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

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Momophobia

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

Dead Reckoning

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

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Etherness

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

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Sitheless

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

Hiddled

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

Exulansis

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