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.

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

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Skidding

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

Ioia

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

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Sitheless

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

Amuse-Douche

Cover image for the Amuse-Douche word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Fardle-Din

Cover image for the Fardle-Din word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ghough

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

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks