Sunday, February 5, 2012

Vocabulary Question?

For school we have to watch the movie "Desperate Croosing" from the History Channel. Then we have to do a report on it. On part of the report is to define a bunch of vocab words as they relate to the pilgirms and the mayflower(or anything to do with that time, like realting to the King.)



Most of these words I have found in the movie but one word that I cannot find is Inscrutable.



Can anyone tell me how this is related???! PLEASE

Vocabulary Question?
Hi, soccergirl,

The word "inscrutable" is often used to describe a person who is "hard to read" or "keeps their feelings to themselves" or "is hard to understand". The Pilgrims who were very strict about their lives, were being persecuted in England. Most people in England at that time would have considered it almost a death sentence to have to go to the New World, and they would also have believed that the Pilgrims would have felt the same way. However, that was not the case - the Pilgrims were happy to go to the New World - it was like salvation for them - so they were inscrutable - the people around them in England really didn't understand them and were not able to interpret how they really felt about things.



When they got to the new world they made decisions about life style, farming practices, etc. that may not have made any sense to the people back in England - again they were being inscrutable. They kept their reasons to themselves. Another phrase that describes this word is "they kept their cards close to their chests" - they preferred to keep to themselves and not reveal a lot about themselves to other people.



Generally, many people just did not understand them and they were happy to keep much of their thinking and feelings to themselves.



I hope this helps.
Reply:Glad to be of help. Thank you for the best answer. Report It
Reply:Inscrutable

Enigmatic – Difficult to interpret, understand or explain

Deadpan

Unfathomable – So mysterious or complicated that understanding is impossible

Hard to make out

Impenetrable

Unreadable

Hard to interpret because not expressing anything obvious



I hope this helps. I guess I would need to see what context the word is used in to relate to the era you discussed.
Reply:Definition of inscrutable (adjective)

impenetrable; not readily understood; mysterious


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