Tarrion

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

Tarrion

n.
an odd interval of blankness you feel after something big happens to you but before you feel the resulting emotional reaction—stunned by a sudden loss, a stroke of luck, or an unexpected visitor—like those tension-filled seconds between a flash of lightning and the thunderclap that follows, which gives you a hint of how near you are to the coming storm.

From tarry, to be late to react, or linger in expectation + carry on. Pronounced “tar-ee-uhn.”

Slipfast

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

Ecstatic Shock

Cover image for the Ecstatic Shock word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Desanté

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