Word of the Week: Effigy

Word: effigy

Pronunciation: E-fi-jee

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: a sculpture or model of a person

Source: Oxford Dictionaries


There’s a funny story to how today’s Word of the Week made it onto my vocabulary list. I actually learned the word “effigy” a long time ago from studying vocabulary flashcards, but I had forgotten it until recently when it came up in a conversation I had with my best friend. We were talking about the distant future, and he said that if aliens ever uncover his Minecraft Creeper plush toy, they might think it was an “effigy” of something humans believed was a divine being. It does, after all, look uncannily extraterrestrial.

An “effigy” is a likeness of someone in the form of a model or sculpture. The word comes from the Latin noun effigies, which stems from the verb effingere, meaning “to fashion artistically”. This verb is comprised of the preposition ex “out” and the verb fingere “to shape”.

Note that a common use for an “effigy” is as “a roughly made model of a particular person, made in order to be damaged or destroyed as a protest or expression of anger”. In this case, it’s normal to refer to the person whose likeness is being destroyed as being “burned in effigy”. There also seem to be certain restrictions for how to use the word “effigy”: for example, the term usually applies to lying statues for funerary art, but not necessarily standing statues or religious figures. If your stories contain any three-dimensional models made in the likeness of your characters, you may have a few “effigies” scattered throughout your fiction, though whether or not they should be labeled as such is up to you! Good luck!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Little Angel

Her eyes are like the stars
That twinkle in the night.
Her laughter is the sun
That makes our days so bright.

Her smile is like a light
That can brighten any place.
It’s my favorite feature
Of her pretty little face.

She has a songbird’s voice;
I love it when she sings.
She’s great at dancing, acting,
And a hundred other things.

She’s charming, sweet, and funny.
Her heart is full of love.
There really is no question:
She’s a gift sent from above!

If I could tell her one thing
Right now, it would be this:
“I love you, little angel!
Happy Birthday, baby sis!”


Happy Birthday to my awesome baby sister! Keep on being the little angel you are! I love you!

What If? Writing Prompts: Fantasy/Science Fiction IV

Here’s another set of “What If?” Writing Prompts for you! Since I love these genres so much, this week’s post features more prompts themed to fantasy and science fiction. See what stories you can write based on these ideas! Have fun!

What If - Parchment and QuillWhat if… the human race were to colonize other planets?

What if… what you thought was a normal vehicle turned out to be a transporter into an alternate dimension?

What if… you discovered that changing the time on your watch changed the time in the real world?

What if… you trained dragons for a living?

What if… you woke up one morning to find your stuffed animals/action figures had come to life?

Enjoy writing some more fantasy and science fiction stories!

If you have any “What If?” writing prompt suggestions (for any theme), please feel free to share them in the comments below. Ideas I like may be featured in future “What If?” posts, with full credit and a link to your blog (if you have one)! Also, if you’ve written a piece based on an idea you’ve found here, be sure to link back to the respective “What If?” post. I would love to see what you’ve done with the prompt! Thank you!

Word of the Week: Licentious

Word: licentious

Pronunciation: ly-SEN-shəs

Part of Speech: adjective

Definition:

  1. promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters
  2. (archaic) disregarding accepted rules or conventions, especially in grammar or literary style

Source: Oxford Dictionaries


Beata Maria, you know I’m so much purer than
The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd.
– “Hellfire” (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996)

Oh yes, Disney worked the word “licentious” into a children’s movie. The first time I ever heard this word was when I was a kid and watched the 1996 animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The term “licentious” comes up about halfway through the movie in the song “Hellfire“: while conflicted between his religious virtues and his desire for the gypsy Esmeralda, Judge Claude Frollo tries to justify to himself that he is somehow above the sins committed by the “promiscuous” common people he hates (when in fact that hatred is exactly what makes him far worse than any of them).

A “licentious” person is someone who lacks principles in sexual matters. It also once referred to a disregard for rules and conventions. The word comes from the Latin adjective licentiosus “unrestrained”, which stems from the noun licentia, meaning “freedom”.

Because “licentious” has an archaic definition, it’s possible that its use in the medieval setting of a Disney movie was intended to have the tamer meaning of a general disrespect for society’s rules. Then again, given the context of the song and the second definition’s emphasis on writing techniques, it’s more likely the word was being used in its primary meaning of sexual depravity. Either way, this is a good adjective for describing people without moral principles. If your characters tend to be unscrupulous in their actions, you too may have a “licentious” crowd in your stories!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Suspicion

(First place winner of Writer’s Carnival’s June Author-less Flash contest!)

They say it’s always the one you least suspect.

The police had three suspects. All of them had motive to poison Frank’s whiskey, to want him dead.

Uncle Jerry had threatened him last year for gambling away his hard-earned savings.

Aunt Rose hated him for cheating her out of her share of their inheritance.

Linda was still furious about all his drinking and philandering, even after leaving him three years ago.

But everyone had an alibi for the day of Frank’s murder. No one seemed to miss him anyway, so in the end, the police chalked his death up to suicide and closed the case.

Funny how they never thought someone might have killed him to protect a loved one. Only I knew he wouldn’t hurt sweet little Maddie anymore.

They say it’s always the one you least suspect.

Luckily for me, nobody ever suspects the cat.

Pin It on Pinterest