Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Aulasy

n.
the sadness that there’s no way to convey a powerful memory to people who weren’t there at the time—driving past your childhood home to show it to a friend, or pointing at a picture of a loved one you lost, only to realize that to them it’s just another house, just another face.

A contraction of auld lang syne, which is Scots for “times long past”—fragments of which are still present in aulasy, but the meaning has been lost. Pronounced “awl-uh-see.”

Fardle-Din

Cover image for the Fardle-Din word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Hickering

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

Ecstatic Shock

Cover image for the Ecstatic Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Fitzcarraldo

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

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock