the button, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!
All of my words this week come from Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson.
1. gormless – “Made her seem gormless but Tracy guessed adenoidal.”
Gormless is chiefly British and means lacking intelligence: stupid.
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2. bracken – “Tilly imagined she would become a parched mummy, eyeless and shriveled, and as weightless as dead bracken.”
According to my dictionary, bracken means a large coarse fern found in most tropical and temperate regions.
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3. tannoy – “She had been disconcerted by hearing her mother’s voice on the tannoy system, echoing down the years from her childhood, saying, ‘If you get lost, go up to a policeman.’”
According to wikipedia, Tannoy is manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address systems based in Scotland.
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Have you come across any new words lately?
I am going to try to work them all into convo today!
Very interesting words today
I would have guessed that gormless meant without backbone, or something like that…
So I guess tannoy is kind of like kleenex — a brand name that’s come to be used as a general term?
I turned my words into a bit of a game today!
Oh, must use gormless today! :–)
I knew what bracken meant, but the other was new to me. Thanks for sharing these with us. I love learning new words!
I really like “gormless”. lol Thanks for the new words!
Gormless! What a fun (and kind of gross) sounding word. Slang is so interesting. I put the link to my Wondrous Words in Mr. Linky!
Funny we both used the same book and different words.
All new to me words. I was curious as to the origin of gormless which comes from the Old Norse word gaumr, to heed. I can usually guess Latin based words but the Old English words usually stump me!
I do love gormless. It’s often used in conjunction with idiot. I’m surprised that bracken is a peculiarly British word, I hadn’t realised it wasn’t universal. Tannoy is new to me.
Good words!
I came across tannoy in a book I was reading last year. So at least I wasn’t gormless on that one.
New words! Or new to me, anyway. I shall try to remember them.
Gormless, I like it
Great and difficult words for me ! Thanks !
I’ve always been a fan of gormless. Kinda makes me think of worms. (Not that I’m implying worms are stupid.)
New words to me again, gormless seems to be the popular one.
I like gormless too – will definitely tuck that in the memory bank to use in the near future.
They are all new to me, but gormless is especially interesting
Gormless is my favorite here. I will try to use it soon in my writing.
Gormless is a great word! I watch a lot of British TV and movies and love reading British authors but I haven’t heard this one yet!
I wonder if they use tannoy in the way we use xerox or kleenex?!
All new to me! I’m joining the crowd in especially appreciating gormless.
Great words, Kathy. Another vote for a favorite — gormless! LOL!
I knew gormless (from my fascination with Brit Lit) and bracken, but tannoy is a new one for me. Got mine up.
bracken I knew..in fact, I may have some in the backyard!
Gormless is such an awesome word! I hadn’t heard of it before now.
Didn’t they use gormless in all of the Harry Potter movies to describe Ron?
I like gormless – would love to find a way to use it in conversation today
I’d always thought “bracken” had something to do with water quality!
Ha! I had to look to see what you’re reading to figure out the source of these great words. “Tannoy” was new…but of course, Kate Atkinson!!
You always find such unusual words. Bracken was the only one I knew.
I like all of those words. It’s always fun to see how you might use these kinds of words.
Ooooooo me likes gormless…. I love the Wondrous Words Wednesday for the brain power I get