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.

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Caucic

a close-up of a stone walking path

Ledsome

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

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Vaucasy

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

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Mal De Coucou

a blurry image of several men

Justing

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

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

La Gaudière

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