The Whipgraft Delusion

Cover image for the The Whipgraft Delusion word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Whipgraft Delusion

n.
the phenomenon in which you catch your reflection in the mirror and get the sense that you’re peering into the eyes of a stranger, as if you’re looking at a police sketch of your own face aged forward twenty years, which would imply that the real you is out there somewhere, wandering the streets of your old neighborhood, still at large.

In horticulture, whip grafting is when you fuse the top of one plant to the bottom of another. In psychology, the Capgras delusion is the conviction that a loved one has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter.

Antiophobia

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

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object