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

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Mornden

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

Incidental Contact High

Cover image for the Incidental Contact High word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Standard Blues

Cover image for the The Standard Blues word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Til

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

Symptomania

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

Rivener

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

Rasque

close-up of the shards of a broken vase

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark