Words

I love the english language(ah, yes, I am from India)
I came across some interesting words that relate to forma and shapes and likenesses.
They are fascinating and I wanted to share them with you.
Here we go :-
Amygdaloid - Shaped like an almond
Anguine - Snake-like
Cestoid - Ribbon -like
Cucullate - Shaped like a hood
Ctenoid - Shaped like a comb or teeth
Crenellate - Notched / teeth-shaped
Cymbiform - Boat- shaped
Cuneate - Wedege-shaped
Cordate - Heart-shaped
Costate - Ribbed, having ribbs
Coronoid - Curved like a crow's beak(derived from Greek, a word meaning crow)
Cornious - hornlike(the corns in your feet derive from the root word 'corn'
Ethnoid - Sleeve-like
Falcate - Hooked, sickle-shaped
Flabellate - Fan-shaped
Fusiform - Shaped like a spindle; like a cigar tapered at both ends
Forficate - Scissors-shaped
Fimbricate - Fringed, bordered with hairs
Ganoid - Smooth, enamelled(of fish scales etc)
Guttate - Speckled
Imbricate - Arranged so as to overlap like tiles
Infindibular - Funnel-shaped
Loricate - Having defensive armour of bones, plates, scales etc(Rhino, croc)
Oblate - Spheroid
Ovine - Of, like sheep
Paonue - Of, like peacock
Patulous - Open, expanded
Pergamenous -Of, like parchment
Penannular - almost ring-like
Pelagian - Of, inhabiting open sea
Pluvial - of the rain
Psittacine - of, like a parrot
Quaquaversal - Pointing in all directions
Rosulate - Packed over each other like rose petals
Secund - Arranged on one side only, as flowers on a stem etc
Securiform - Shaped like axe
Setaceous - Having bristles
Suberose - Of, like cork
Struthious - Of, like an ostrich !!(You may wonder who on earth can use such a word. Well I came across it in that great guy, Nabokov's, novel ADA. I could not find the word in ordinary ,dictionaries way back then in 1970.)
Sigmoid - Curved like 'S' , inverted curve
Taliped - Club-footed
Tortile - Twisted, curved
Turbinate - Shaped like an inverted cone or top
Urceolate - Shaped like a pitcher(large body, small neck)

Dumas

Dear friends,
My first entry is about some books.
The earliest impression, quite deep that anovel made on was by "The count of Monte-Cristoe", by Alexander Dumas. I was studying in high-school, way back in 1959, I guess. From that day, Dumas became my favourite. If you have not read the book(original, not abridged) I urge you to do so, irrespective of your age. Dumas to me, is vintage wine. I am sure there must be lots and lots of his fans around the world.
Bye, for now .
And then there is "The Man in the Iron Mask" Reading it is an unforgettable experience. Modern day so called bestseller writers (who rely on rote and technique) will have to stand and stare in awe at the storytelling powers of Dumas. Read it, read it !! and then tell me if I am correct or I am correct.
Ah, and don't forget to read his other novels[there are so many, 1000, it is said !!]
Black Tulip
Matgauret de Valois
The Three Musketeers
Twenty Years After
Son of Porthos
Vicomte de Bragalone
The Corsican Brothers
Joseph Balsamo(very good)
While we are at it, I would like to tell you my another hero - Victor Hugo.
His Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables are incomparable. You will realise the grandeur of prose(I have read only the english translations, as I do not know French. You can then understand how much more grand the original French could be.)