The Gory Details (Gross)

Gory Details #23: "The Words of Terror"

Gory Detail #23 "The Words of Terror"

J.D. Stottlemire

3219 SW Kent

Topeka, KS 66614

Word Count: 1000

Here's a big word, Lexicon. It means a words used by a specific group of people. Politicians, for example, use words like, "kickback" and "naked intern." Horror writers are no different. Some words sound good in a horror story but are pretty obscure. I've looked some of these words up and have them presented here. I've added a few seasonal touches since it is the holidays and the only thing I want to give thanks for is the occasional report that one of those wretched bell ringers has died because a crowd of women, filled with their spirit of the season, have stampeded him on the way to Dillards' sock sale. Enjoy.

Corporal

Having to do with the physical body or, more generally, with the physical universe. In horror it often means before death; "I was part of the corporal world until the sock sale."

Crucifix

A simple model of the cross is not considered to be a crucifix. A crucifix is any depiction of the crucifixion of Christ. Without Christ, it's just two sticks. Wow, I should make a bumper sticker.

Defile

Defile means to pollute. To put orange rind in the cranberry sauce is to defile it.

Effigy

An effigy is any figure or doll meant to look like a person. The word is most often used when an effigy is burned. A doll used in Voodoo rituals or other ceremonies could be said to be an effigy. "It looked like Santa. Funny, burnt just the same. Hmmm."

Effluvium

This is a foul smelling gas or liquid that is flowing out of something. You wouldn't have a pool of effluvium but effluvium would run from a water filled crypt.

Emasculate

Literally to castrate, emasculate can mean any act that takes the power from someone. A woman may be emasculated if she has power or control stripped from her.

Gore

Gore makes the horror world go round. Literally it means to stab as by a bull and is a word for blood. More commonly Gore is used to describe any body part from any animal that has been chopped, hacked, smeared or weed whacked into a lumpy, slimy puddle.

I love Gore. I love it so much.

Gothic

Gothic is a really abused word. It refers to a 12th to 15th century architectural style. We've all seen it, big heavy cathedrals and castles with lots of overhangs. What is has become is a word for a culture of dark clothes, dark thoughts and crucifixes.

Gruesome

Something that is Gruesome is gory or disgusting. The inference is that something gruesome is hard to look at i.e. gruesome crime scene photos.

In Extremis

At death's door.

Immolate

If you sacrifice something or destroy it completely, you Immolate it. This is sometimes wrongly used mean burned. You could immolate something by burning it, but the burning itself is not immolation.

Macabre

This word is usually used to describe horror fiction rather than appearing in it. The most literal translation would be "gross." But it usually means horrifying and fascinating, like watching pumpkin pie bits get caught in Aunt Flo's moustache.

Miasma

It was believed that disease causing vapors rose out of swamps, sewers, and the like. When the air was full of these, the air would be said to be a Miasma. In modern usage, it is often used to mean a noxious mix of elements. "The Christmas Dinner was a miasma of noisy inlaws."

Midden

A pile of sewage or garbage. Often used in archeology.

Morbid

To be morbid is to be fascinated with gruesome or depressing topics or to be depressed. I track the increase in heart attacks during the holidays. They run about 10% more in the two weeks after Thanksgiving. That's a morbid fascination.

Murder

Duh. Murder. You know, take a live person and make them dead. I think Lord Voll on Star Trek put it best. He suggested you take some one's melon and smash it open.

Noisome

Anything that is nasty or gross could be said to be noisome. It is used to describe things like rotten vegetables or garbage rather than ideas or mildly gross things. Making fart noises in your armpit isn't noisome, for example.

Offal

This word is often incorrectly used to mean feces. It refers to the leftovers from butchered animals. You know, all the stuff they take out before they put the stuffing in.

Ooze

If it's thick and flows slowly or if it's made of something that flows slowly, it is an Ooze.

Pall

A Pall is a dark shadow/bad mood kind of thing. If you cast a Pall, you may have said something gloomy like, "Only 109 more shopping days till Christmas." Or you might have done something to make the physical world gloomy as in, "The smoke from the burned ham cast a Pall over the kitchen."

This is also the name of the cloth that lies across a casket.

Preternatural

This really just means supernatural but has often been used to mean superhuman or a skill exceeding everyone else's ability i.e. someone with preternatural hearing would hear things others couldn't.

Putrefy

This is the first word in the sacred trio of rotting. The Trip is:

Putrefy – To rot

Putrescent – In the process of rotting

Putrid – Rotted

Lets use them in sentences;

November 1 - "Hey, if you guy don't throw those Jack-O-Lanterns in they'll putrify."

November 15 – "Your Jack-O-Lanterns have started shriveling. They're putrescent."

December 1 – "That pool of goo under your dead Jack-O-Lanterns is really putrid."

Sibilant

I'm so glad I looked this up. All these Harry Potter books and I'd never checked what a Sibilant whisper is. It means a hissing sound; like how you have to talk after Thanksgiving dinner while all the "manly men" are sleeping and farting in front of the football game.

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