Category Archives: Glossary

Glossary

Asocial

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Adjective

  1. not sociable or gregarious; withdrawn from society
  2. indifferent to or averse to conforming to conventional standards of behavior.
  3. inconsiderate of others; selfish; egocentric.

“I grew up in Spokane, moved to Seattle twenty-three years ago for college, flunked out after two semesters, worked various blue- and bluer-collar jobs, married two or three times, fathered two or three kids, and then went crazy. Of course, crazy is not the official definition of my mental problem, but I don’t think asocial disorder fits it, either, because that makes me sound like I’m a serial killer or something.” – What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie

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Glossary

regalia

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regalia (noun): paraphernalia, indicative ownership

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regalia

Item creative with distinction

“What you pawn i will redeem” By Sherman Alexie

“But the strangest thing of all was the old powwow-dance “regalia” I saw hanging in the window”

But the strangest thing of all was the old powwoww-dance paraphernalia I saw hanging in the window.

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Glossary

Hitchhike

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Hitchhike –Verb-  to get a ride in a passing vehicle by holding out your arm with your thumb up as you stand on the side of the road

The word hitchhike is used in the story of “What you Pawn I will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie.

Rose of Sharon was gone when I woke up. I heard later that she had hitchhiked back to Toppenish and was living with her sister on the reservation.

Jackson and his friends were fall asleep after trying so hard to figure out how to get the money that Jackson needed to buyback his grandmother’s regalia. When Jackson waked up one of his friend Rose of Sharon had a ride to her hometown Toppenish and living with her sister.

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Glossary

Febrile

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Febrile adjective \ˈfe-ˌbrī(-ə)l\

a: marked or caused by fever : feverish

“Rosa saw that today Magda was going to die, and at the same time a fearful joy ran in Rosa’s two palms, her fingers were on fire, she was astonished, febrile: Magda, in the sunlight, swaying on her pencil legs, was howling.”

The Shawl paragraph 10

I wasn’t sure but I thought the word was closely related to madness. She was instead feverish (not the sick kind). Rosa was overcome with great emotion and was greatly excited at Magda finally dying.

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Glossary

Sulk: Beloved

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sulk
səlk/
verb
verb: sulk; 3rd person present: sulks; past tense: sulked; past participle: sulked; gerund or present participle: sulking
1. 1.
be silent, morose, and bad-tempered out of annoyance or disappointment.
“he was sulking over the breakup of his band”
synonyms: mope, brood, be sullen, have a long face, be in a bad mood, be in a huff, be grumpy, be moody;
informalbe down in the dumps
“Dad was sulking”
noun
noun: sulk; plural noun: sulks
1. 1.
a period of gloomy and bad-tempered silence stemming from annoyance and resentment.
“she was in a fit of the sulks”
synonyms: (bad) mood, fit of ill humor, fit of pique, pet, huff, (bad) temper; More

Beloved By Toni Morrison Page 142.
…..She kept them alive and they ignored her. Growled when they chose; sulked, explained, demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and provoked each other to the edge of violence, then over. She had begun to notice that even when Beloved was quiet, dreamy, minding her own business, Sethe got her going again…
Word Reused with meaning
…Growled when they chose; bad mood, explained, demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and provoked…

 

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Glossary

Beloved: Spry

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spry
sprī/
adjective
adjective: spry; comparative adjective: spryer; superlative adjective: spryest
(especially of an old person) active; lively.
“he continued to look spry and active well into his eighties”
synonyms: sprightly, lively, agile, nimble, energetic, active, full of energy, full of vim and vigor, vigorous, spirited, animated, vivacious, frisky, peppy
“isn’t Aunt Helen spry for her age?”

Taken from Beloved By Toni Morrison Page 109…
……First she’d be up and spry in the morning and by the second milking she couldn’t stand up. Next she took to sleeping late. The day I went up there she was in bed the whole day, and I thought to carry her some bean soup and ask her then. When I opened the bedroom door she looked at me from underneath her nightcap. Already it was hard to catch life in her eyes……

Word Spry Reused
…First she’d be up and be active in the morning and by the second milking……

 

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