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.

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Rückkehrunruhe

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

La Gaudière

Cover image for the La Gaudière word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ringlorn

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

Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Chrysalism

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

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top