Anecdoche

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

Anecdoche

n.
a conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening— instead merely overlaying words like a spoken game of Scrabble, each player borrowing bits of others’ anecdotes to build out their own, until we reach a point when we all run out of things to say.

From anecdote, a short and often amusing account of real-life events + synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole. Pronounced “uh-nek-doh-kee.”

Wenbane

a person standing on a ledge looking at a city skyline

Hobsmacked

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

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Burn Upon Reentry

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

Covalent Bond

Cover image for the Covalent Bond word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Pâro

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

Nullness

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

Xeno

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

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

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

Latigo

aerial view of a city at night

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Semaphorism

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

Mcfeely

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

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Ellipsism

a hand clawing at a wall

Bye-Over

Cover image for the Bye-Over word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Beloiter

a person sitting at a slot machine

Ludiosis

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