Breathless Dean Koontz Novel

Hi blog!

Yet another book has entered my reading eyes and given me some words to wonder about. This week I'm reading Breathless: A Novel of Suspense but I've only read the first 20 pages or so and I'm not sure whether I will complete it! Always, always there's a mention of a dog!

I have no problems with dogs! I've got two of my own. Bootsie the Chihuahua (see my profile pic) and Bill who was a stray that turned up with his brother and I kept one.

Anyways, that's enough about dogs! Let's get to the words :)



SERRIED - Pressed or crowded together, especially in rows: troops in serried ranks.

[Past participle of obsolete serry, to close ranks, from French serré, past participle of serrer, to crowd, fasten

Lariat Delta Milt The National Parks National Geographic

Well, I read a lot, hence all these words are popping up on my blog along with their explanations that should help me remember them.

Todays words come from reading "The National Parks". What a treasure we have here in the USA!

If I was rich I'd visit the whole lot of them but for now I can be happy reading the book and seeing the fantastic photography. It's great to see how we all used to dress, the history and talent from the explorers found in this book goes a long way to making us aware of precious environment. Even in the early days man became aware that this preicious resource should be protected.




DELTA - Various meanings...

[1] River - a landform at the mouth of a river Road Trip USA Great River Road

[2] Greeek alphabet - Δ or δ in the Greek alphabet, also used as a mathematical symbol A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner's Copybook for the Greek Alphabet with Pronunciations

MILT -  

Milt is the seminal fluid of fish, mollusks, and certain other water-dwelling animals who reproduce by spraying this fluid, which contains the sperm, onto roe (fish eggs).

LARIAT - Various meanings...

[1] A rope in the form of a lasso

[2] A professional wrestling move, a variation of a clothesline

[3] A genetic structure in Splicing (genetics)A semi-luxury trim package for the Ford F-series.

Unfilial

As a book reader on a daily basis I'm always coming across a word or two that I just have to know the meaning of. This was an excellent read and if you like true stories then you will enjoy this one.

Here's a few of the words from "Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter" that I have researched to find the meaning of. No idea why they all begin with the letter A!



UNFILIAL - not observing the obligations of a child to a parent . Unsuitable to a son or a daughter; undutiful; not becoming a child.

APHASIC -  partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease.

AMAH - a housemaid, especially a wet nurse, in India and the Far East.

ASPERITY -  harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; severity; acrimony

AUTEUR -  a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp.

Contrail

Heard this word whilst watching the news about the recent  "Mystery missile" seen off the California coast. I always loved looking at them in the sky and always wonder where the aircraft is that caused it.

Whilst I'm a big fan of the X-Files I didn't think it was alien!

CONTRAIL - Contrails are man made. A shortened form of "Condensation Trail", a vapour trail left behind by jet-engines. Atmospheric conditions have to be exact for a contrail to appear -40F, high humidity. They only appear above 8000 meters (26,000 feet).

These days, when we are so environmentally conscious, Scientists are looking to these contrails and there effects. Some say they cause “regional-scale surface temperature” changes.

For a much fuller explanation see the page Wikipedia "Contrail" explanation

 

Strange as it may seem....

I have been keeping a diary/journal ever since I can remember. I'm always writing something down and enjoy writing letters to home and friends. A handwritten letter seems to be a thing of the past these days and the internet and email just make me wanna keep writing with a pen! I even leave notes around the house for my partner, sometimes they are in the lunch back, sometimes the glass case. You never know where a handwritten note might be!

During the day/night/morning I will make a note of any word that takes my fancy and by that I mean "I just have to know what that word means" or "I wonder what that means". Sometimes I will read back through the pages and find all these words that I've never managed to look up.

Hey presto! I can set up a Blog and type out the words and maybe then I will remember their meanings etc etc.

Welcome and enjoy my crazy head!