Superior Person's Wednesday!

We might have missed Tuesday, but seeing as it is a 4-day work week, we're hoping you'll cut us some slack. At any rate, here is your Superior Person's word of the week!

Acorporal a. Without a body. In response to a remark by Samuel Rogers that in moments of extreme danger it was very desirable to have presence of mind, the Reverend Sydney Smith replied that he would rather have absence of body. This was said on the very same night that Smith, dining at Rogers’ home, was asked for his opinion on a new lighting system installed by Rogers in the dining room, in such a way that the light was directed at the ceiling, leaving the table below in subdued lighting. Smith replied that he did not like the new system at all, “for all is light above, and all below is darkness and gnashing of teeth.”

Desperate to become immortal, the acorporal Lord Voldemort is forced to use Professor Quirrell’s body while stealing the sorcerer’s stone in J. K. Rowling’s first novel.

Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Acorporal appears in the Third.