Los Vidados

Cover image for the Los Vidados word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Los Vidados

n.
the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might have forgotten completely if someone hadn’t happened to mention them again—friends of friends, people you once shared classes with, people you heard stories about, who you didn’t know well but who still made up the fabric of your intense little community—making you wonder who else might be out there somewhere, only just remembering that you exist.

Spanish los olvidados, “the forgotten”—but not completely. Pronounced “lohs vee-dah-dohs.”

Amentalio

a person in a white dress, facing away

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Mal De Coucou

a blurry image of several men

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books