I've just discovered the beautiful word 'respair' (15th century), and it feels like we need it today: fresh hope; a recovery from despair.— Susie Dent (@susie_dent) June 14, 2017
This tweet made me feel a twinge of despair. What I think we need is not hope but reason for hope. And there is some of that, in the wake of Labour's resurgence in last week's election. But this confusion of the word with the thing itself is magical thinking, the kind of linguistic determinism I associate with the Culture of Therapy, and the reponses to the tweet indicate that I recognize it correctly.
