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

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Manusia

Cover image for the Manusia 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

Liberosis

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

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Moledro

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

Routwash

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

Dorgone

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

Anecdoche

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