Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme hosted by Kathy at bermudaonion.net. Join us as we share new vocabulary from our reading. Last week I learned a great word from Kathy: shambolic. But I haven’t used that one in daily conversation yet. Must fix that!
This week, I’m sharing another word from A Good American, a novel that explores, from an immigrant’s perspective, what it means to be a good American. Here’s the excerpt. Setting: a prize-fight:
“The man moved to the center of the ring and stretched his arms out toward the corners where the two fighters stood. ‘Tonight we witness the glorious pugilistic traditions of these United States of America…'”
When I looked in Websters, I expected to find something about bravery or patriotism. I did not.
pugilistic \,pyü-jə-‘lis-tik\adj, from Latin pugil boxer, akin to pugnus fist; having to do with boxing
That’s it. Pugilism = Boxing. And pardon me, but I hardly find it a glorious tradition.
Word Nerd Workout
Share another book that somehow includes pugilistic themes. I can think of a lot of movies, but books? Enlighten me.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Julia
Boxing isn’t my thing either, but I did know the word pugilistic.
A little Atlantic Canada gem: The Parrsboro Boxing Club by Nova Scotian author Bruce Graham.
I’ve actually used this word…but it’s been a long time and it did have to do with fighting! Yes, it’s odd and funny that this would be viewed as a grand U.S. tradition. I LOVED the Rocky movies as a kid, but now I have the look of that pug when I see a boxing match – it’s awful to watch someone’s face get pummeled 🙂 Thanks for the word review! p.s. love those great socks in last post!
I knew pugilistic and I’m not sure why. I can think of a lot of movies too; maybe some of them were made from books.
Joyce Carol Oates has a book of essays called On Boxing (P.S.). I think I read one in another collection and that may have been when I learned the word pugilist. I know that I learned it from reading first and mispronounced it the first time I tried to use it in conversation. It’s not like the pug dog — oops.
That’s interesting.
My mother tongue is Spanish and I know a lot of the words students study by heart to get good SAT scores, because I have very similar ones in my own language (those formal words of Latin or Greek origin).
When you learn a foreign language (which is an amazing experience, I can highly recommend to anyone!) you realize there are many words you already know because they’re the same in your language, perhaps with minor variations of punctuation of spelling.
Portuguese is very similar to Spanish. Even though I have very little formal training in it, I can read it quite fluently, only occasionally having to consult a dictionary to understand the gist of a passage. Once I read a long novel and was really surprised to find a LOT of words… that read a lot like English! WOW! English and Portuguese? Yes, it’s true!
Languages are not that different, after all.
And to learn vocabulary, extensive (and constant!) reading is far better than studying vocabulary lists. But vocabulary lists are great to brush up our passive vocab (alas!, we don’t have time to read ALL those wonderful books again!)
Nice to meet you Carina, and I totally agree- studying a different language helps you learn your own better. I studied Spanish for several years, and that experience with a Latin derived language helps me with my vocab still today. And I also agree that reading is the best thing for vocabulary… especially if you look up those evasive words… 🙂
Fun! Can’t tell how often I’ve skimmed over unfamiliar words, figuring I got it from the context. I’m most often surprised, sometimes delighted, when I take the time to look them up! 🙂
Me too Brandy, that’s why I love this meme. It encourages me to go one step past the guessing. Thanks for stopping by!