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.”

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark

Exulansis

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

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Etherness

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

Fitzcarraldo

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

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure