Words without a topic V

Twenty-fourth on the list is incoerente, and it is the entry most likely to be read straight into the wrong sentence. In English « incoherent » is about being followed: speech that rambles, an argument nobody can track, a witness too shaken to make sense. The Italian word does none of that work. Incoerente says that two things which ought to agree do not — the account contradicts itself, the figure on page one does not match the figure on page nine, the rule says one thing in one paragraph and the opposite in the next. The list’s own sentence carries the shape of it: il racconto è incoerente su due punti names two points, because there have to be two for the word to apply at all. For talk nobody can follow, Italian reaches instead for sconnesso or confuso. The positive form settles the matter. La coerenza is consistency, and essere coerente said of a person is high praise: somebody whose actions match their words, which « coherent » never means about anybody. Our word asks only that a thing hang together well enough to be followed, and that is a much lower bar.