Nullness

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

Nullness

n.
a state of instinctive restlessness that arises when your society makes too many choices on your behalf—foreclosing all risks, codifying all moral dilemmas, deciding in advance whether you’ll succeed or fail—as if your conscience had been outsourced to an external provider, so it’s no longer necessary to have one on site.

From null, an empty set of values.

Idlewild

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

Aesthosis

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

Malotype

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

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk