We are not the arbiters of the English language, sir. Our job, surely, is to chronicle, not judge.
-- Unknown Speaker at a Party (chapter 1)

Importance: Two men are having a conversation at a party for letters A and B while Esme is young. She hears a man speak these words, but she does not know who it is because all she can see is his beard. While the speaker is unknown, the concept is central to the story and central to the concept of the dictionary in general. The primary tension in the book is about whose language is included and whose words matter. The men do not consider themselves to have the authority to make decisions about what words mean. They merely try to collect uses of the words and then figure out what they already mean. That is their intent. Esme realizes fairly early on in life, however, that some words are going to make...