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.”

Endzoned

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

Flashover

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

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Malotype

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

Elsewise

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