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.

Monachopsis

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

Insoucism

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

Apolytus

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

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Exulansis

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

Covalent Bond

Cover image for the Covalent Bond word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows