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.

Mauerbauertraurigkeit

Mauerbauer-traurigkeit

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

Volander

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

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Dolorblindness

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

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Maugry

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