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.”

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Trueholding

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Pax Latrina

Cover image for the Pax Latrina word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Vicarous

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

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Amuse-Douche

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