Quiddity

Day 17 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

I came across the word quiddity in a book. It was called ‘The Quiddity of Will Self’. I picked it up because I liked the cover and thought that it was an eponymous title but it turned out to be by Sam Mills. (That will teach me for not reading the cover). It was a strange yet enjoyable romp through the world of a wannabe writer.

I had to look the word quiddity up in a dictionary. That’s how I develop my understanding of language, by coming across new words and taking the time to go and find out what they mean.

Quiddity means the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing, from the Latin quid meaning what, as in quid pro quo.

I won’t spoil the book as you may want to read it but within its covers the very essence of what it feels like to be a writer is boiled down and presented in a form that can be ingested.

I’ve often longed to be able to describe our business in simple but not simplistic terms. I’ve tried to boil down what we do into its purest form and capture the essence of what we do. But can we do this with people? Can we pick out there essential characteristics, the things that make them tick and store them neatly, preserve their quiddity for future use?

When I was walking through Fenwick, the department store in Newcastle I came across a stand of Tom Ford aftershave. There were small bottles arranged in a wooden shelf with exotic names that hinted at the exciting olfactory journeys that lay just below their stoppers, names such as Neroli Portofino, Noir de Noir, Lavender Palm, London, Arabian Wood and Tobacco Vanilla.

How good would it be to be able to draw upon the very essence of my team, from a collection of small bottles and create a liquor for any occasion, an amalgam of essential oils and defining characteristics?

A touch of Neil, a soupçon of Bob, a smidgen of Steve, a drop of Lee and the merest hint of myself.

A vial of quiddity.