Reflecting on the moment later, he said, “It was almost as if, by talking about the fire, we were giving it oxygen.” Words possess spell-casting, shock-inducing power, even in this jaded age, and the English language has accounted for this: something that is “infandous” is a thing too horrible to be named or uttered. For a mayor or a fire chief, a fire running rampant through the city they are charged with protecting is infandous.
