The unforgettable scenes we hold on to
Last time, I shared a reader’s reminiscence about observing an elegant woman get off a bus, realize she’d left one of her leather gloves behind, and promptly toss the other glove back onto the bus. The challenge was to come up with a term for remarkable things we’ve witnessed and will never forget.
In response, a plethora of portmanteau words poured in. Notably, Jack Tuttle, of Hyde Park, wrote me a snippet of fiction that I found vaguely reminiscent of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” It ended like this: “The next thing I remember is seeing an old portmanteau, sitting in the corner of my bedroom, glowing, in the shadows, half-hidden. I went to get the case and put it on the bed and opened it, revealing a shiny new word inside. Inspirendipity! The remarkable things we’ve witnessed and will never forget should be called inspirendipities.”
Lisa O’Neill, of Groton, proposed indelipressions, defining it as “indelible impressions seared into our brains, some good and some bad but never forgotten.” Marc McGarry, of Newton Highlands, came up with incredelible.
Gary Roberts, of St. Johnsbury, Vt., suggested memorvent. Max M. Klein, of Lincoln, wrote: “If someone witnesses something remarkable, especially if it inspires them to write about it, it must bea memoiry!” Samuel Jay Keyser, of Cambridge, wrote: “For a never-forgotten lovely memory, how about gemmory? With a double ‘m’ because it’s so good.” And Howard Morris, of Needham, suggested“mindfulnests: remarkable memories forever nesting in one’s consciousness (incubating, to be hatched into awareness at random moments in the future).”
I received non-portmanteau words too. Jim Little, of East Sandwich, told me: “My submission for behavior similar to what the lady on the bus did: goodness graciousness.” Michael McCarron, of West Newbury, mused: “I guess the best memories are the ones that are the rememberest.”
Joyce Kosofsky, of Boston, wrote: “Having read your correspondent’s lovely reminiscence, I thought of how this woman was essentially paying it forward. While some of us would think of regifting, I thought this was more a case of pregifting.”
Noreen C. Barnes, of Acton, wrote: “The action of the woman tossing her glove back into the bus was a singular act of grace — one etched in memory that you would never see again. Such actions are unique — sui generis — and as a play on that, they might be termed gestures that are sweet generous.
Naomi Angoff Chedd, of Brookline, shared a reminiscence of her own: “Years ago I was at a formal holiday party that featured an enormous, elegant buffet. I watched this scenario unfold: A young man in black tie, whom I knew to be the host’s brother, had loaded up his plate with every possible food — fish, shrimp, salads, pasta, cheeses, and more. As he walked by an older, frail woman, she looked up and reached out for the plate, thinking, I sensed, that he was a waiter and was bringing it to her. He hesitated, gave her his huge plate of food, and said, “Um . . . enjoy your dinner, ma’am,” and then returned to the back of the buffet line.
“People who perform kind and selfless acts like this,” she continued, “should be called honorable menschens, mensch being the Yiddish word for a person of moral character who practices small acts of kindness.”
Naomi, I can’t help awarding you an honorable mention for your story and clever term. And I’m awarding Noreen bragging rights for her tweak of sui generis into sweet generous. Nicely done!
Now Max M. Klein, of Lincoln, writes: “I’m looking for a word to describe a type of sports fan who continues to root for their team even if they are dismal.”
Send your suggestions for this word to me at Barbara.Wallraff@globe.com by noon on Friday, Dec. 22, and kindly tell me where you live. Meanings in search of words are also always welcome.