噓憑き: what is it and how is it different from 嘘つき?

Question

While looking at song lyrics I found the word 噓｛うそ｝憑｛つ｝き . What kind of kanji usage is this, and how does it differ from 噓｛うそ｝つき?

Since 憑 means "haunt, possess" and the song is about ghosts I assumed it was just a pun/irregular variant writing of 噓｛うそ｝つき with the same meaning. Am I correct? Is the meaning slightly different?

I couldn't find it in my usual dictionaries, it's not in the list of alternate spellings, and yet there seems to be many results when I search for the term on google. Mostly songs, manga, books, etc. Where does it come from, is it common? Is is some kind of slang? What should I do when I encounter an unconventional word like that?

Answer 1

As you guessed, it is an irregular application of 憑き. One of the few words that are actually used with -憑き is 狐憑き, meaning someone/state of being possessed by a ghost of fox. So by analogy with this, 嘘憑き may mean someone haunted by lies; or possibly someone addicted to lying (interpreting 嘘 in 噓憑き as to lie rather than a lie itself).