Anaphasia

Cover image for the Anaphasia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anaphasia

n.
the fear that your society is breaking apart into factions that have nothing left in common with each other—each defending their own set of values, referring to their own cult figures, speaking in their own untranslatable language.

From anaphase, the stage in cell division when sister chromatids are pulled apart to opposite sides of the cell + aphasia, the inability to comprehend or formulate language due to brain dysfunction. Pronounced “an-uh-fey-zhah.”

Fata Organa

Cover image for the Fata Organa word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Dead Reckoning

Cover image for the Dead Reckoning word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Vaucasy

Cover image for the Vaucasy word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark