Anecdoche

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

Anecdoche

n.
a conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening— instead merely overlaying words like a spoken game of Scrabble, each player borrowing bits of others’ anecdotes to build out their own, until we reach a point when we all run out of things to say.

From anecdote, a short and often amusing account of real-life events + synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole. Pronounced “uh-nek-doh-kee.”

Endzoned

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

Merrenness

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

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Holiette

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

Hickering

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