Wytai

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

Wytai

n.
a feature of modern civilization that suddenly strikes you as absurd and grotesque—from pets and milk drinking to organ transplants, life insurance, and fiction—part of a rich legacy of absurdity that dates all the way back to the moment our ancestors first hauled themselves out of the slime, but could not for the life of them remember what they got up to do.

Acronym of When You Think About It. Pronounced “wahy-tahy.”

Anchorage

a person's arm extended over river rapids

Offtides

close-up of a chromed metal object

Adomania

a person riding a horse

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Nyctous

a person walking in the middle of a street

Treachery Of The Common

Cover image for the Treachery Of The Common word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows