James Thurber

“Thurberisms”

December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961

Thurberisms• “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

• “Let us not look back to the past with anger, nor towards the future with feat, but look around with awareness.

• “You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.” • “The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of

sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.”

• “Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?”

• “Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.”

• “He who hesitates is sometimes saved.”

• “All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.”

Vocabulary for“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”By James Thurber

1.coreopsis (271)

Daisy-like flowers

2. disdainful (271)

expressing disgust

3. satire (271)

a literary work that ridicules or pokes fun at a situation

4. relished (271)

enjoyed; ;to enjoy or to please

5. inconsistency (271)

not staying the same

6. buffeted (271)

beaten back

7.rakishly (272)

having a trim neat appearance

8.grossly (273)

very wrong; immediately obvious

9.lurched (273)

to suddenly roll, pitch, or sway to one side

10. tertiary (273)

a third time

11. craven (274)

cowardly, afraid

12. grave (274)

requiring serious thought

13.bicarbonate (275)

an acid salt of carbonic acid used to settle upset stomachs; an antacid, like “Alka-seltzer”

14. pandemonium (275)

wild disorder, noise or confusion

15. bedlam (275)

any noisy, confused place or situation; noise and confusion; uproar

16. cur (275)

a person who is mean, contemptible or worthless, cowardly

17. cannonading (276)

a continuous firing of artillery

18. barrage (276)

a curtain of artillery fire laid down to keep enemy forces from moving

19. derisive (277)

ridiculing, making fun of

20. inscrutable (277)

mysterious; that which cannot be understood

Extra Credit: Ellipsis

. . .