Words Phrases I Remember Learning Specifically From Books

Words Phrases I Remember Learning Specifically From Books The Publishers Weekly blog ran a piece by Gabe Habash entitled  Every World I Learned From Infinite Jest.  If youre familiar with David Foster Wallaces mammoth tome, the length of the list and the obscurity of many of the words probably wont surprise you. I had a similar experience with  Jest,  but for some reason chtonicrelating to the underworld is the one that always comes back to me. But the article got me thinking. One of the greatest tools for a writer is an expansiveassuming you can use it for anything besides showing off and being obnoxiousvocabulary. And however expansive my vocabulary is or is not, I owe it to the amount of books Ive read. I made a list of a few words I specifically remember learning from books. All definitions from dictionary.com. Sinew: A piece of tough, fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone, or bone to bone Learned from:  Island of the Blue Dolphins  by Scott ODell Young Karana is marooned on an island. She proceeded to have many adventures and close calls, and she also proceeded to use sinews to bind and fix just about everything. Sinew was the duct tape of the island. Ive never forgotten it. Inscrutable:   Impossible to understand or interpret Learned from:  Titus Groan  by Mervyn Peake From the first of the  Gormenghast  books.  Gormenghast  exposed me to approximately one billion things Id never felt or considered before. Theres truly nothing like it. It is, if I had to choose a word, inscrutable. If youre unfamiliar with the series, I wont try to describe the plot to you, but these books create a mood that Ive never even come close to feeling in anything else. If you can steer me to anything you think Id like based on this statement, Id be grateful. Chrism:   A mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at baptism and in other rites of Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican churches Learned from:  The Oxford Writers Thesaurus I have a favorite Thesaurus. It includes lots of lovely mini-essays on words the editors (including David Foster Wallace and Zadie Smith) were enamored of. Chrism was one of those. Its a pretty word. Say it out loud. Harder to find a use for it in chitchat, but I like how it sounds. Steatopygia:   An extreme accumulation of fat on the buttocks Learned from:  The Superior Persons Book Of Words by Peter Bowler What superior person wouldnt need a word like this in his obfuscated-insult holster? I honestly dont think I knew more than ten of the words in this book. Lots of words about sex:   Take your pick Learned from:  Many, many Dean Koontz books. I liked the gore and monsters in Koontz novels. My junior high phase was pretty much just a rotation of Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Stephen King, and Koontz. But Koontz was the one who drove my teenage self wild with his ridiculous love scenes. I had no idea that phrases like hidden nubble werent sexy yet. But wow, back then, it was good for what ailed me.  Twilight Eyes  and  Koontz  were the real standouts. How about you? Any words that have stuck with you, whose origin in your memory is not shrouded in mystery? _________________________ Sign up for our newsletter to have the best of Book Riot delivered straight to your inbox every week. No spam. We promise. To keep up with Book Riot on a daily basis, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, , and subscribe to the Book Riot podcast in iTunes or via RSS. So much bookish goodnessall day, every day.