Mango Street Vocabulary

CUMULUS• That up there, that’s cumulus, and everybody looks up.• White, fluffy clouds with a flat base

MARIMBAS• Or like marimbas only with funny little plucked sound to it like if you were running your fingers across the teeth of a metal comb.• A wooden, xylophone-like instrument

NIMBUS• And don’t forget nimbus the rain cloud, I add, that’s something.• A low, dark rain cloud

DESCENDED• The mother’s feet, plump and polite, descended like white pigeons from the sea of the pillow…• Went down

NAPHTHA• She is the color of a bar of naphtha laundry soap, she is like the little brown piece left at the end of the wash, the hard little bone, my sister.• A kind of soap

SLANT• It is wooden. Inside the floors slant. Some rooms uphill. Some down.• Sloped; make diagonal

CANTEEN• The special kids, the ones who wear keys around their necks, get to eat in the canteen.• A small cafeteria or snack bar

FLECKS• She is the one who told us… if you can count the white flecks on your fingernails you can know how many boys are thinking of you and lots of other things I can’t remember now.• Tiny spots

ANEMIC• I’m no Spartan and hold up an anemic wrist to prove it.• Weak; without much energy

SLATS• Didn’t even stop Refugia from getting her head stuck between two slats in the back gate and nobody looked up…• Narrow strips of wood or metal

TWANGY• And I was glad because I couldn’t listen anymore to his wild screaming at night, the twangy yakkety-yak of the people who owned him.• A sharp, vibrating sound

BAZAAR• She met a marshmallow salesman at a school bazaar, and married him in another state.• A fair or sale

TRUDGED• I say, “and so she trudged up the wooden stairs, her sad brown shoes taking her to the house she never liked.”• Walked in a heavy-footed way; plodded

SPANISH WORDS• CHANCLAS: worn-out shoes; flip flop• FRIJOLES: beans• ABUELITO: (affectionate term for) grandfather• MUERTO: dead• LOS ESPIRITUS: the spirits• BRAZER/BRACERO: temporary immigrant worker

SPANISH WORDS• MAMACITA: small mother• MAMASOTA: large mother• CUANDO: When?• AY, CARAY: Good Heavens!• COMADRES: friends, neighbors• MERENGUE: a rapid dance• TEMBLEQUE!: a dance; a hair ornament

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Mango Street Vocabulary

by jesspilgreen on Jan 03, 2012

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