Solysium

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

Solysium

n.
the unhinged delirium of being alone for an extended period of time— feeling the hours stretch into days until a weird little culture begins to form inside your head, with its own superstitions and alternate histories and a half-mumbled dialect all your own—whose freewheeling absurdity feels oddly liberating but makes it that much harder to reacclimate to the strictures and ambiguities of normal social life.

From solitary, being by oneself + asylum, a sanctuary for the mentally ill + Elysium, the Ancient Greek equivalent of heaven. Pronounced “soh-lee-zee-uhm.”

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Kairosclerosis

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Immerensis

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

Fata Organa

Cover image for the Fata Organa word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

On Tenderhooks

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