Wednesday Word: Nyctophobia

nyctophobia |ˌniktəˈfōbēə|nounextreme or irrational fear of the night or of darkness.ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from Greek nux, nukt-‘night’ + phobia .
Happy Halloween, everyone!

Monday Men: Handsome Blond

Based on the angle and the framing, I'm pretty sure he took this picture of himself.

Sunday Snippet

The man's dark eyes seemed to accuse Denton of unspeakable crimes. Catnapping to begin with.

Eager to prove his innocence, Denton held Murry in front of him. "I have your cat. He must have jumped from your balcony to my fire escape. I found him sitting on my feet when I woke up."

Murry dangled between them as a furry peace offering for a couple of beats, before his owner reached out and took him. Those eyes focused on the cat for a moment, then back on Denton. "You fed him."

For absolutely no reason a shiver run through Denton, but he heroically ignored it. "It seemed as a polite thing to do, and it's daytime. I didn't let him get wet."

B. Maurell either hadn't seen Gremlins or had no sense of humor. "He's on a diet." The warm baritone of his voice undermined the gruffness of the words.

"What kind? If it's Atkins, all's fine--I only gave him tuna, no carbs." Denton meant it as a joke, and grinned like an idiot to bring the point home, but all he received was stony silence in exchange. Tough crowd.

Wednesday Word: Effulgent

effulgent |iˈfoŏljənt; iˈfəl-|adjective poetic/literaryshining brightly; radiant.• (of a person or their expression) emanating joy or goodness.DERIVATIVESeffulgence nouneffulgently adverbORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Latin effulgent-‘shining brightly,’ from the verb effulgere, from ex-‘out’ + fulgere ‘to shine.’

Monday Men: A Boy and his Goat

Eek! I almost forgot Monday Men. To make up for it, here is something quirky:

Nowadays this would probably be called child endangerment. I'm loving the goat though.

Seven Sentence Sunday

"I killed him," Bran said from the doorway, making them both jump a little. They turned to see him there, hands on hip. "And whatever faults Peter had, he didn't deserve that."

Layla recovered faster. "Honey, you're exaggerating. You didn't kill him."

"I turned him into a frog."

(Dead Man and the Restless Spirits.)

Wednesday Word: Crapehanger

crapehanger  or crepehanger
(KRAYP-hang-guhr)

noun: A gloomy person; a pessimist.

ETYMOLOGY:
A crapehanger was one who hung up black bands of crape as a symbol of mourning. The word is from English crepe/crape, from French crepe, from Latin crispus (curled or wrinkled). Earliest documented use: 1921.

Am I the only one envisioning thin, French pancakes?