a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, esp. for the dead.

From Greek thrên(os) ‘dirge’ and -ōid(e) ‘song’.

Threnody is the alter ego of Melody Jacobs, a character in the X-Men comics with the abilities to sense the dead and dying, absorb energy, deliver concussive blasts, and create/control zombies.

Appears in the poem Superbia (Vanity) by Ernest Hilbert.

Excerpt

O suffering student of heresies and small threnodies,
Coughing up warm beer in the
Back of a cab and still empyreal
This disastrous, this dominical icefall

Google Image Result: threnody

]]> http://koveaiden.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/threnody/feed/ 0 koveaiden Winter Threnody - Susan McMahon http://koveaiden.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/acrophobia/ http://koveaiden.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/acrophobia/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:22:18 +0000 koveaiden http://koveaiden.wordpress.com/?p=8 ]]>

a pathological fear of heights.

From the Greek ἄκρος, meaning ‘summit’.

The fear of falling is thought to be the only instinctive fear in a newborn.

It is the name of an online acronym game and a roller coaster in Georgia.

This is one of those words I can never remember. I’m always getting it mixed up with agoraphobia- the fear of strangers (look, two words in one day!). But now, I think I’ll have an easier time, because “acro” like from “acrobat.”

Google Image Result: acrophobia