Andrew Eames likes to use fancy words! The author of The 8:55 to Baghdad left me with lots of word food for thought.
Here they all are, my new words:
doyenne: "A woman who is the most respected or prominent person in a particular field."
Well, that seems quite appropriate for Agatha. I like the sound of the word, very elegant. But I tend to dislike words that specify gender as part of the equation. She's a tremendous author and a tour de force. Why does the fact that she's female matter in that at all?
blowsy: "(of a woman) coarse, untidy and red-faced."
Yet another gender-charged term. There was a bit of haughty-British-attitude in how this was written, but now all the gendered vocab is making me far more irritated than the fact that he chose to use all sorts of fancy words in the first place.
truculent: "eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant."
Within an analogy, referencing a particular diesel engine acting like a petulant child kicking a can. I like truculent better than petulent.
charivari: I don't think he used this word correctly. He is referring to bits and pieces of shipping bits laying in a yard; however, the term refers to a discordant mock-serenade given to newlyweds in France, involving much hitting of pots and pans. Was he looking for hodge-podge instead of charivari? Or was he just trying to be clever? Not sure.
anorak: An impressively bundle-y looking winter coat.
In reference to someone explaining trains, the description was 'too much the full anorak for me.' I guess it was too much description?
loquacity: "talkativeness"
Yet again referring to a woman, in the text - not too many complimentary descriptors for women in this book!
So there we have it, some new words. Considering that this wasn't my favorite book, I have enough to write about it! More to come in the 'Completed' entry...
