pyroclastic
Another one from a submission: "pyroclastic" refers to fragmenting due to volcanic action. In the story, I think it was being used as a synonym for "volcanic," but I'm not sure.
2 Responses to “pyroclastic”
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Jay Lake
A pyroclastic flow (fire-breaking?) is a specific aspect of certain types of eruptions — basically superheated gases and liquified rock moving at high speeds. I’m not sure the word exists on its own in the wild, except in ironic usage pointing back to the vulcanological sense.
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Jed
Thanks, Jay! Interesting. Appears there can also be pyroclastic rocks and pyroclastic deposits; both seem to be stuff left by pyroclastic flows. The terms “pyroclastic fall” and “pyroclastic surge” also appear in Wikipedia, but it looks like all of these other terms I’m mentioning are closely related to pyroclastic flows.
And then there’s Becky, a transvestite who, after watching a documentary about volcanoes, decided that her drag name would be Pyroclastic Flo. (And she likes Star Trek, too! Clearly our kind of people.)
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