Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Spinning Playback Head

n.
the disorienting feeling of meeting back up with an old friend and realizing that you’ve become different people on divergent paths—that even though they’re standing right in front of you, the person you once knew isn’t really there anymore.

After the part of a VCR that reads the signal on a videotape.

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Aftersome

rows of opaque and clear marbles

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Austice

a leaf imprint in the mud

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Harke

a dreamlike image of a person's face over water

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Scabulous

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

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Hubilance

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

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Anderance

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

Hobsmacked

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

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide