Why is the not-so-wicked Which called Faintly Macabre? In Norton Juster's witty wacky fantasy _The Phantom Tollbooth_ , during their stay in the Dictionopolis dungeon Milo and Tock meet a ~~witch~~ Which. She used to be in charge of selecting _which_ words to use, hence her title of Which, until she became too miserly with words and got banished to the dungeon where now people fear her as a _witch_. But while I understand the wordplay and significance in her title, her name still puzzles me: **Faintly Macabre** , or Aunt Faintly as she kindly allows Milo to call her. Is there any significance in this, or any reason that name might be chosen for a kindly Which? (Most probably by pure coincidence, I once read another kids' fantasy series featuring a Scottish witch called Macabre. I mention this on the offchance that it isn't coincidence.)

As you said, the literal meaning of the words humorously indicates a less-threatening witch. A possible reason for the _exact_ choice of "Faintly Macabre" is that, when spoken quickly, it _sounds_ a lot like a name, more than your proposed similar names "Mildly Disturbing" and "Slightly Scary" do. For example, "Macabre" sounds a bit like "MacArthur" or other "Mac-"/"Mc-" last names. And many female first names in English end in "-y", like "Dorothy", "Rosemary", and "Hilary", including some "-ly" ones like "Emily", "Beverly", "Lesley", and "Shirley". "Faintly Macabre", "Miss Macabre", "Aunt Faintly", etc. all seem to me like they could "flow" in speech like an ordinary, unremarkable name. Plus, using less common, more academic words helps with this effect, making it easier to half-forget that they're real words and imagine it as a real name.