Archive - Dictionary of Despair

Anticipatory Anxiety

The inability to savour pleasure in the current moment due to a perception/feeling/premonition that in some future scenario (which has yet to…

Nov 1, 2024 •

Conceptual Ninja

January 2021

The Vocabulary of Weltschmerz

Welcome to Dictionary of Despair - the Vocabulary of Weltschmerz. A self-help guide for the time poor and contentment challenged. Struggling to…

Jan 2, 2021 •

November 2020

Welcome to the Frightgeist

When fear is your constant companion...

Nov 6, 2020 •

October 2020

A modern phenomenon, born of extended homeworking due to coronavirus.

Oct 25, 2020 •

Shelf-Aggrandizement

A relatively new phenomenon – shelf aggrandizement is the act of positioning oneself in front of the most impressive selection of erudite literature as…

Oct 7, 2020 •

April 2020

A particularly weak or low-quality instance of a portmanteau, e.g.

Apr 26, 2020 •

January 2020

Resolution Recycling

Happy New Year!

Jan 1, 2020 •

December 2019

August 2019

See Battery Anxiety

Aug 10, 2019 •

Residual Parental Guilt

You do your best to raise them and then send them out into the world, knowing that you have done all that you possibly can to prepare them.

Aug 4, 2019 •

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