Caucic

a close-up of a stone walking path

Caucic

adj.
afraid that the rest of your life is already laid out in front of you, that you’re being swept inexorably along a series of predictable milestones—from school to graduation to career to marriage to kids to retirement to death—which makes you wish you could pull off to the side of the road for a little while, to stretch your legs and spread out the map so you can double-check that you’re headed the right way.

Middle English cauci, path or road + caustic, able to burn or corrode living tissue. Pronounced “kaw-sik.”

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Jouska

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

Sayfish

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

Anti-Aliasing

Cover image for the Anti-Aliasing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Vicarous

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

Fata Organa

Cover image for the Fata Organa word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows