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

Jouska

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

Mcfeely

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

Ecstatic Shock

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

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Bye-Over

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

Siso

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

Ludiosis

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

Volander

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

Agnosthesia

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