Elsing

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

Elsing

n.
the unconscious habit of looking at someone and seeing only a cartoon of what they represent to you, their face obscured by a superimposed image of someone else entirely—your mother, your school bully, or yourself in another time—which makes you wonder what others must see when they look at you from across the room.

From else. Pronounced “el-sing.”

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Redesis

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

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Anthrodynia

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

Boorance

a group of objects on a table

Punt Kick

Cover image for the Punt Kick word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows