Some word are greater than others. Names, for instance, hold a power of their own. Titles, also. There are words that resonate in most people’s minds, words such as war, peace, love, hate.
Then there are words that are more personal, words one
discovers over a lifetime. You may not even think about it, but chances are
there are certain words that resonate specifically with you, words that when
read, project an immediate subjective draw. These special words in a book title
may compel you to buy the book, or in a movie description, may pique your interest
in the film no matter what it’s really about.
Here are some of my words. I don’t know why these
particular words. I don’t know when I developed the connection. I don’t know if
these words speak only to me or to people in general. I only know that I stop,
look, and listen whenever these words come about:
Dark: I
recently read this apocalyptic noir cat mystery by Clea Simon, “As Dark As My Fur”
Lost: One of
my favorite films for one of my most compelling words is “The Lost Room,” the 2006
SyFy Channel miniseries that was far too unique and intelligent for its time.
Noir: Noir is a genre
of dark crime drama with no happy endings, such as the 1944 film, “Laura”, or
the modern Lennox Cooper series by Lily Gardner. Noir translates to black in French, but it is so much more. Even the artwork
is compelling.
Twilight: As
the word, twilight, gained notoriety through
the vampire books and movies, it lost some of its personal draw. To me, twilight summons a different image, the lessening of the light, the lengthing of shadows, and that day-meets-night
period when anything can happen. Then there’s always the Twilight Zone.
Moon: So far
and yet so near, moon is a perfect
jumping-off point for the imagination. Movies include Moon (2009), Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902), and Cat-Women of the Moon (1953). Books, Bouncing offthe Moon, by David Gerrold, De
la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne 1865), and of course the classic Goodnight, Moon. People whose names are Moon include Moon Unit, daughter of Frank Zappa, and comic character Moon Mullins (1924).
Rose: Is it
because I was born in the City of Roses I felt compelled to incorporate the
word, rose, in two of my former art
businesses, Woodrose and Rainbow Rose?
Sky: To me,
the word, sky, brings infinite possibilities. Authors, song writers,
and film makers seem to feel the same. Here are only a few titles: Sky King (TV), Sky Captain
and the World of Tomorrow (Film), Ghost Riders in the Sky (Ballad), and October Sky (Movie).
Ion: Simple, elegant,
scientific. What’s not to like about the word, Ion?
(This photo is on a molecule, but as close as I could get.)
There are many other words that command my attention,
such as cat or trek, but those make sense because they stem from my interests. The list above has crept into my psyche from who-knows-where, a very different place indeed.
Do certain words draw you down a rabbit hole or zoom you
up into the stratosphere? Bring sudden images of the universe expanding, or maybe just make
you want to buy a book when you see them in the title?
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| Golden Twilight, by Irene Sheri |
Check out
more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:
Happy
reading!
A very interesting and entertaining blog, Mollie. Many of us have our favorite words--and our most disliked words.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite words are preposterous, articulate, certain, imagine, and creature. Some words I don't like are britches, sure, going forward (okay 2 words but so over used), and I particularly dislike the abundance of initials used instead of the actual words because I lose track of what on Earth the topic is or whose doing what to whom...just lost and bored.
I enjoyed your article. All the best to you...
Thanks, Sarah. I didn't want to get into words I dislike, but believe me, I have those too. Often they reflect overused terms of our time. Recently I have added "sadly" to that list. If you watch, you'll see it everywhere, usually conveying arrogance and the feeling that the writer isn’t sad at all. The first time I noticed its popularity was in a less than stellar review of one of my books. (We get those occasionally, in spite of our work being brilliant.) Every criticism- and the reviewer had many, including the opinion that since my hero had cats, she should spend more time vacuuming- was prefaced with the word, "sadly". Sadly, instead of enlightening me, it only served to make me distrust the reviewer’s ability to do her job.
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