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.”

Lilo

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

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

The Standard Blues

Cover image for the The Standard Blues word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Gaudia Civis

a close-up of a gear

Hanker Sore

Cover image for the Hanker Sore word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces