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.

Ringlorn

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

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Nementia

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

Rubatosis

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

Ne’er-Be-Gone

Cover image for the Ne’er-Be-Gone word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows