med_cat. bug·a boo [ˈbə-gə-ˌbü]:
origin: Celtic; Cornish buccaboo= the devil
noun
Pronounced remarkably as it is spelled (France take notice!). A bugaboo is something that causes fear or distress out of proportion to its importance; an imaginary object of fear like the boogeyman.
Some people might find going to the dentist to be a bugaboo.
Perhaps you became familiar with this word through Scary Godmother by Jill Thompson?
This character is named "Bugaboo" in her comicbook series (turned animation).
"I took vigorous exercise. I breathed the free air of Heaven. I thought upon other subjects than Death. I discarded my medical books. "Buchan" I burned. I read no "Night Thoughts" -- no fustian about churchyards -- no bugaboo tales -- such as this. In short, I became a new man, and lived a man's life."
- Edgar Allen Poe, The Premature Burial 1850
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cock·aigne [kä-ˈkān]:
origin: (1300's) Middle English cokaygne, from Middle French cocaigne= land of plenty
noun
A dreamworld; an imaginary land of great luxury and ease (opposite of a dystopia).
→ Examples: Camelot, Eden, Elysium, Shangri-la
Some might view Tokyo as a cockaigne of technology, culture, and curiosities.
"Upon seeing this I fell into a great rage, without exactly knowing why. "This thing," I exclaimed, "is a contemptible falsehood -- a poor hoax -- the lees of the invention of some pitiable penny-a-liner -- of some wretched concoctor of accidents in Cocaigne."
- Edgar Allen Poe, The Angel of the Odd (1844)
