Wondrous Words Wednesday

button for Wondrous Words Wednesday meme Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion’s Weblog. Kathy says: “Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.”

This week’s Wednesday Word came from a conversation I had with my husband last night. He used the word piranha when he meant pariah. I corrected him and told him that piranha is that fish with teeth.

Photo by Robert Wallace, used under Creative Commons License. Click photo to see more of his work on Flickr.

Of course, he asked, “What is pariah?” Which is the moment I realized that pariah is one of those words that I can spell and use in a sentence, but don’t really know what it means.

I looked up pariah in the Oxford English Dictionary (accessible via my library card) and learned that pariah means outcast and comes from a Tamil word related to the Indian caste system. The OED implies that our usage is dependent upon a 19th-century European’s understanding of the Indian caste system, which I took to mean that what I learned in school might not be an accurate representation of reality in India.

Check Kathy’s post for today to learn more words.

Comments

Wondrous Words Wednesday — 7 Comments

bermudaonion (Kathy) on March 23, 2011 at 11:54 am said:

Pariah is one of those words that everyone uses and I always understand what they’re saying but could never define. Thanks for looking it up for us.

Reply ↓
Tea on March 23, 2011 at 12:10 pm said:

Glad the word “pariah” is explained. Had no idea it had something to do with the Indian caste system. Thank you.

Reply ↓
Martha@Hey, I want to read that on March 23, 2011 at 12:16 pm said:

Hey, I know this word and there’s a story why. When I was growing up my dad would play games at the dinner table. But, not your typical 20 questions type game, noooo, not my dad. We played spelling and math test. Not in a intense, pushy parent kind of way-more like he’s a big old learning geek and liked to share it with his kids. Well, anyway, I clearly remember this being my word one night because I felt like such a know-it-all when I knew this word.

Thanks for bringing back a fun memory.

Reply ↓
- Joy Weese Moll on March 23, 2011 at 12:20 pm said:
  
  Great story, Martha! You’ve made me smile twice today (I liked the imaginary cooking show that you mentioned on Margot’s post today about the word “fond”).
  
  Reply ↓
Robert Wallace on March 23, 2011 at 12:48 pm said:

Thanks for using my photo, and thanks for the acknowledgement!

Reply ↓
Margot on March 23, 2011 at 1:36 pm said:

Great story about how new words fill our everyday life. I like Martha’s story as well. Great picture.

Reply ↓
Bev@My Reader's Block on March 24, 2011 at 6:59 pm said:

Great stories! And like you, I “knew” what a pariah was, but I’m not sure I could have just whipped out a definition.

I’m late to the party this week. But finally got mine up: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/03/wondrous-words-wednesday-on-thursday.html

Reply ↓