Monday, July 12, 2010

Every Journey Begins With A Single Step

I was reading a book I recently bought when I discovered a word I had never seen before. A word I didn't know! This word was quiddity. Now, though it is a rare occasion which I find a word I do not know, but rare as they are, these occasions usually pass unnoticed and unmarked. However, the book had previously implored that when reading that book, it would be best experienced as Nabokov said, 'with a dictionary and a pencil.' so I got a pencil to write in the margins and sat at my computer which of course has dictionary.com readily available. As such, when I came across the word quiddity, I was intrigued and immediately looked it up.

Dictonary.com defines quiddity as: The quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing. The author used quiddity to describe her young daughter asking, "Mama? What makes you you?" Saying that she usually requires at least one cup of coffee and a scone before starting a conversation about quiddity.

After looking that word up, it struck me in a way which no other word has EVER struck me before. I felt lost; I do not know my own quiddity! That is what I've been trying to discover for my entire 22 years so far. I feel so incomplete or insubstantial without knowing about my own quiddity. I immediately realized that what I have is a quiddity quandary: a state of perplexity or uncertainty about my own essential nature! I need to solve this quandary. This is the forum by which I shall attempt to do so.

So welcome to this compendium of combat and conquest over my own stubborn unknowingness.