word.

WORD.

I am assiduously avoiding (here) all the ways in which this book spoke to me and am instead going off on a tangent and dragging you with me. I have compiled a vocabulary list of the all the words in Fun Home that I did not know, were forms I did not recognize, and words I needed to be reminded of.

I was struck by Bechdel’s strong use of vocabulary that is not “everyday words” and recognize that the “new-to-me-word” ratio is very high in this text.  If anyone were to consider the graphic memoir an easy read because of the pictures, this text deflates that argument.  Not just by the vocabulary, but also by the literary references that span from Greek mythology to the 20^th century.

legerdemain |ˌlejərdəˈmān, ˈlejərdəˌmān|

noun

skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks.

Daedalus |ˈdedl-əs|Greek Mythology

a craftsman, considered the inventor of carpentry, who is said to have built the labyrinth for Minos, king of Crete. Minos imprisoned him and his son Icarus, but they escaped using wings that Daedalus made and fastened with wax. Icarus, however, flew too near the sun and was killed.

simulacrum |ˌsimyəˈlākrəm, -ˈlak-|

noun ( pl. simulacra |-ˈlākrə, -ˈlakrə| or simulacrums )

an image or representation of someone or something: a small-scale simulacrum of a skyscraper.

• an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute: a bland simulacrum of American soul music.

buss |bəs| archaic or informal

noun

a kiss.

verb [ with obj. ]

kiss.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: alteration of late Middle English bass (noun and verb), probably from French baiser, from Latin basiare .

suffuse |səˈfyo͞oz|

verb [ with obj. ]

gradually spread through or over: her cheeks were suffused with color | the first half of the poem is suffused with idealism.

DERIVATIVES

suffusion |-ˈfyo͞oZHən|noun,

inure |iˈn(y)o͝or|(also enure )

verb

1 [ with obj. ] (usu. be inured to) accustom (someone) to something, esp. something unpleasant: these children have been inured to violence.

2 [ no obj. ] (inure for/to) Law come into operation; take effect: a release given to one of two joint contractors inures to the benefit of both.

carom |ˈkarəm|

verb [ no obj. ]

make a carom; strike and rebound.

-valent

comb. form

1 having a valency of the specified number: trivalent.

qualm |kwä(l)m, kwô(l)m|

noun

an uneasy feeling of doubt, worry, or fear, esp. about one's own conduct; a misgiving: military regimes generally have no qualms about controlling the press.

• a momentary faint or sick feeling.

DERIVATIVES

qualmish adjective

doleful |ˈdōlfəl|

adjective

expressing sorrow; mournful: a doleful look.

• causing grief or misfortune: doleful consequences.

noblesse |nōˈbles|

noun

the nobility.

PHRASES

noblesse oblige |nōˈbles ōˈblēZH|the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged: there was to being a celebrity a certain element of noblesse oblige.

discomfit |disˈkəmfit|

verb ( discomfits, discomfiting , discomfited ) [ with obj. ]

make (someone) feel uneasy or embarrassed: he was not noticeably discomfited by her tone.

epistle |iˈpisəl|

noun formal

a letter.

• a poem or other literary work in the form of a letter or series of letters.

effloresce |ˌefləˈres|

verb

1 [ no obj. ] (of a substance) lose moisture and turn to a fine powder upon exposure to air.

• (of salts) come to the surface of brickwork, rock, or other material and crystallize there.

• (of a surface) become covered with salt particles.

2 reach an optimum stage of development; blossom: simple concepts that effloresce into testable conclusions.

DERIVATIVES

efflorescence |-ˈresəns|noun,

fecund |ˈfekənd, ˈfē-|

adjective

producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertile: a lush and fecund garden | figurative : her fecund imagination.

• technical (of a woman or women) capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth.

DERIVATIVES

fecundity |feˈkəndətē, fiˈkən-|noun

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeia |ˌänəˌmatəˈpēə, -ˌmätə-|

noun

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo, sizzle).

• the use of such words for rhetorical effect.

prestidigitation |ˌprestəˌdijəˈtāSHən|

noun formal

magic tricks performed as entertainment.

humectant |(h)yo͞oˈmektənt|

adjective

retaining or preserving moisture.

noun

a substance, esp. a skin lotion or a food additive, used to reduce the loss of moisture.

succor |ˈsəkər|(Brit. succour )

noun

assistance and support in times of hardship and distress.

• (succors) archaic reinforcements of troops.

postlapsarian |ˌpōstlapˈse(ə)rēən|

adjectiveTheology or literary

occurring or existing after the Fall of Man.

lissome |ˈlisəm|(also chiefly Brit. lissom )

adjective

(of a person or their body) thin, supple, and graceful.

crepuscular |krəˈpəskyələr|

adjective

of, resembling, or relating to twilight.

• Zoology (of an animal) appearing or active in twilight.

bathetic |bəˈTHetik|

adjective

producing an unintentional effect of anticlimax: the movie manages to be poignant without becoming bathetic.

solipsism |ˈsälipˌsizəm|

noun

the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.

DERIVATIVES

solipsist noun,

solipsistic |ˌsälipˈsistik|adjective,

autodidact |ˌôtōˈdīˌdakt|

noun

a self-taught person.

mori

onerous |ˈōnərəs, ˈänərəs|

adjective

(of a task, duty, or responsibility) involving an amount of effort and difficulty that is oppressively burdensome: he found his duties increasingly onerous.

• Law involving heavy obligations: an onerous lease.

deracinate |diˈrasəˌnāt|

verb [ with obj. ] literary

tear (something) up by the roots.

DERIVATIVES

deracination |-ˌrasəˈnāSHən|noun

dishabille |ˌdisəˈbēl|(also deshabille )

noun

the state of being only partly or scantily clothed: the relaxed dishabille of Lely's portraits.

mien |mēn|

noun literary

a person's look or manner, esp. one of a particular kind indicating their character or mood: he has a cautious, academic mien.

disport |disˈpôrt|

verb [ no obj. ] archaic or humorous

enjoy oneself unrestrainedly; frolic: a painting of lords and ladies disporting themselves by a lake.

approximant |əˈprɒksɪm(ə)nt|

noun

1 Mathematics a function, series, or other expression which is an approximation to the solution of a problem.

2 Phonetics a consonant produced by bringing one articulator (the tongue or lips) close to another without actually touching it, as in English r and w .

fricative |ˈfrikətiv|Phonetics

adjective

denoting a type of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening, producing a turbulent air flow.

lacuna |ləˈk(y)o͞onə|

noun ( pl. lacunae |-nī, -nē| or lacunas )

an unfilled space or interval; a gap: the journal has filled a lacuna in Middle Eastern studies.

• a missing portion in a book or manuscript.

• Anatomy a cavity or depression, esp. in bone.

tautology |tôˈtäləjē|

noun ( pl. tautologies )

the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g., they arrived one after the other in succession).

• a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words.

• Logic a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form.

divagate |ˈdīvəˌgāt|

verb [ no obj. ] literary

stray; digress: Yeats divagated into Virgil's territory only once.

DERIVATIVES

divagation |ˌdīvəˈgāSHən|noun

Scylla |ˈsilə|Greek Mythology

a female sea monster who devoured sailors when they tried to navigate the narrow channel between her cave and the whirlpool Charybdis. In later legend Scylla was a dangerous rock, located on the Italian side of the Strait of Messina.

Charybdis |kəˈribdis, CHə-|Greek Mythology

a dangerous whirlpool in a narrow channel of the sea, opposite the cave of the sea monster Scylla.

obtund |äbˈtənd|

verb [ with obj. ] dated, chiefly Medicine

dull the sensitivity of; blunt; deaden.

consubstantial |ˌkänsəbˈstanCHəl|

adjective

of the same substance or essence (used esp. of the three persons of the Trinity in Christian theology): Christ is consubstantial with the Father.