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.”

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Vulture Shock

Cover image for the Vulture Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Leidenfreude

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

Burn Upon Reentry

Cover image for the Burn Upon Reentry word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nighthawk

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

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence