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.”

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Boorance

a group of objects on a table

Skidding

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

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Loss Of Backing

Cover image for the Loss Of Backing word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows