'Logophilia' by Megha Nayar

Turns out my daughter broke up with her boyfriend because his Instagram feed was “weird”.

“He clicks random signages,” she tells me over breakfast today, “billboards on highways, notices inside stores, name plates outside strangers’ homes.”

“Isn’t that – what’s the word for it – eclectic?” I ask. “Isn’t your generation all about loving the unusual and undefinable?”

“It’s not eclectic, Dad,” she drawls. “It’s not like he’s a calligrapher or something. He just likes random words of no importance.”

I feel a slight tremor in my heart.

When she’s gone, I open Google and look at my search history: synonyms of ‘smorgasbord’, etymological origins of ‘loquacious’, antonyms of ‘extrapolate’. The internet has so much damning evidence of my own curiosity. I’m drawn to words too, just not on boards.

I don’t know what the protocols for modern fathers are but hopefully it’s still cool to be a rambling logophile.

Remind me to never follow her on Instagram though.