Penchant for Penning

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Horripilation – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/09/2019

Sneaking Up on Spooky

Only four Wordplay Wednesdays until my favorite Holiday of the year! Today and the rest of this month’s words all have a connection to this ethereal celebration.

♪ Anticipation … ♪ can you feel it? Let’s get spooky …

HORRIPILATION (hô ripʹɘ lāʹshɘn) n. – the erection of hair on the head or body, as from fear, disease, or cold; goose bumps. [WW #237]

Ah, yes, Halloween … All Hallow’s Eve … Samhain … however you say it, at some point in the coming weeks, you’ll feel horripilation at the anticipation of ghosts, goblins, witches, warlocks, and the intrepid stroke of midnight, as the veil lifts between our world … and the next …

Oh, the horror of it! Or for some, the absolute glory of it.

How much do you know about this ancient observance and its tradition of horripilation? To start, the Celtic Samhain* mentioned above, is where the global customs began. *The entrance passage to the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara is aligned with the rising sun around Samhain. The Mound of the Hostages is 4,500 to 5000 years old, suggesting that Samhain was celebrated long before the first Celts arrived in Ireland about 2,500 years ago.

For most of us, it’s the FUN of it! Whether you don a creepy costume or stay home with a big bowl of goodies by the door and a stack of horror movies queued up, enjoy the tingling (and safe) horripilation of the Holiday.

Channel your inner Wolfman Jack and howl at the moon. It’ll release your anxieties and confuse the hell out of your neighbors! ♪ "My eyes beheld an eerie sight ..." ♪ Aaaawwooo!

Word Challenge: HORRIPILATION. Consider your beliefs of the connection between this world and the otherworld, as you slip horripilation into your week of eerie writings.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle)

Cheers to learning a new word on Wordplay Wednesday!

Wicked Witch of the West

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

Note: Dictionary definitions are quoted from Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

Endnote: FYI – All links in the PFP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion.

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Vulpine – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/02/2019

PFP SCRIBE NATION NEWS 10/02/19 @ 6:09a MDT: I use Tweetdeck.Twitter.com to schedule my blog posts and such. But since last night (10/01/19), it’s been rendered offline and useless. Hopefully, it’s fixed soon, but in the meantime, it’s a terrific example of this week’s Wordplay Wednesday word!

VULPINE: how to describe the nefarious forces that dog our work online … shame on them. They are, foxily cunning and voraciously cruel to hardworking people. Rise above, Tweetdeck! On to the real Wordplay post. Enjoy …

Many foxes grow gray, but few grow good. – Benjamin Franklin

Have you someone in your circle of people—friend, foe, family, or business frenemy—who always has a surreptitious motive for everything they do or say? There’s a word for that …

VULPINE (vɘlʹ pīn) adj. – 1) of or like a fox or foxes; 2) clever, cunning, etc. [WW #236]

An excellent word for novelists, as vulpine does not appear often in common fiction. Be vulpine and add vulpine to your vocabulary for expressive and visual commentary or a particularly duplicitous fiction character.

As far as shifty fiction foxes go, the dastardly Fox-Lox of *”Chicken Little“ fame is classic (spoiler alert: he eats Chicken Little); however, you don’t need to be a fox to demonstrate your vulpine nature.

Can we not visualize the sly wolf in the Brothers Grimm’s folk tale, *”Little Red Riding Hood,” bringing vulpine to mind? Of course, he is a wolf (a “big, bad” one), but his traits are synonymous with the deceiving fox, and oh, so charming!

*Though most of us remember this fairy tale from Brothers Grimm, it originated through Charles Perrault, a 17^th century pioneer author of folklore fairy tales (think Mother Goose), who inspired their compilations and writings more than a century later.

The Brothers G also turned out The Fox and the Cat. But the ol’ fox wasn’t so clever or foxy and for him, the story doesn’t end well. “Chicken Little,” also centuries old, has many incarnations (anyone heard of “Henny Penny”?).

Your subject for vulpine need not be fictional or beast. We can apply the “sly like a fox” idiom to any number of humans, known both personally and worldwide. I won’t name names, but suffice it to say, vulpine is excellent as an alternative adjective for both fiction and non-fiction crafty personalities.

Word Challenge: VULPINE. So, let’s cut to the chase with clever prowess, as you slip vulpine into your week of spirited writings.