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.

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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

la cuna

n. a twinge of sadness that there’s no frontier left, that as the last explorer trudged with his armies toward a blank spot on the map, he didn’t suddenly remember his daughter’s upcoming piano recital and turn for home, leaving a new continent unexplored so we could set its mists and mountains aside as a strategic reserve of mystery, if only to answer more of our children’s questions with “Nobody knows! Out there, anything is possible.”

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    I was thinking about this today. I wish adventurer/explorer was
  4. jumblejo reblogged this from dictionaryofobscuresorrows and added:
    well put, internet. well put.
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    familiar feeling, especially...one who grew up on Boys’ Own Adventure Stories in...
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