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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I wonder what you all think of as the difference between "horror" and "terror."
The two words describe two very similar but somehow different emotions. It seems to me that "terror" might be what you would experience if you were, say, about to run up Omaha Beach on D-Day while being shot at by machine guns, and "horror" is what you would experience right after you actually got shot. That is, terror is a more intellectual fear based on your rational response to a situation, and horror is a more emotional response to a situation, involving fear and disgust.
Any thoughts on this?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218 |
I've always thought to myself that terror is the fear of things real or rational, and that horror is the fear of the unreal or irrational. We don't have Terror flicks, nor do we have horrorists. But I'm not arguing logically.
Brandon
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
hmmm... I guess I've always thought of horror as being the thing I felt at a scary movie and terror as being a reaction to something real that was actually and really frightening. 
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Just to add to the confusion I would say that horror was broader with fuzzier edges and terror more pointed.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
I'd have to agree with Brandon and tsuwm. Horror has a sense of the supernatural to it. I suspect that might have been *caused by the term "horror movie," though. When I get home I'll look into Stephen King's Danse Macabre, a great non-fiction book about the history of the genre, to see if the Master has anything to say on the matter.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Surely you recognise the capacity to feel horror at ordinary human events? To me, terror implies fear, where horror implies revulsion or disgust. And terror is green, whilst horror, dear Kurtz, is definitely dark, very dark 
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
broad, fuzzy; pointed; green; dark, very dark.
Synesthetes of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your bright mauve, discordant, rotten-egg chains!
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Terror can soil underwear. Horror can't.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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wwh>Terror can soil underwear. Horror can't. that depends... [actually, I like that, bill.]
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
wwh>Terror can soil underwear. Horror can't.
tsuwm>that depends...
And if you wear Depends .... off to hide now, gutter police banging on door!
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