An understanding that the term "X Factor" describes an indefinable star quality and not just the ability to fart out an insipid Jason Mraz cover.
But the verdict reached by millions almost impulsively, that he lacked (at least at that time) the judgement, clout and indefinable x-factor of a plausible prime minister, was surely closer to the truth.Indeed, Mr Gladwell would question whether such rapid judgements are irrational at all.
The Basques, an indefinable proportion of its much-mixed 2.1m population, are a distinct people, with a language of their own.
Its craziness, its humour, its quirks and reverses of scale, its spring of imagination and its morality have some indefinable resonance in the general psyche.
Hence his new book, "Soft Power", which is a mixture of a general primer on the topic and an appeal for more use of this tool of foreign policy.In the end, the whole point of "soft" things is that they are indefinable, whereas hard tanks and missiles can be dropped on your foot.
Regulars prize maze-like or womb-like pubs, tiny rooms and dark corners; for hearths and fires, no matter what the season; for a sense of history in the layers of paper, clutter and paint; for an indefinable grubbiness and informality.
What matters is the atmosphere, that indefinable thing that no one can put a finger on, until some alteration kills it.
But there was something in the ether, something indefinable about him that did not seem to capture the sense of a national economic emergency that I detect in the country at large.
For its part, the Burgess Shale continues to produce an astonishing array of indefinable creatures faster than palaeontologists can examine them.
Like everyone else in the luxury-goods market, all three face the challenge of maintaining "brand integrity"—analyst-speak for that indefinable aura that convinces a consumer to pay a lot of money for something he, or more likely she, could buy much more cheaply elsewhere.The destroyer of brand integrity is "brand dilution", which is the perverse reward for popularity.
At the end, he attacked Mr Gore over the fundraising scandals of 1996, a return to the sort of personal criticisms that have repeatedly failed to benefit Republicans in the past two elections.Still, debates are often said to be tests not of particular policies or even policy expertise in general but of the indefinable qualities of leadership and attractiveness.
