Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. Visit her site to learn more interesting words!
Time Magazine calls Where’d You Go Bernadette “a cracklingly smart family dramedy.” Smart indeed! I’ve had to look up several words! Take halcyon, for example. Here’s an excerpt, in which Bernadette’s annoying neighbor writes to her friend:
Oh, Soo-Lin, just writing this transports me to the halcyon days when we were happily collecting outrages about Bernadette! What simple times those were.
I had no Latin roots up my sleeve to help me with this one. But I bet my dad, the bird watcher, might know it.
halcyon \’hal-sē-ən\ from the Latin halcyon
- Noun: – a bird identified with the kingfisher and held in ancient legend to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation
- Adjective: calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent
(And for those of you who don’t know what a kingfisher is, that’s a type of brightly colored bird that has a long, thin bill and that catches fish by diving into the water.)
Word Nerd Workout
Use halcyon in a sentence to describe a happy, peaceful, or prosperous time. My example:
The sound of waves crashing will always remind me of our halcyon days in Maui.
Your turn, and thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Julia
This one is an old friend for me. Our past memories are often tinged with an unrealistic, halcyon glow, aren’t they?
Excellent sentiment and sentence. Thanks for playing!
I had the association of calmness in my mind, but it’s good to get a specific definition. And I’ve always wondered what a kingfisher looked like–thanks!
Me too! I was glad I could find a picture.
Hi Julie,
I already know of halcyon as a verb, in the context of peace, harmony and affluence. The definition of the word as a noun however, is completely new to me although I am familiar with the kingfisher bird. Spotting this beautiful and elusive creature is very difficult, yet so rewarding, when you see its beauty and grace.
“Times when we were able to afford to treat family members to holidays in Florida and watching the children’s faces in Disney World, were definitely amongst our most precious halcyon days”
Thanks for the lovely word this week,
Yvonne
The general consensus in America is that retirement brings on halcyon days of travel and time doing what you want, not necessarily so! It can be a struggle for lots of average Americans.
I had an idea what halcyon meant but I wasn’t exactly right. I knew it meant something good but thought you used it when that good thing was almost perfect. I had many halcyon days in my childhood – if only I’d realized it at the time!
A nice calming word.
During labor my daughter-in-law used her five senses to adopt a halcyon environment for herself between contractions. She practiced this for months prior to the big day. It worked!
I long for halcyon nights when both girls go to sleep easily and rest peacefully until morning. Preferably after 7 a.m.!
I long for those same nights, Nicole. Great workout sentence!