Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Backmasking

n.
the instinctive tendency to see someone as you knew them in their youth—a burned-in image of grass-stained knees, graffitied backpacks, or handfuls of birthday cake, superimposed on an adult with a mortgage, or children of their own.

In audio recording, backmasking is a technique wherein a sound is deliberately recorded backward, so it’s only intelligible when played in reverse.

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Solla, Solla, Solla

a hand reaching out for plant tendril

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Anchorage

a person's arm extended over river rapids

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Keta

a hand reaching through paper with a flower drawing

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Waldosia

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

Catoptric Tristesse

Cover image for the Catoptric Tristesse word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lookaback

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

Elsewise

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Malotype

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

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Proluctance

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

Bye-Over

Cover image for the Bye-Over word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows