The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Upper Midwest's third-largest compendium of the outer spatters of the emotional palette. Our mission is to harpoon, bag and tag wild sorrows then release them back into the subconscious.

Each definition is original and handcrafted by John Koenig, a freelance graphic designer and writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Give feedback, tell us about your day or suggest a new word at obscuresorrows@gmail.com. By including your name and hometown you are granting us the right to like you, to reply, and to forever enshrine your name in the tags.

Want a fun and easy way to get a supple, sexy vocabulary in time for swimsuit season? Get new words instantly on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.

Explore the archives or flip to a random definition.

Duchenne de Boulogne demonstrates the mechanics of expression by electrically stimulating the facial muscles of a live subject whose face had been paralyzed.
Copyright © 2010 John Koenig.
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

laughtershock

n. an embarrassing memory from middle school that slips back into your head from out of nowhere, a fault line in the crust of passing years—whose ever-thickening strata warp and buckle between the pressures of this week and a mantle of forgotten things two thousand miles deep—which is part of a theory on the evolution of the self known as cafeteria plate tectonics.

  1. callshotgun reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows and added:
    notebook stolen. While...person who did such thing didn’t really showed it to anybody, he...
  2. dospuntocinco reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  3. specbebop reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  4. fivefifteen reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  5. annaxdominiq reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  6. brunetteshavemorefun reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  7. trxfreely reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  8. palestarsrising reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  9. celey reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  10. patisseriepoupon reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  11. wrists reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  12. sweatervests reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  13. wormswart reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  14. lapingris reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  15. jedeng reblogged this from possibleselves
  16. bewalkingtrees reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  17. possibleselves reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  18. doggabone reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  19. nowherebear reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  20. flurby reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  21. mysthanafarhana reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  22. daphnej reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  23. runningmouse reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  24. maite-mayte reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  25. grills reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
  26. 24hrsofmidnight reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows
More Information