- Unless you usually call a ghost a tommyknocker.
What words do you use around Halloween for the word ghost? Here are some new ones, just in time for the season.
Bugaboo
This South and South Midland expression refers to a ghost but could also mean an imaginary monster or the devil. The word has been used since at least 1710 and could come from an obscure meaning of bug or an imaginary spirit. It could also be influenced from boo and can be written also as boogerboo and bugabo.
Rawhead and Bloodybones
Rawhead and bloodybones comes from the South or South Midland area meaning specter or hobgoblin. It’s an old term dating back to 1637 and as far back as 1566 in British English. Rawhead means something that is “typically imagined as having a head in the form of a skill or one whose flesh has been stripped of its skin.” Bloodybones is described as a bogeyman “lurking in ponds and waiting to drown people.”
Booger
If someone from South or South Midland says you have a booger, they may mean a bit more than snot. The word has been around since the 1750s and means a despicable man. It also came to mean a supernatural creature as of the 1820s and then eventually, meant dry mucus in your nose. Do you use this for the word ghost?
Haunt
According to South and South Midlanders, a haunt or hant is a ghost or spirit, though the earliest definitions of haunt weren’t at all ghostly. Originally, the word haunt meant to “practice habitually,” or to “frequent a place.” In 1576, it figuratively meant memories, care, feelings, thoughts, the ones that distract a person frequently. It was about 1597 when the term wandered to the supernatural.
Duppy
Duppy is a word for ghost if you live in Alabama or Louisiana. The word comes from Bube from the bantu language of West Africa. The word was first seen back in 1774 in a Jamaican publication and then again in 1919 in an American publication. The word comes from the tale based on the belief of haunts, bugies, or duppies.
Tommyknocker
This word has been used in the West all the way since the early 20th century. A Tommyknocker is a ghost that lives in a mine. It also refers to the knocking noises supposedly made by ghosts. Tommyknocker, a English dialect word, means a “hammer used to break ore.” Have you ever used this for the word ghost?
Hag/Hag Spirit
The idea of a hag or hag spirit comes from the Southeast meaning an evil spirit of a dead person. These spirits are known to cause nightmares by “riding” the luckless dreamer. If you’re afflicted by nightmares or have an oppressed mind, you could be called hag-ridden.
Akua
According to Hawaiian’s, akua is a work for a god, spirit, or supernatural being. OED has the word atua, a Polynesian word with the same meaning
Are you going to use words like duppy and booger this Halloween? Let me know in the comments!