Doc. 05 — Official Vocabulary · Salt-Bound Edition
The Salt Lexicon
The Ministry required words for things that do not exist, and so it made them. Each is defined below, pronounced badly, and used in a sentence that helps no one. Words marked load-bearing must not be removed from the page. The page is holding them up.
Entries A through the end of patience
Twelve words.
One is watching
the others.
- saltdebt noun /ˈsɔːlt.dɛt/
- An obligation that can only be repaid to the sea, which does not take appointments. The Ministry's oldest and most reliable form of owing. Grows in the dark. Tastes of Tuesday. "He tried to settle his saltdebt with an apology, and the tide laughed at him for a week."
- unfinishing verb, sacred /ʌnˈfɪn.ɪ.ʃɪŋ/
- The deliberate act of leaving a thing incomplete so that it can never be taken from you. The Ministry's central technology. See Doctrine 9. "By unfinishing the war, they ensured it could never be lost, only paused indefinitely for lunch."
- elsewhere noun, load-bearing /ˈɛls.wɛə/
- The official filing location for anything the Corridor takes and does not return. A place with a mailbox and no address. Correspondence sent to elsewhere arrives before it is written. "My keys are in elsewhere, along with a beach and a boy named Terrence."
- provisionally real adjective /prəˈvɪʒ.nə.li rɪəl/
- Existing pending review; real enough to be taxed, not real enough to complain. The legal status of most citizens, all pigeons, and the number seven on alternate Tuesdays. "She was provisionally real, which meant she cast a shadow but not an opinion the Ministry had to hear."
- thanksward adverb /ˈθæŋks.wəd/
- In the dangerous direction of gratitude toward the weather or the ceiling. To move thanksward is to risk making the sky self-conscious. Strictly regulated after dark. "He glanced thanksward at the roof-lake and it postponed the whole of autumn out of shyness."
- Tuesdaywise adverb /ˈtʃuːz.deɪ.waɪz/
- Measured according to the Long Tuesday rather than the calendar. A unit of duration equal to "still," or "again," or "no." "Tuesdaywise, the meeting is running short — only nine years so far."
- corridorial adjective /ˌkɒr.ɪˈdɔː.ri.əl/
- Of or relating to a passage that lengthens when you are sure of it. A corridorial argument is one that gets longer the more confident you are of winning it. "Their debate turned corridorial and now connects the kitchen to a beach."
- almosting verb /ˈɔːl.məʊs.tɪŋ/
- The professional practice of being perpetually about to do a thing. The chief occupation of the Understudy Cloud and the entire Mezzanine of Almost. "He spent forty years almosting a novel and was awarded the Ministry's highest non-medal."
- redactance noun /rɪˈdæk.təns/
- The measurable warmth given off by a fact that has been hidden. A well-redacted secret is warm to the touch. This definition is running slightly hot. "The blank space had a redactance you could dry your gloves on."
- seventh numeral, forbidden /[withheld]/
- The ordinal the Ministry does not use, pending review by a committee that cannot count that high without weeping. Skipped in all official sequences. There is no entry after the sixth. You are imagining this one. "She reached the — floor and found it had been there all along, warm and unnumbered."
- ceilingward faith noun /ˈsiː.lɪŋ.wəd feɪθ/
- The quiet trust that the lake overhead will continue to stay overhead. Renewed nightly by the night shift, without grovelling. Non-transferable. Lapses if looked at directly. "His ceilingward faith wavered for one second and it drizzled indoors for a fortnight."
- the smell of old coins noun phrase /ðə smɛl əv əʊld kɔɪnz/
- The precise sensation of remembering a room you have never entered. The Ministry's jurisdiction, bottled. Sold in the gift shop, which is also a room you have never entered. "She caught the smell of old coins and knew the Ministry had, once again, filed her."