Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Blinkback

n.
the disillusionment of revisiting a pop-culture touchstone of your youth and finding that it hasn’t aged well at all—having to confront its cringey dialogue, hand-puppet characterization, and wildly implausible plotting—which only makes you wonder what else in your mental fridge is past its expiration date.

Appalachian English (dialect) blinked, soured milk + back, in the past.

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Leidenfreude

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

Exulansis

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

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Kenaway

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

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Hubilance

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

Amentalio

a person in a white dress, facing away