Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Wollah

n.
something you’ve misunderstood for years without knowing it—a familiar word with a weird pronunciation, a favorite saying that means the opposite of what you thought, a well-known factoid that was disproven years ago while you weren’t looking—making you want to stress-test the foundations of your understanding of reality.

A mispronunciation of the French voilà, “behold!” Pronounced “wawl-uh.”

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Nilous

a person standing at a bus terminal

Ecsis

a hand holding a fossil

Craxis

a tall house of cards

Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Tornomov

a cloudy sky and landscape

Hem-Jawed

an abstract image of someone touching their face

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Evertheless

a person floating in water

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Karanoia

a neat stack of white paper

Flichtish

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

Hickering

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

Trueholding

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

Vicarous

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

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Suente

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

Burn Upon Reentry

Cover image for the Burn Upon Reentry word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Merrenness

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