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.”

Gaudia Civis

a close-up of a gear

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Indosentia

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

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Hailbound

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

Bye-Over

Cover image for the Bye-Over word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows