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The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: P is for Pandemonium

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...


P is for Pandemonium

These days, a word that is used to mean wild uproar, disorder or chaos. Its original meaning is pretty clear: pan means all and demon means, well, demon. So pandemonium means all demons or, specifically, the place of all demons.

Milton coined the word in Paradise Lost, where he used it to refer to the capital city of Hell itself. Pendemonium was designed by the architect Mulciber and built by the demons in only an hour.





Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium

Posted by Simon Kewin at 08:00

12 comments:

  1. StratPlayerCJF18 April 2012 at 14:40

    LOL -- another one I was off on. I associated it with the god "Pan:" noisy and chaotic like a riotous springtime orgy.

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  2. Simon Kewin18 April 2012 at 14:46

    Chris - Actually that doesn't seem like it's too far wrong!

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  3. Anonymous18 April 2012 at 15:24

    I so did not know that. o.O Makes sense and I can see where it came to mean chaos. The capital of Hell would have to be a very chaotic place.

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  4. Simon Kewin18 April 2012 at 15:30

    Valerie - Indeed. Great setting for some fiction I should think ...

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  5. Unknown18 April 2012 at 16:57

    So, when I walk in the door to find my children rioting in the living room and bringing down the walls and I yell, "This is pandemonium!" I've actually tagged my living room as the capital of Hell. Hmm. Might not be too far off some days.

    Lucy

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  6. Simon Kewin18 April 2012 at 17:15

    Lucy - Yep, that's about it! It's a familiar scene to me, too ...

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  7. Unknown18 April 2012 at 19:22

    Traveling through the A-Z challenge and stopping here to say hi :)Happy alphabet! Love your theme.

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  8. Simon Kewin18 April 2012 at 19:26

    Thanks, Siv! Delighted you could drop by.

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  9. Unknown19 April 2012 at 05:10

    One I actually knew! *pats self on back* haha. Great word!

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  10. Sean McLachlan19 April 2012 at 18:57

    Pandemonium was also the name of a roleplaying APA form the golden days of 1980s gaming! It was previously titled APA-DUD and changed its name in an effort to be taken more seriously.

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  11. Simon Kewin19 April 2012 at 19:29

    Sean - Never knew that! Was it good? Presumably a fantasy thing?

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  12. Sean McLachlan26 April 2012 at 09:36

    Yes, it was a fantasy roleplaying Amateur Press Association magazine. The APA zines are collections of zines by individual members, collated into one bundle or magazine by an editor and sent out to all members. Most APAs died with the advent of the Internet, although a few like FAPA and Alarums & Excursions are still going strong.

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I'd love to know what you think.