This morning I saw the highschoolers going into school. It must be spirit week because many of them had Halloween themed pajama bottoms or t shirts. My son used to have a Freddy Krueger one.
Tis the season. On Saturday I worked the haunted house at the middle school. Last night my friends and I attended a costume wine walk.
Scaring the kids in the haunted house dressed as a witch got me thinking…what is “scary”, this term we so associate with this time of year?
In the haunted house I observed that certain kids were more likely to “scare” while others remained impervious. It seemed that the “scare” factor was induced by startling them, if one of us actors jumped out at them from our hiding spots.
However, scary can also relate to something gory, gross or spooky/erie.
The Webster’s definition is “causing fright, alarming” so this fits.
So actually “startle” seems more appropriate. We become scared because an event startles us. It is a sense of shock.
It must be our lust for an adrenaline rush that entices us to seek out opportunities to experience this startled sense…haunted houses, corn mazes, even amusement park rides.
I guess in our English language or perhaps all language the more words we have to describe our human experience the better.
Notes From Real Life 