Time to learn something new with Wondrous Words Wednesday. All die-hard word nerds should visit Kathy’s blog for links to more intriguing words.
Earlier this month, the winter blues pulled me down. Fresh from my trip to Maui, I felt the chill of the Polar Vortex with painful sensitivity. I didn’t want to read something cold or dark (so, The Book Thief will have to wait… til spring.) I wanted fun!
Thank goodness I picked up Where’d You Go, Bernadette at Barnes and Noble. A book club buddy recommended it, and one night, at 10pm, when I couldn’t go to sleep, I flipped it open.
I was chuckling by the third page.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, is an amusing story about falling apart and pulling together. Bernadette Fox is a brilliant, but phobic, architect turned stay at home mom, and life in suburban Seattle might just push her over the edge. I haven’t finished yet (because I have four children) but I love the epistolary format, quirky characters, and witty humor. And I sense that underneath the humor, Semple has some meaningful points to make.
word nerd note: epistolary means written in the form of a series of letters; think The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (another AWESOME read).
My word comes from a letter that Elgin Branch writes to a psychiatrist about his wife, Bernadette:
We were both from the East Coast and had gone to prep school. Bernadette was a rising star. I was taken by her beauty, gregariousness, and insouciant charm.
insouciant \in-sü-sē-ənt\ adj; from French in- + soucier to trouble or disturb; lighthearted, relaxed, calm
I had never seen this word and couldn’t guess at its meaning. Thanks for the help, Websters!
Word Nerd Workout
What would be a good antonym for insouciant? Imagine yourself late to an important appointment and stuck behind an accident on a busy thoroughfare with lots of traffic lights. And you just spilled soda on your lap. Go!
Thanks for playing!
Julia
PS: Don’t forget to enter Anna Silver’s giveaway; she’s raffling off a copy of her YA dystopian/sci fi novel Otherborn. Visit her guest post to enter.
I’ve heard the term before. I loved this book; I think Semple has a lot of wit, but she also captures the Seattle/tech vibe really well.
Cool! I live on the East Coast, and so I’m glad to hear that Semple’s depiction of Seattle is accurate.
Okay, confession: I haven’t been to Seattle, but I do have friends who live there. I’m sure some of the setting was caricaturized, but it seemed to encapsulate things I’ve heard about that area.
Confession noted- no worries! 🙂
I must have skipped right over that word when I read the book – shame on me! An antonym for insouciant – agitated. Oh, and thanks for teaching me what epistolary means!
Another book to add to my reading list! You always have the best recommendations, Julia!
Love the words! I’ve picked up Bernadette a few times at the library but have not yet checked it out. I hear great things. Thanks for the recommendation. You’ll be glad to know I’m still using “knackered” in every conversation I have with my daughter. She loves it. Antonym – I’m going to say swivet, another word you taught me 🙂
Oh yeah, I have no French background so I had no clue either. It’s a pretty sounding word, though! Ok, an antonym: despondent.
Thanks, Julia!
I listened to Bernadette so I missed that word but I loved the book! I think a great antonym for insouciant would be frazzled. At least, I’d feel frazzled in the situation you described.
Hi Julia,
I would already be nervous about the impending appointment and therefore anxious about being on time for it. Being highly strung, as I am, after spilling soda all down myself and with a high probability that I was also going to be late, I would be frantic and on the verge of a nervous breakdown by now!
Great fun, thanks for the challenge,
Yvonne.
Thanks! for sharing .
http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2014/01/wonderous-words-wednesday.html
I had to check out this word when I read Where’d You Go, Bernadette? I didn’t much care for the book. But I am an old lady, so maybe my “funnybone” is broken.
An antonym for insouciant – upset, frantic, angry,