The Lexicon of Comicana
Encyclopedia
The Lexicon of Comicana is a book that was written in 1980 by American
cartoonist
Mort Walker
. It was intended as a tongue-in-cheek look at the devices cartoonists utilize in their craft. In it, Walker invented an international set of symbol
s called Symbolia after researching cartoons around the world. In 1964, Walker had written an article called "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes," a satirical piece for the National Cartoonists Society
. Walker used terms such as grawlixes for his own amusement, but they soon began to catch on and acquired an unexpected validity. The Lexicon was written in response to this fact.
The names he invented for them sometimes appear in dictionaries
and serve as convenient terminology occasionally used by cartoonists. A 2001 gallery showing of comic- and street-influenced art in San Francisco, for example, was called "Plewds! Squeans! and Spurls!"
Agitrons: Wiggly lines around an object that is shaking
Blurgits, swalloops: Curved lines preceding or trailing after a character's moving limbs
Briffits: Clouds of dust that hang in the spot where a swiftly departing character or object was previously standing.
Dites: Diagonal, straight lines drawn across something flat, clear, and reflective, such as windows and mirrors.
Emanata: Lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise.
Grawlixes: Typographical symbols standing for profanities
, which appear in dialogue balloons in the place of actual dialogue.
Hites: Horizontal straight lines trailing after something moving with great speed, or indicating reflectivity (puddle, glass, mirror). Likewise, up-hites would be lines above an object falling.
Indotherm: Wavy, rising lines used to represent steam or heat on hot objects -- however, the same shape found over a hot apple pie or something else strong smelling is a wafteron.
Lucaflect: A shiny spot on a surface of something
Plewds: Flying sweat
droplets that appear around a character's head when working hard or stressed.
Solrads: Radiating lines drawn from something luminous like a lightbulb or the sun.
Squeans: Little starbursts or circles that signify intoxication, dizziness, or sickness.
Vites: Vertical straight lines indicating reflectivity (compare dites, hites).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Mort Walker
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker , popularly known as Mort Walker, is an American comic artist best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954. He has signed Addison to some of his strips.Born in El Dorado, Kansas, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri...
. It was intended as a tongue-in-cheek look at the devices cartoonists utilize in their craft. In it, Walker invented an international set of symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s called Symbolia after researching cartoons around the world. In 1964, Walker had written an article called "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes," a satirical piece for the National Cartoonists Society
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
. Walker used terms such as grawlixes for his own amusement, but they soon began to catch on and acquired an unexpected validity. The Lexicon was written in response to this fact.
The names he invented for them sometimes appear in dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
and serve as convenient terminology occasionally used by cartoonists. A 2001 gallery showing of comic- and street-influenced art in San Francisco, for example, was called "Plewds! Squeans! and Spurls!"
Agitrons: Wiggly lines around an object that is shaking
Blurgits, swalloops: Curved lines preceding or trailing after a character's moving limbs
Briffits: Clouds of dust that hang in the spot where a swiftly departing character or object was previously standing.
Dites: Diagonal, straight lines drawn across something flat, clear, and reflective, such as windows and mirrors.
Emanata: Lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise.
Grawlixes: Typographical symbols standing for profanities
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, which appear in dialogue balloons in the place of actual dialogue.
Hites: Horizontal straight lines trailing after something moving with great speed, or indicating reflectivity (puddle, glass, mirror). Likewise, up-hites would be lines above an object falling.
Indotherm: Wavy, rising lines used to represent steam or heat on hot objects -- however, the same shape found over a hot apple pie or something else strong smelling is a wafteron.
Lucaflect: A shiny spot on a surface of something
Plewds: Flying sweat
SWEAT
SWEAT is an OLN/TSN show hosted by Julie Zwillich that aired in 2003-2004.Each of the 13 half-hour episodes of SWEAT features a different outdoor sport: kayaking, mountain biking, ice hockey, beach volleyball, soccer, windsurfing, rowing, Ultimate, triathlon, wakeboarding, snowboarding, telemark...
droplets that appear around a character's head when working hard or stressed.
Solrads: Radiating lines drawn from something luminous like a lightbulb or the sun.
Squeans: Little starbursts or circles that signify intoxication, dizziness, or sickness.
Vites: Vertical straight lines indicating reflectivity (compare dites, hites).