Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Wednesday Word: Junk


junk 1 |jə ng k|nouninformal old or discarded articles that are considereduseless or of little value.• worthless writing, talk, or ideas I can't write this kind of junk.• Finance junk bonds.informal heroin.the lump of oily fibrous tissue in a sperm whale's head, containing spermaceti.verb [ trans. informaldiscard or abandon unceremoniously sort out what couldbe sold off and junk the rest.ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting an old orinferior rope): of unknown originSense 1 dates fromthe mid 19th cent.junk 2nouna flat-bottomed sailing vessel typical in China and the East Indies, with a prominent stem, a high stern, and lugsails.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from obsolete French juncque orPortuguese junco, from Malayjong, reinforced by Dutch jonk
One little word, so many meanings. And the dictionary doesn't even mention the slang use of this word--you know, like men's junk. One of the protagonists of Junk has a lot junk. Not in the trunk. In his house. He's a hoarder. Although, honestly, can you really have too many books. I guess you can if they are threatening to crush you to death. Someone get the man an ereader, stat!

What I love about Jo's stories is that they are so terribly British. Well, the fact that they are always wonderful, character-driven romances, certainly helps.

There's is this belief circulating in the m/m world that for a book to be successful it has to be set in the US because US readers are too close-minded to read anything set outside of their own world. I find this idea not only insulting to readers, but also plain wrong. The whole point of reading is to step outside of your own world and visit others. Am I right?

4 comments:

  1. I did not know that about the sperm whales!

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    1. Me neither! But with a name like that it's no wonder they have junk on the brain.

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  2. British books are some of my favorites! I really love the terribly British characters in JM's books!

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    1. Jo creates lovely characters, and I love their local color.

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