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.”

Funkenzwangsvorstellung

Funkenzwang-svorstellung

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

Vaucasy

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

Lackout

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

Indosentia

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

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

La Gaudière

Cover image for the La Gaudière word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows