Month: September 2018

Embellish(verb)

According to the dictionary”Marriam Webster “The word Embellish mean”to make beautiful with ornamentation”.

On the class we learn the article “Brave we Are” by Tahira Naqvi, which is about a immigrant women in the U.S,based on the quote page377″Today I’am making spaghetti the way my mother makes it in Lahore, like pulao, the way I used to make it after I got married and was just learning to cook husband who had selective food . That was about the only thing I could make then so I worked hard to embellish and innovate.”

In this quote the word “embellish” help me to have more understanding that, when she got married she just learn cooking to her husband and she want make the food more beautiful, and make it something different. that’s why she worked so hard for.

In this week’s reading brave we are by Tahira Naqvi found an interesting word that I haven’t heard in while, the word was “forlornly” were “a small piece of biscuit lies before him on the table and he fusses with it …” was used to describe Kasim’s actions at the table. According to Merriam Webster dictionary the word means sad and lonely because of isolation. I feel like I like this word since it isn’t used that much and it could be use to describe something thats very coum in todays’s society. I feel like I understand the part of the text better now and how it was intended to describe Kasim’s actions. I will for sure try to use that word more often.

Dangling: to hang loosely (adjective)

This is the meaning of the word dangling according to Merriam Webster dictionary. I saw this word when I was reading Brave We Are on Wednesday September 12th, 2018. The sentence was on page 362 of the pdf I was reading. The sentence said “The idea has proved ticklish, he smiles, crumbs from the Stella Doro dangling on the sides of his face.” I understood what this word meant because he was eating cookies which the face is prone to getting crumbs on while eating. The crumbs were on the side of his face and mouth hanging there which could easily fall down from there when chewing or talking.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, invariably is defined as on every occasion. While I was reading “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger, the word appears on the second page in the second paragraph as stated, “I tried to explain the only two methods I had ever heard of among the middle classes, both of which were invariably brushed aside as unacceptable”. At first glance, I thought the word meant simply. In this case, the methods presented were simply brushed aside. Now knowing what the word means, “the only two methods she had ever heard of among the middle classes” were occasionally ignored or deemed unacceptable.

According to Dictionary.com, the word achromatous means ” having little or inadequate color; lighter in collor than normal. I stumbled accross this word in Tahira Naqvi’s “Brave We are” when she was describing the seasons in the small town in Conneticut in which she lived in. Naqvi used a vast variety of words to create imagery for us to understand that sometimes the area was not so appealing. For example, “… when the tones on its canvas are achromatous and dark, to melancholy, to sadness. At first, I thought this word meant gloomy or mysteriouys looking. I then looked it up and realized it was neither, but it was a way to describe the canvas’s lack of color.

Sieve: (noun, informal) unable to remember things well or can be used figuratively with reference to the fact that a sieve does not hold all its contents.

Source: Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionary

In the excerpt Brave We Are, the word sieve is mentioned. “His vagueness passes through the sieve in my head and comes out as clarity.” says Tahira on page 363. I had to find two definition to fully understand what she meant in this context. The first definition helps to show how she has sort of a bad memory and the second expands on that by allowing me to see how her son’s comment/question is vague but later realizes what he is talking about when he talks about Mary.

Diana Galvez

As I was reading “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger on the train to school, I came across the word “Sentiment” on the third sentence of the first paragraph in which I was not familiar with. It belongs in the line “Sentiment was especially vehement in the matter of having babies.”. At first, I thought the word ‘Sentiment’ and ‘Sentimental Value’ is the same thing, but it is actually very different. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of the word “Sentiment” means a view of or attitude toward a situation or event. Basically it could be more or less of a opinion or a feeling. Now that I know what the context of where the word “Sentiment” belongs in means, as quoted earlier the context would mean that ‘the feeling of importance of having babies’ in the simplest way I could interpret it.

Link of a picture that represents the word Sentiment -https://gyazo.com/fbf94cb39b03065dbb762020b095169b

Achromatous:  Without color, or having little inadequate color. (adjective)

Word of the week is Achromatous, according to dictionary.com, Achromatous is a word used to describe something with no or a minimal amount of color. I encountered this word on September 11th, while reading a short story called, Brave We Are by Tahira Naqvi, I knew what every word meant in the reading until I came across achromatous in paragraph 13. I read the words that came before and after this word to see if I figure out what it meant before actually searching up the real definition. “when the tones on its canvas, and dark to melanchony” were the phrases that helped me figure out that achromatous might have something to do with describing color. I believed that the women in this story used this word to describe Connecticut’s environment color when the seasons changed. I than, searched up the real meaning, and I was correct. I know understood what achromatous meant, and I now know a new word that can be added to my conversations.

Nayideh R.

/ˈdisəˌpādəd/ verb

Tahira Naqvi, “Brave We Are”

In the text ” Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi, the word I would love to know the meaning of is dissipated (verb). In my opinion I thought that dissipated meant to gain power.  But according to Macmillan Dictionary, the word dissipate means to gradually disappear by becoming less strong, or to make something do this.  Which means that opposite in which I thought it meant. Also, the sentences that the shows the word dissipate being used is ” Kasim is at the breakfast table now, some of his earlier energy dissipated.”  The sentence explains that the joy that Kasim represented previously had faded away.