Hemeisis

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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.”

Fygophobia

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Pâro

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Holiette

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Wytai

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Kenaway

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Anechosis

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The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Lockheartedness

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Latigo

aerial view of a city at night

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Kinchy

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Mal De Coucou

a blurry image of several men

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Gaudia Civis

a close-up of a gear

Catoptric Tristesse

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Aftergloom

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Tillid

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Xeno

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Solla, Solla, Solla

a hand reaching out for plant tendril

Hailbound

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Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Mauerbauertraurigkeit

Mauerbauer-traurigkeit

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Hemeisis

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

Anchorage

a person's arm extended over river rapids