The Kinder Surprise

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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.”

Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Lyssamania

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Dolonia

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Fygophobia

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

Elsing

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

Viadne

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