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.”

Volander

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

Hailbound

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

The Wends

Cover image for the The Wends word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Watashiato

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

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Tillid

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