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.

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Candling

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

Hobsmacked

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

Mornden

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

Vulture Shock

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

Justing

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

Dead Reckoning

Cover image for the Dead Reckoning word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nighthawk

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

Gobo

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