Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Grayshift

n.
the tendency for future goals and benchmarks to feel huge when viewed in advance, only to fade into banality as soon as you’ve achieved them—finally reaching the top of the ladder, only to notice it circling back around like a hamster wheel.

A variation on redshift and blueshift, the astronomical processes that make objects moving away look redder than they really are, and objects moving toward you look bluer.

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Fygophobia

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

Licotic

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

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Lackout

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

Zielschmerz

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