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.”

Ochisia

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

Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Etherness

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

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Wenbane

a person standing on a ledge looking at a city skyline