Hemeisis

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

Hemeisis

n.
the off-putting awareness of how deeply your culture’s norms are ingrained in your psyche—arbitrarily defining what you find shameful and admirable, private and communal, attractive and repulsive, fair and unfair—as if you’d been programmed in a way that you can’t control or even perceive, until you happen to encounter someone who has slightly different code.

Ancient Greek ἡμεῖς (hēmeîs), we (excluding the listener). Pronounced “hem-ey-sis.”

Volander

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

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Clockwise

a close-up of flower along with polaroid pictures

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Heartmoor

a campfire with a kettle many small logs

Leidenfreude

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