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.

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Amentalio

a person in a white dress, facing away

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Thwit

close-up of a person with forehead wrinkled and holding their head

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Clockwise

a close-up of flower along with polaroid pictures

Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Vicarous

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

Jouska

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

Wildred

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

Malotype

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

Vulture Shock

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

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Aesthosis

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

Fool’s Guilt

Cover image for the Fool’s Guilt word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape