Ukase?

In the first draft of Mom’s memoir, the chapter on exploring the cayes included the sentence:

There was no argument over the ukase that they wear their life jackets at sea.

Mom had circled ukase and had written in the margin:

Alex protests “ukase.” I say it is exactly right.

Underneath her note, I wrote:

Tom and I had never heard the word—use “edict.”

By the time I started to work on the relevant chapter in 2016, I had completely forgotten encountering the word ukase when I read Mom’s first draft in 1992. It looked like a typo to me, though I couldn’t imagine what she had intended to type. Just in case it wasn’t a typo, I looked it up and was completely surprised to find that it is a legitimate word.

Merriam-Webster defines ukase as:

1. a proclamation by a Russian emperor or government having the force of law
2. edict

I decided that ukase was simply too obscure and replaced it with edict. Sorry, Mom!

After the fact, I consulted my vocabulary expert, Christine Pfeil. She didn’t recognize the word but noted that terms that are unfamiliar to us were:

…thoughtfully chosen by Kate…her choices say a lot about her background and the times in which she lived. They, in many ways, bring her to life as a personality and intellect, and you wouldn’t want to lose that!

Her sister, Catherine Pfeil, added:

I love that Kate so often taught me new words as she was so eloquent.

So, this note is my compromise. I’d like people to enjoy Mom’s writing without having to consult a dictionary, but those who read the note may learn a new word.

 

Seven months after our discuss, Christine Pfeil gleefully informed me that she had come across ukase in a crossword puzzle (the clue was decree), adding:

Imagine how flabbergasted and “superior” I felt! I’ve done bazillions of crosswords and only now encountered ukase! Thanks again to Kate!

 

About a year passed before I encountered my next suspected typo; this one also turned out to be a real word. Thereafter, I left all of Mom’s “obscure” words unchanged and without editor’s notes. It’s up to curious readers to look up words that they don’t recognize—as I’ve had to do.