Note: This site is currently "Under construction". I'm migrating to a new version of my site building software. Lots of things are in a state of disrepair as a result (for example, footnote links aren't working). It's all part of the process of building in public. Most things should still be readable though.

Hearing a word without knowing what it means

I picked up "The Dark Tower" to read again this weekend. About halfway through the main character has an encounter with a demon. The word used to describe it is "succubus". I kinda knew what it meant, but decided to look it up and found this definition: a demon assuming female form to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep — compare incubus Makes sense, but I immediately latched onto the word incubus as a band name. I had never thought about the name of the band actually being something. Probably spawns from our culture where our names tend to be just names and don't mean other things. Anyway, here's the three definitions that m-w.com has for the word: incubus 1: an evil spirit that lies on persons in their sleep; especially : one that has sexual intercourse with women while they are sleeping — compare succubus 2: nightmare 3: one that oppresses or burdens like a nightmare Funny, the things you learn when looking up words you don't fully understand.