Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Scrough

v. intr.
to mindlessly perform a tedious task that nobody will ever notice, required by a bureaucracy that nobody fully owns, in pursuit of outcomes that nobody really wants.

From scrow, to work hard + scroff, useless bits of leftover material + cog, a tiny forgettable element in a complicated machine. Pronounced “skrawg.”

Trueholding

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

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral

Hickering

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

On Tenderhooks

Cover image for the On Tenderhooks word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Irrition

a close up of a dandelion