Dolorblindness

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

Dolorblindness

n.
the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s pain, only ever searching their face for some faint evocation of it, then rifling through your own experiences for some slapdash comparison, wishing you could tell them truthfully, “I know exactly how you feel.”

Latin dolor, pain + colorblindness. Pronounced “doh-ler-blahynd-nis.”

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Heartworm

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Rialtoscuro

a blurry image of a light source

Harmonoia

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

Maugry

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