Thing Not To Be Today: delible.

We describe biros or pens as indelible, but the equally useful word delible has vanished from our consciousness. It's a shame.

The Oxford English Dictionary refers to the delible stain of departed souls, which is a true but terrifying thought.

What is a computer image but a delible stain...?

What is a life but a memory...?

...well, in both cases, quite a lot, actually.

But only if you do something about it, like writing a play


engraving by Martin Drieshout

 or having a child:


Jenny Spencer-Churchill

 or inventing a cure for smallpox:


Edward Jenner by John Rapheal Smith

or invading a country:


Julius Caesar


...err...okay. 

Perhaps you can take the delible thing a bit too far...

Thing To Be Today: delible. This word comes from the Latin delēre, to destroy.