The Third Edit: ‘Nanoship’ destroys something beautiful (original) (raw)

In essence, what was once ineffable — indescribable, inexpressible — loses its soul when put down in words. Did we really need “nanoship”?

Jan 17, 2025 07:11 IST First published on: Jan 17, 2025 at 07:04 IST

A look exchanged across a crowded room that sends a frisson down the spine. A brief flirtation with a casual acquaintance, lasting no more than a minute or two, that can, nonetheless, bring on a blush. A smile from a co-worker, or a joke shared with a fellow commuter — how might these fleeting but deeply pleasurable interactions have been described before the word “nanoship” was created? As a recent Tinder report predicts, “nanoships” — small, yet meaningful interactions, according to the dating app — may well be one of the key dating trends of 2025. But the fact is that these momentary connections have always been a part of the human experience.

Perhaps all that this “prediction” means is that a new generation is discovering the beauty of such connections. After all, the main appeal of a “nanoship” is that it is not tied to long-term expectations and its accompanying anxieties, allowing the individuals involved to simply live in the “micro-moment”. It is a connection that is pregnant with all sorts of possibilities, but not weighed down by any of them. What is remarkable is that it has taken this long for what is essentially a timeless and universal phenomenon to be given a name at all, especially considering the elasticity of the English language, which accommodates over 5,000 new words every year, officially and unofficially.

But perhaps that was for a reason. Consider an analogy that the writer Ann Patchett once used to describe how painful the creative process can be: An unwritten novel in her mind, she said, is a “thing of indescribable beauty”, like a butterfly, and the act of writing is like “plucking the butterfly” out of air and pinning it onto a page. In essence, what was once ineffable — indescribable, inexpressible — loses its soul when put down in words. Did we really need “nanoship”?

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