Lookaback

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

Lookaback

n.
the shock of meeting back up with someone and learning that your mental image of them had fallen wildly out of date—having grown up or gotten old, fallen apart or pulled themselves together—which shakes your faith in the accuracy of the social puppet show that runs continuously inside your head.

From look back + taken aback, taken by surprise.

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Drisson

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

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Skidding

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