When you come across a word you don’t know in a book, do you look it up? If so, you’re in the right place. Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme for word nerds who want to improve their vocabulary. Visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion to learn more.
My word this week comes from the YA novel Dream Boy by Mary Crockett and Madelyn Rosenberg. It’s a paranormal thriller with this tag line: “If dream can come true, so can nightmares.” Perfect for Halloween, right? I enjoyed the book and will have a full review for you on Friday.
Here’s a snippet from the climax, when Annabelle, the protagonist, must track down her nightmare:
“If we go to the woods, we find the girl. If we find her, we find Stephanie.” And Martin, I added silently.
“Syllogism,” Will said automatically. “I’ll drive.”
Annabelle’s brainy friend Will always spouts out intellectual trivia, and I couldn’t follow him that time.
Syllogism \’si-lə-ji-zəm\ noun from Greek syn + logizesthai to calculate, from logos reckoning;
- a formal argument in logic that is formed by two statements and a conclusion which must be true if the two statements are true
- a crafty argument
- deductive reasoning
Word Nerd Workout
Think of a character who uses syllogism. I’ve got a great example: Sherlock Holmes! Who can you think of?
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Julia
I’m reading The Rosie Effect right now, and the main character (Don) definitely uses syllogism! If you read The Rosie Project, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Logic is his middle name.
Since my daugter’s name is Rosie, I really need to read these books!
I like your example of Sherlock, love that character.
Whew! That’s a new one, I wonder if I’d be able to remember it, it has a nice sound around the tongue.
Ooh! I saw that word somewhere else this week. It wasn’t in a book I was reading, and now I can’t remember where it was. But thanks, I’ll try to remember it and see if I can think of an example for Word Nerd Workout!
You got me on that one!
And Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie’s recurring detectives. He’s a finicky little Belgian with a fancy mustache who gets irritated when he is mistaken for a Frenchman.
Again, you stumped me on the word of the week, Julia. But I must say that syllogism is a perfect word for a left-brainer like me!
Happy I could share a new word with you, Susan. 😉
What a great word! I’d say Hercule Poirot uses syllogism too.
Thanks Kathy. Who in the world is Hercule Poirot?
Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie’s quaint Belgian detective. I love Christie’s works! Anyway, I don’t think I’ve heard “syllogism” since those logic problems we used to do in school.