W
elcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a great meme for word nerds who want to improve their vocabulary! Visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion to find more interesting words.
My word today comes from Half Broke Horses, a “true-life” novel by Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle. In Half Broke Horses, Walls tells the story of her grandmother, a “no-nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling” woman. Although the book is about real people and real events, Walls still calls fiction because she used creative license to fill in some details.
It’s well written, and Lily Casey Smith, Wall’s grandmother, is an intriguing character. Early on, Lily says of her father:
When it came to the written word, no one could string together sentences like Dad. His handwriting was elegant, if a little spidery, and his sentences were long and extravagant, filled with words like “mendacious” and “abscond“…
Mendacious \men-‘dā-shəs\ from Latin mendax – lying; characterized by deception or falsehood which often is not intended to genuinely mislead
You know when you can tell that someone is embellishing their story for dramatic effect? I think that’s what mendacious means. Or, you could say that tabloids often run mendacious stories about celebrities.
I’ll get to abscond next week. 😉
Word Nerd Workout
Use mendacious in a sentence. Here’s mine:
Eli’s older siblings have little patience for his mendacious stories about his prowess on the soccer field.
Don’t forget that this week is Banned Books Week. Celebrate your American right to read whatever you want! You can find more information about Banned Books Week at the American Library Association website, and in these posts:
Why Banning Books is a Bad Idea
Why Banned Books Week Has Me Thinking
What You Need to Know About Banned Books Week
Also, visit Coach Daddy’s blog for some funny six word thoughts on what makes us chicken.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Julia
Spread the (word nerd) word on Twitter: Word nerd word: mendacious = characterized by deception; think tabloids via @juliatomiak
I loved The Glass Castle! It’ll be interesting to read her new book. Mendacious was a word I knew from before because my parents always wanted me to change my mendacious ways 🙂 (Although fiction is a very elegant form of disguising the truth.)
True, Jennifer. I heard this great word at a writer’s workshop: verisimilitude. We writers are good at it!
I love Jeannette Walls’ writing! And I’m glad to tiptoe back online and catch up. Hope you’re off to a great fall, Julia.
My father-in-law never told a story he didn’t give a mendacious flair.
My fall is busy, but wonderful. Good to see you online again, Susan. I’ve missed you.
Hi Julia,
I already know the word mendacious, however I believe that the stories which the tabloid press run, are very definitely knowingly mendacious and I would certainly never give them the benefit of the doubt!
“Politicians are all too adept at releasing mendacious statements and then retracting them at a later date” …. Not the best sentence I know, bu the best I could come up with on the spur of the moment and very apt, given the recent political debates over Scottish independence!
Thanks for sharing.
Yvonne.
You did a great job, and thanks for pulling in current events!
And here I thought mendacious had something to do with being wise. All the best storytellers are mendacious!
I don’t remember ever hearing the word mendacious before, but I love the way it sounds!
Eli’s mendacious description of the power and reach of his 6 Words post could easily be forgiven, given his love for the writers who contribute.
(And thanks for the shout-out!)
A new word for me today.
I said goodbye to my husband knowing I’d have to listen to his mendacious tales when he returned from fishing.
I do like that word it has a nice sound ‘mendacious’. It’s a shame the meaning isn’t so sweet.
Loved this book, and mendacious is a great word! I didn’t know it. I think some bloggers are a bit mendacious when relating stories – anything to grab readers’attention!