Vocabulary for
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
with Sniffy the Hamster, resident wordsmith
Printable Version (opens in new window).
Sniffy says: “Emperor. Yes, yes I know that one. Noun. Person. He is the king, the monarch, the ruler, the boss of the kingdom. Emperor of the empire. He is the ‘person’ of the ‘place’ ha, ha, ha, ha, ha . . .” Sniffy rolls on the ground holding his fuzzy white belly. “Get it? Get it? Hmmmm. Oh well. Emperor schmemperor. He is the big Foofah, with the gold Doodah on his head. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.” Sniffy is laughing again uncontrollably. He accidentally snorts some wood chips up his nose and sneezes repeatedly until the chips come out and then, still giggling, wanders up into his balcony to get a hold of himself.
Sniffy says: “Lithe? Adjective, definitely. Describes a noun. When something is easily bent and graceful it is lithe. When a cooked piece of spaghetti is floating and moving in the water it is lithe. When I do ballet, I am lithe. I am flexible. I am graceful.” Sniffy gets into first position and gracefully reaches down and touches his tiny pink little toes. “But! When I take an almond into my wheel for a snack and then try to run without taking the almond out and it keeps bonking me on the head and I can't figure out what I’ve done wrong, I’m just trying to exercise and I’m getting such a headache and the noise . . . run run run, bonk, run, run, run, bonk! Nope, nope then I am not lithe. I am stiff and choppy and ducking and bracing myself for the next almond impact and trying to run, but definitely not lithe.”
Sniffy says: “Aye me mates! We’ve got some jolly good portholes right here! Good noun. Person, place or thing. Thing definitely. Look! Look!” Sniffy runs to one of his round openings that connects his cage to his tubes and hops through the opening then back, through, then back. “It’s round, usually.” Hop through. Hop back. “It’s an opening,” Hop through. Hop back. “Like a gate.” Hop. Hop. “Or a window.” He hops through and pulls a little clear sliding door closed, presses his mouth up against the plastic and shouts, very muffled. “Portholes can usually be closed.” Slides the door open. “Usually found on an airplane, or on a ship!” Sniffy makes one gigantic hop back into his cage and lands, splash! in his water dish, and salutes, dripping wet. “Aye, aye, captain!”
Sniffy says: “Oui, oui! Ze beautiful French word! She is pronounced like fate or fet. It is a funny word no? She is a noun, another thing.” Sniffy plops down into his food dish as if it were a piece of patio furniture on the Riviera and gets a faraway dreamy look in his beady little black eyes. “I once went to a fete, it is a beautiful party, big, outdoors, plenty of guests, entertainment, food . . . Ah, ze food! Peanuts, broccoli, ripe corn on the cob and cheese! Ze French know how to make ze cheese! We ate and ate until ze music she began to play, ze candles were being lit. . .” Sniffy jumps to attention. “. . . and ze cats were let out of ze house! It was an outrage! We had to run for our lives! No, no, no! Fete is an ugly word, no?”
On-Line Dictionaries
The Free Dictionary: This is now my favorite on-line dictionary (the box above links to this dictionary). Not only does it provide you with audios to pronounce the word, but it also gives you examples of the word used in context. They also have a "References in classic literature" section which provides entire sentences from classic literature in which the word is used. Also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedia and more.
Answers.com: This is not just a dictionary, but it has a dictionary and the reason I list it is because the dictionary has an audio pronunciation feature which is very helpful when one comes across words that are difficult to pronounce or have never been seen before. Access is free.
The Dictionary of Difficult Words: Good resource for those words that your dictionary doesn't have or that other on-line dictionaries do not have.
A Latin Dictionary: This is great resource for Latin. There is even a downloadable version for your computer that will do both Latin/English and English/Latin.
Dictionary.com Free Access. You can purchase additional features.
Merriam-Webster Free Access.
WordSmyth A children's dictionary is also available. This dictionary requires registration. Free Access.
Oxford English Dictionary The best English dictionary in the world! This dictionary requires paid subscription. $29.95 per month or $295.00 per year.
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