Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Offtides

adj.
beginning to suspect that you’re living in a bizarre alternate reality, as if you had stumbled into a shimmering “What if?” thought bubble that somehow kept going, episode after episode.

After off, the state of being not quite normal or sane + offsides, a sports offense in which you find yourself on the wrong side at the wrong moment + tides, the normal ebb and flow of time.

Symptomania

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

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Amoransia

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

Suente

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

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape