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 In psychology, the Capgras delusion is the conviction that a loved one has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter.

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Lackout

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

Candling

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

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Rookish

a stone tower with a person seated on top

Siso

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