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.”

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Mauerbauertraurigkeit

Mauerbauer-traurigkeit

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

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Kairosclerosis

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