Exulansis

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

Exulansis

n.
the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it—whether through envy or pity or mere foreignness—which allows it to drift away from the rest of your story, until it feels out of place, almost mythical, wandering restlessly in the fog, no longer even looking for a place to land.

Latin exulans, exile, wanderer, derived from the Latin name of the Wandering Albatross, diomedea exulans, who spend most of their life in flight, rarely landing, going hours without even flapping their wings. The albatross is a symbol of good luck, a curse, and a burden, and sometimes all three at once. Pronounced “ek-suh-lan-sis.”

Querinous

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

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Symptomania

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

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face