H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Words

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As found on this site: http://cthulhuchick.com/wordcount-lovecraft-favorite-words/

One of the things any fan of Lovecraft discovers early on is that Lovecraft was very attached to certain words. We either laugh or groan every time we hear something described as “indescribable” or called “unnamable” or “antiquarian” or “cyclopean.” And sometimes we wonder how many times he actually used the words.
In working on the Lovecraft ebook project (which is nearly complete and is in final proofreading), I compiled all of Lovecraft’s original works in one file. So I took suggestions for words to count on the H.P. Podcraft forums and on Twitter.
The list is below. The only big surprises were “squamous,” which only appears once in an original story—”The Dunwich Horror”—, and “unutterable,” which only appeared 13 times.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Eldritch	10
Squamous	6
Cyclopean	5
Ululat (e/ing)	4
Gibbous	3
Antediluvian	2
Iridescence	2
Foetid	2
Indescribable	1
Loath (ing/some)	1
Unutterable	1
Effulgence	1
Accursed	1
Charnel	1
Blasphem (y/ous)	1
Shunned	0
Unnamable	0
Singular (ly)	0
Swarthy	0
Stygian	0
Stench	0
Noisome	0
Nameless	0
Mortal	0
Antiqu (e/arian)	0
Comprehension	0
Daemoniac	0
Decadent	0
Faint (ed/ing)	0
Hideous	0
Immemorial	0
Madness	0
Abnormal	0

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:44 (fourteen years ago)

So needs to be a festival lineup.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:45 (fourteen years ago)

lol well done

― ice cr?m's world of female people (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:46 (fourteen years ago)

kinda wanna go with gibbous

― ice cr?m's world of female people (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:46 (fourteen years ago)

i've mentioned to my bro before how much lovecraft loves "charnel" so i'll go with that.

― À la recherche du temps Pardew (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:48 (fourteen years ago)

Charnel No. 5

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 21:49 (fourteen years ago)

write-in for Non-Euclidean

― ℳℴℯ　❤＼(◕‿◕✿ (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:00 (fourteen years ago)

i got every ridiculous word this ridiculous man ever wrote for $3 on kindle. best investment ever.

gonna have to go with "eldritch" because of its frequent tongue-in-cheek use in Infocom text adventure games.

― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:07 (fourteen years ago)

Which wand do you mean: the green wand or the eldritch wand?

― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:08 (fourteen years ago)

Cyclopean

― i got a thing for swag cru and i can't let go (tpp), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:09 (fourteen years ago)

http://i.fanpix.net/images/orig/l/n/ln0fpsl709lfsp7n.jpg

― progspeed you! black metallers (aldo), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:16 (fourteen years ago)

these words are all the best words

i am p fond of "indescribable" though as it usually appears in the context of so much description.

― HI DEGGERE (c sharp major), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:16 (fourteen years ago)

http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Images/images/eldritch5.jpg

― progspeed you! black metallers (aldo), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:16 (fourteen years ago)

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/37556161/Andrew+Eldritch+eldvonae3.jpg

I'll stop now.

― progspeed you! black metallers (aldo), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:17 (fourteen years ago)

i am p fond of "indescribable" though as it usually appears in the context of so much description.

oh man I KNOW. it's always the first adjective when the monster shows up. then all the other words on that list get their turn in the space of a page.

― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:24 (fourteen years ago)

"The Thing in the Comments Box"

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:24 (fourteen years ago)

"At the Foothills of Emo"

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:25 (fourteen years ago)

This is ululating vs. foetid for me. Tough call...

― Ban Hammerskjold (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:25 (fourteen years ago)

BTW ppl who have always shunned Robert E Howard, he is v v fond of a bunch of these words also.

― Ban Hammerskjold (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:26 (fourteen years ago)

xp ululating for me

― a murder rap to keep ya dancin, with a crime record like Keith Chegwin (snoball), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:31 (fourteen years ago)

Really like "squamous" but have to ponder a bit.

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:37 (fourteen years ago)

I could say 'antediluvian' all day.

― oppet, Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:40 (fourteen years ago)

As soon as i saw the thread title I thought 'Squamous', so I have to vote that--disappointed to find that he only used it once!
Ululating a close 2nd. Use that in real life more than I should, but it's lovely to say.

― the most cuddlesome bug that ever was borned (James Morrison), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 22:51 (fourteen years ago)

eldritch by a non-euclidean mile

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 1 March 2011 23:15 (fourteen years ago)

"Rugose" not on list?

― The New Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 12:42 (fourteen years ago)

That said, for me it has to be "squamous"

― The New Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 12:43 (fourteen years ago)

cyclopean always one of my favorites. + 47 times too!

― Mordy, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 12:45 (fourteen years ago)

I figured nacreous would make the list.

― Aquarian Necromancer Octopus (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 13:03 (fourteen years ago)

I think these are the lyrics of the first Carcass album.

― Inevitable stupid dubstep mix (chap), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 13:17 (fourteen years ago)

"eldritch". that word gives me the creeps.

― i love it when a suggest ban comes together (cajunsunday), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 13:26 (fourteen years ago)

Nacreous and gibbous are good Pynchon words.

― calumerio, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 13:28 (fourteen years ago)

nameless captures the essence of hp imo...these things that are so bad and alien and just incomprehensible to our tiny mortal minds.

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 13:31 (fourteen years ago)

i think this poll missed Gambrel

― a nan, a bal, an anal ― (abanana), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 14:17 (fourteen years ago)

haha yah every roof is a gambrel roof leering

― WINNING. (Lamp), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 19:04 (fourteen years ago)

I wonder if they were consciously avoiding HPL's less savory ideations by not tabulating word count for 'mongrel' etc.

― every man and woman is a sitar (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 19:06 (fourteen years ago)

unutterable & unnameable are great too in the same sense of nameless.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 20:51 (fourteen years ago)

I wonder if they were consciously avoiding HPL's less savory ideations by not tabulating word count for 'mongrel' etc.

Swarthy's kind of dubious, isn't it? Which is a shame, as as a word it is most satisfying.

Tempted to go with squamous, but charnel, effulgence, gibbous and ululating are all great too. And eldritch. Too tough to choose.

― emil.y, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 20:56 (fourteen years ago)

Kind of weird that only ONE of these words appears in the title of a Fall album...

xpost you're right I missed swarthy!

― every man and woman is a sitar (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 2 March 2011 20:58 (fourteen years ago)

Nameless.

It's the word which I've noticed (more than any of these others) cropping up all the time. Also it's fun to use in everyday use: "what's that nameless mess in the kitchen sink". etc.

― everything, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 21:08 (fourteen years ago)

Nameless sounds awesome when in context, but it's not as fun to say or as pretty to look at as many of the other words on its own. 'Unutterable' is a contender, though.

(Too much time on ilx: skimming the list at first I conflated stygian and swarthy into Swygart)

― emil.y, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 21:13 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Sunday, 13 March 2011 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

tough one, went with Gibbous over Squamous.

― Cosmo Vitelli, Sunday, 13 March 2011 01:58 (fourteen years ago)

I always think eldritch when I think of words specific to H.P.Lovecraft.

I also think shortass when thinking of Leeds' ex Oxford Chinese scholar.
Probably easier to carry off that look if you're tall.
Is that why he went B-boy?

Yeah, if he'd been Patricia Morrison's height he have looked a lot better. Don't think Dave Vanian's much taller is he?

― Stevolende, Sunday, 13 March 2011 11:05 (fourteen years ago)

prob belongs more on the board game thread but we played Arkham Horror last week and the most fun in the game was reading the descriptions of what happened "an unspeakably horrific breakfast has been laid out for you"

― Mordy, Sunday, 13 March 2011 15:33 (fourteen years ago)

this doesn't belong here either but did anyone see that odd modernized pacific-northwest-set gay-subtext-augmented movie of the shadow over innsmouth? because i wanted to but then literally every time i saw anyone say or write anything about it it was really negative.

― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 13 March 2011 15:37 (fourteen years ago)

it was of course just called CTHULU

― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 13 March 2011 15:38 (fourteen years ago)

decadent vs iridescence

― lex pretend, Sunday, 13 March 2011 15:50 (fourteen years ago)

why is OPULENT not on this list

― lex pretend, Sunday, 13 March 2011 15:51 (fourteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Monday, 14 March 2011 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

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