Bud, Not Buddy: Chapters 16–19

by Christopher Paul Curtis
During the Great Depression, a ten-year-old boy hits the road in search of the father he has never known.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–19

Here are links to our lists for other works by Christopher Paul Curtis: The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Elijah of Buxton, The Journey of Little Charlie
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. crumble
    break or fall apart into fragments
    Right when I got near the kitchen door I could hear Herman E. Calloway saying, “. . . so that’s how that cookie’s going to crumble.”
    In this example sentence, the character, Herman Calloway, is using a slight variation of the saying "that's the way the cookie crumbles." Usually, the saying refers to a situation that doesn't involve an actual cookie, but here, the character is in a kitchen, so in a way, it has a double meaning.
  2. pulse
    the steady movement of the body's blood-pumping organ
    "I had to check your pulse to make sure you were still alive!”
  3. particular
    unique or specific to a person or thing or category
    There’s one person in particular that you’re going to have to be very patient with. Do you know who I mean?
  4. copacetic
    completely satisfactory
    He said, “Good, ’cause if you’re going to be traveling with us it just wouldn’t look too copacetic for you to be carrying that ratty old bag.”
  5. embouchure
    the aperture of a wind instrument into which the player blows directly
    "Once you’ve developed a little wind, and some tone and an embouchure we’ll move on to something a little more complicated.”
    In French "bouche" means "mouth" — which is necessary to play a wind instrument. An embouchure is the name of the opening of a wind instrument, and it is also the name for the way a player holds his or her lips, face, and teeth to blow into the instrument.
  6. nominate
    put forward
    Thug said, “Mr. Chairman, in light of the boy’s performance last night at the Sweet Pea, I nominate the name Waterworks Willie.”
  7. propose
    present for consideration, examination, or criticism
    Steady raised his hand. “Mr. Chairman, this boy’s obviously going to be a musician, he slept until twelve-thirty today, so I propose that we call him Sleepy.”
  8. compromise
    settle by concession
    Steady Eddie said, “I got it, we’ll compromise. How about Sleepy LaBone?”
  9. prodigy
    an unusually gifted or intelligent person
    "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming out on this cold November night, this night that will live in history, this night that for the first time on any stage anywhere, you have listened to the smooth saxophonical musings of that prodigy of the reed, Mr. Sleepy LaBone!”
  10. disrespectful
    exhibiting lack of regard; rude and discourteous
    “You throw a lot of ‘sirs’ around but you’ve still got a real strong, real smart-mouthed, disrespectful streak in you, boy."
  11. insinuate
    suggest in an indirect or covert way; give to understand
    This was another strange question, but before I could answer, Miss Thomas said, "James, what are you insinuating? I knew there was something familiar about this boy..."
  12. tragedy
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    When you got someone as old as Herman E. Calloway crying you better look around, ’cause you know you’re square in the middle of one of those boiling tragedies.
  13. hue
    the quality of a color determined by its dominant wavelength
    This is a hard world...there’s a hundred million folks out there of every shade and hue, both male and female, who are just dying to be harder on her than I ever could be.
    Here, "hue" is synonymous with "shade," and both refer to the color of one's skin.
  14. overboard
    to extremes
    He was determined that she was going to be the first Calloway to get schooling all the way through college so he thought he had to be strict on her, but he went overboard, Bud, simple as that.
  15. blues
    a state of depression
    Herman E. Calloway was making everybody feel like they had the blues, it looked like Mr. Jimmy’d just wiped some tears from his eyes too.
    People refer to having the "blues" when they are sad. The "blues" is also the name of a type of music invented by Black Americans. Blues songs often have melancholy lyrics about hard times.
Created on Sat Dec 14 12:41:20 EST 2013 (updated Fri Jul 11 11:17:39 EDT 2025)

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