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.

Nachlophobia

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

Malotype

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

Aponemia

a group of people standing together

Fitching

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

Latigo

aerial view of a city at night

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks