The Lexicon Obscura

A haunter of woods — one who loves forests, who seeks them out, who finds in the particular quality of light through a tree canopy and the sound of a forest floor something that other environments simply do not provide. Not merely someone who enjoys a walk in the woods, but someone for whom the woods are a specific destination, sought with specific intent. The solivagant who prefers trees to streets. The person who returns from a forest noticeably different from when they went in.

Example

“A lifelong nemophilist, she had lived in cities for thirty years and spent most of that time looking for the nearest woods — a park would do, barely, but what she actually needed was trees with no visible end to them.”

Origin

From the Greek nemos (wooded pasture, grove) and philos (lover of). The Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku — forest bathing — describes something very similar, and has received considerably more attention in recent years. The nemophilist was doing it before it had a wellness industry.

Rarity ●●●●●

Forest bathing has a marketing campaign. Nemophilist has a better word.

The area of the back — typically between the shoulder blades, slightly off-center — that lies beyond the reach of both hands simultaneously. Every human body has one. Its location varies slightly by individual, but its existence is universal and its consequences familiar: the itch that cannot be addressed, the scratch that cannot quite reach, the mild and persistent frustration of a body part that has been placed just outside its own reach. The word exists. It has always existed. Nobody uses it. This seems like an oversight of the first order.

Example

“The itch was precisely in his acnestis — that infuriating zone where both arms fall short by exactly the same inadequate distance, requiring either a doorframe or the assistance of another person.”

Origin

From the Greek aknestis (the spine, the part of the back one cannot scratch). An ancient term, precise and immediately applicable, that has somehow failed to become the common word it deserves to be. There is no good reason for this.

Rarity ●●●●●

The most universally applicable word in this entire series. Every human body has one. Use the word accordingly.

The tendency to become so aware that a moment is good that you can no longer simply be in it — the hardening of the present into something that must be preserved rather than experienced. You are at dinner with people you love, or watching something beautiful, or simply having a very good afternoon, and the awareness of happiness arrives and immediately begins converting the present into memory. The good moment is still happening. You are already mourning it. This has a name now.

Example

“The evening was perfect — and that was precisely the problem. The kairosclerosis set in somewhere around dessert, and instead of being at the table, she found herself watching it from a small distance, already trying to hold onto something that hadn’t ended yet.”

Origin

Coined by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, from the Greek kairos (the right or opportune moment) and sclerosis (hardening). The moment hardening into a thing observed rather than lived. Koenig’s finest work.

Rarity ●●●●●

The most quietly devastating word in this series. You know exactly what this is.

A shrewd, unscrupulous person who does or says whatever seems advantageous at the time, regardless of consistency, principle, or the effect on others — particularly when operating in a political context. The person who has no fixed beliefs but a very flexible vocabulary of conviction. The one who discovers, with remarkable frequency, that their personal interests align with the public good. Originally an American political term; its applicability has not diminished with time.

Example

“He had watched the man’s positions evolve over twenty years of public life and concluded, finally, that he was dealing with a snollygoster of the purest variety — someone who had never held a conviction he wasn’t prepared to trade at the right price.”

Origin

19th-century American English, of uncertain origin — possibly from the German schnelle Geister (quick spirits), possibly invented whole. First recorded in Ohio newspapers of the 1840s, used extensively in political commentary. Merriam-Webster added it in the late 19th century. Harry S. Truman used it in a speech in 1952. It deserves wider circulation.

Rarity ●●●●●

Conditions for its use remain favorable. They always do.

Things that are not to be mentioned — information, observations, or truths that are better left unspoken, for reasons of tact, kindness, prudence, or the preservation of whatever equilibrium currently exists. Every relationship contains tacenda. Every organization runs on them. The things everyone knows and nobody says. The thoughts kept behind the face rather than placed in front of it. The word gives dignity to silence by acknowledging that silence is sometimes the correct choice rather than merely the easier one.

Example

“There were tacenda in every family gathering — whole territories of thought mapped and agreed-upon by unspoken consensus, navigated without acknowledgment by everyone in the room.”

Origin

Latin gerundive of tacere (to be silent) — literally “things that must be silent.” The opposite of agenda (things that must be done) — both are gerundives, both describe necessity, and one of them has entered every language on earth while the other has been quietly kept to itself.

Rarity ●●●●●

The opposite of agenda. Both are necessary. Only one gets meetings named after it.