Comments on: It’s Whaturday?

By: Tom Joad

Tom Joad — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:01:00 +0000

I think you are being a tad hard on the Romans, SW (if I may call you that). They did put some considerable effort into building an empire. That said, they did like a good party.

I was thinking along the same lines with psychopomp. It certainly isn’t a word that was bandied about much (read: at all) where I grew up. It does sound like a track King Crimson may have made on one of their off days in the 70s, but I have to admit that the combination of ‘psycho’ and ‘pomp’ was too much for my brain to process in any other way than ‘turbo nutter’.

Oh, and I completey agree with your stance on Mr Brandreth. There should be a law against him.

By: Soup Waiter

Soup Waiter — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:27:33 +0000

So the Romans named the weekend days an the Norseman named the working days, except Monday. Sounds about right but as far as Psychopomp goes, I thought the more literal; “stuck up, git / nutter” I’m not sure if you can translate ‘psycho’ as ‘git’, might be a bit lenient, although ‘gitotic’ has more of a middle England feel than ‘Psychotic’. I can certainly think of a few people who are persistantly a bit of a git and could therefore be called ‘gitotic’ and locked up for eveyones else’s well being. Starting with Gyles Brandreth, the psychopompus git.

By: Tom Joad

Tom Joad — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:05:50 +0000

My dad always told me they were called ushers because of their job. When he and his friends went to the cinema, a bloke with a torch used to come over and say “Let’s have a bit of ‘ush round ‘ere”. True story =)

By: Daphne Wayne-Bough

Daphne Wayne-Bough — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:14:27 +0000

So Mercury was a sort of celestial usher? Next time you go to the EP ask to be ushed by a psychopomp.

By: Tom Joad

Tom Joad — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:32:20 +0000

Alternative authors? I have no idea what you mean. I think it is a truly excellent word, and one that I will weave into conversation whenever the opportunity arises. I can’t really envisage too many openings, but I do like a challenge.

By: James

James — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:08:48 +0000

Psychopomp is a word I love, too – it features heavily in one of Stephen King’s lesser works, The Dark Half which, funnily enough, is about a writer’s pseudonym, a man by the name of George Stark, who comes after his creator when the author decides to kill him off. So, be careful how you treat any of your own alternative authors, eh Tom?

By: Tom Joad

Tom Joad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:02:12 +0000

Thanks Maria. Yes, psychopomp is brilliant, isn’t it? If you’d simply put the word in front of me and said “what does it mean”, I would have come up with something like the noise a 70s prog rock band would have made!

By: Tom Joad

Tom Joad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:58:33 +0000

Doesn’t quite trip off the tongue, does it? Although, now I think about it, if I’d grown up saying it, Saturday might sound weird. Hmmm.

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:24:36 +0000

Psychopomp is a fantastic word, I like it! Thanks, Tom, I enjoyed reading all this very much, too bad a week only lasts seven whaturdays. I look forward to the “out-of-favour letters”.

By: Monica

Monica — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:18:48 +0000

What’s wrong with Kronoday?