Guilty by Definition

by Susie Dent

you can leave yourself behind, and nothing of your old life really counts anymore.”

“Elf-shot,” Alex finished. “A conversation with Charlie left you with tiny wounds dealt by invisible archers, and they festered.”

“Ipsedixitism,” Safi remembered: the assertion that something is fact just because a single person says so.

“Dog” was one of the biggest etymological mysteries in the language, arriving unannounced in Middle English with no trace of past or ancestry.

philobiblist, noun (twentieth century): a lover of books

Vellichor: the musty, musky, and utterly beguiling smell of old books.

“Apricity,” the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day, she had found mentioned in just a single source from the 1620s,

nemesism, noun (twentieth century): frustration directed inward

It’s dangerous to build your sense of self on the adoration of others.”

“Added to which, middle age is not for wimps,” Alex said, adjusting the bag over her shoulder. “I know I sound like I’m really falling into my role as the office crone, but you don’t realize how young you are still, Martha. There are any number of possible futures in front of you, but at some point, the opportunities will start to narrow, and you’ll need to find joy in what you’ve achieved already and in the present. There’s a point at which the future can start looking more like a threat than a promise.”

rememble, verb (twentieth century): to have a false memory of something

My friend Sabine once told me that I was seeking out other people’s shadows to avoid my own light.