Why did she get the part of leading lady? This is the theatrical nulkin.
Why is a book popular? Publishers strive in vain to discover the literary nulkin. (See Edicle.)
Why do imitators fail? Because they copy outside traits, and not the inmost nulkin. (See Bripkin.)
A nulkin is the secret thought you never tell,—the real reason why your wife doesn’t like Sarah.
“What does he see in her?” we ask;
“What does she see in him?”
Ah, matrimonial nulkins task
The brains of seraphim!
The nulkin is what you have tried,
And I have tried to know;
Instead, we judge from what’s outside—
Perhaps ’tis better so.
Oo´fle, n. 1. A person whose name you cannot remember. 2. A state of forgetfulness regarding a friend or thing.
Oo´fle, v. 1. To try to find out a person’s name without asking. 2. To talk to an unknown person without introducing him to a nearby friend.
Oofled, p.p. Mortified needlessly.
“How do you do, Mr. Goheevus; you don’t remember me, do you?” Are you oofled? If you are not, you will say, “No, why should I?” But alas, one usually is oofled, and struggles desperately to conceal the fact, groping wildly in the well of one’s memory for the lost name, while one’s friends stand about reproachfully, waiting to be introduced.