Candling

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

Candling

v. intr.
the habit of taking stock of your life on the occasion of your birthday—letting it serve as a kind of internal referendum on all your goals and qualities and relationships and accomplishments so far—which makes you want to dress just a little nicer that day, as if you’re standing before a parole board that convenes once a year to adjudicate your release from childhood.

From candling, a method of egg inspection in which an egg is backlit with a candle flame to reveal how the chick is growing, or if it's there at all.

Sayfish

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

Desanté

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

Nighthawk

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

Slipfast

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

Nementia

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

Dolorblindness

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