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.”

Future-Tense

a person looking at their reflection

Nemotia

a city with clouds of smoke

Aimonomia

close-up of a plant with lights glowing in background

Eftless

a person with hands pressed on a window

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Arroia

people standing on a stage

Caucic

a close-up of a stone walking path

Boorance

a group of objects on a table

Aoyaoia

a person holding a guitar

Mogging Folly

a person sitting on a bench

Wollah

a person with shapes raining on them

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Moriturism

a person resting in the back seat of a car

Nodrophobia

close-up of a stained shirt

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Beloiter

a person sitting at a slot machine

Angosis

a table full of food

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ghough

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

Knellish

a blurry image of a person lying on a bed

Gobo

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

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Flichtish

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

Ioia

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