Channel: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Category: Entertainment

Description: THE BOOK IS HERE, with hundreds of new definitions: bit.ly/3z1RYvH Available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook, read by the author. nodus tollens n. the realization that the plot of your life doesn't make sense to you anymore-that although you thought you were following the arc of the story, you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don't understand, that don't even seem to belong in the same genre-which requires you to go back and reread the chapters you had originally skimmed to get to the good parts, only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure. THE DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for. Follow the project, give feedback, suggest an emotion you need a word for, or just tell me about your day. Email the author: obscuresorrows@gmail.com Facebook facebook.com/pages/The-Dictionary-of-Obscure-Sorrows/137197489655526 Twitter @ObscureSorrows twitter.com/obscuresorrows ETYMOLOGY From Latin, literally "the knot that denies by denying." In propositional logic, modus tollens (with an m) is a kind of argument that goes like this: "If P, then Q. But Q is not. Therefore, P must not be." Also known as going back and questioning your first assumptions when things don't work out the way you thought they would. Sounds poetic, in a Vulcan kinda way. TRANSCRIPT: Your life is a story. The days flip past, too quickly to absorb, a mess of seemingly random events. So you look back and highlight certain moments as important, as turning points in the main plot. You trace each thread back to its origin, finding omens and ironies scattered along the way, until it all feels inevitable, and your life makes sense. You know how this story is going to end, but you’re still eager to skip ahead, dying to know what happens next. But there are times when you look up and realize that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore. You thought you were following the arc of the story, but you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don’t understand. Either everything seems important or nothing does. It’s a tangled mess of moments that don’t even seem to belong in the same genre, that keeping changing depending on what you choose to highlight. What kind of story is this? Just another coming-of-age tale, the same one your parents told, with the names switched around? Is your everyday life part of the origin story of something truly epic? Are you unwittingly getting by on other people’s charity, mistaking your own luck for your own success? Are you a character in a romance, a tragedy, a travelogue, or just another cautionary tale? As you thumb through the years, you may never know where this all is going. The only thing you know is that there’s more to the story. That soon enough you’ll flip back to this day looking for clues of what was to come, rereading all the chapters you skimmed through to get to the good parts—only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure.