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.

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Ioia

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

Fensiveness

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

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Lilo

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

Holiette

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