The Kinder Surprise

Cover image for the The Kinder Surprise word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Kinder Surprise

n.
the point in your early adolescence when you realize that your parents are muddling through their lives the same as you; that many respectable adults are no less lost than you and your friends, no less petty and obsessive and insecure, which makes you wonder if there are no real adults, because such a thing never actually existed, except in bedtime stories.

German Kinder, children. Refers to Kinder Surprise, a foil-wrapped chocolate egg that contains a small toy that’s already broken into pieces. Pronounced “thuh kin-der ser-prahyz.”

Xeno

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

Fardle-Din

Cover image for the Fardle-Din word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Vellichor

shelves with many books stacked and organized

Watashiato

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

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face