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.”

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Ledsome

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

Mottleheaded

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

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Zielschmerz

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

Kadot

a person looking at an abstract spiral