Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

[greg]

Anyone heard of this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictionary_of_Obscure_Sorrows


Seems at least one word is gaining popularity: Sonder.

It means "the feeling of seeing a stranger and realizing how much is involved in the story of their life and how you will never really know all there is to know about them."

I first encountered that as the title to an album by Tesseract (and the wiki mentions other places it was used).


I'm working on the last (only unfinished) song on my album and had no idea what to call it, but found the perfect word from it to use as the title:
Kenopsia

It means the eerie empty feeling you get from a place that should be full of people but isn't.

[steve ridgway]

I hadn't heard of this but Kenopsia is a lovely feeling .

[greg]

I hadn't heard of this but Kenopsia is a lovely feeling .

Yeah 
I'm surprised there wasn't a word of that yet, actually. I think this dictionary was created because there's somewhat of a lack of words describing subjective feeling in the English language.

Like you can describe "desolation" as being an adjective for the place, or "feeling of desolation/desertedness" but that's not one word.

And it's super useful because, like I had mentioned in other threads, defining these words is helpful for more abstract thinkers (like me) to communicate better.

And it seems though that you can break that down a bit more... like I had a friend that really loved playing Fallout 3, exploring ruins, and that is one type of Kenopsia, I think- people were there in the past but are no longer.

Another form of Kenopsia is the common, easily experienced event of going somewhere at night after it's closed.

Another concept similar to Kenopsia which should have its own word, I think, is the feeling of lucid dreaming and knowing all the people you see aren't real even though they are 100% convincing. It's similar in that actual people aren't there where people should be, just imaginary people, but it's different in that everything is fake. So some overlap but a new word for that would be cool.

[steve ridgway]

Looking at late 19th century photos of crowds and realising all those people are now gone.

[greg]

Looking at late 19th century photos of crowds and realising all those people are now gone.

I'm looking through the dictionary on the website now and not seeing a word for that. That definitely needs one.

[steve ridgway]

The joy of wandering through a shopping mall and not wanting any of that stuff .

[Karl Henning]

The joy of wandering through a shopping mall and not wanting any of that stuff .

Sweet.

[Karl Henning]

Detachment from consumerism.

[Florestan]

The joy of wandering through a shopping mall and not wanting any of that stuff .

I believe it's called Socratesness. 

But, but, but --- believe me or not, most Romanian malls feature a bookshop (and they sell CDs too). 

[Karl Henning]

I believe it's called Socratesness. 

But, but, but --- believe me or not, most Romanian malls feature a bookshop (and they sell CDs too). 

I remember bookshops ... actually there is still a Barnes and Noble in a neighboring town, I should go visit sometime.

[steve ridgway]

I believe it's called Socratesness. 

But, but, but --- believe me or not, most Romanian malls feature a bookshop (and they sell CDs too). 

One of the women at work gave me a funny look when I said there's nothing there, just clothes and shoe shops .

[greg]

The joy of wandering through a shopping mall and not wanting any of that stuff .

I hate clothes shopping, so I don't do it. But I love malls.

It's just the vibes. Nice, clean, open places are nice, clean, open places. Nothing to do on the weekend and wanna get outside for a bit, malls are the spot I'll always hit up.

Btw, I had signed my email up to get a notification from the guy who made that website when the official physical dictionary (and pdf) will be finished. Apparently he is open to suggestions, so anything you wanted to suggest apart from what you mentioned already? I'll send him my own and yours in the next day or two. Or you could just email him if you want. 

[Jo498]

But Kenopsia means just seeing empty, not feeling empty. It should be something like Kenothymia or Kenopsothymia. Many years ago I attended some lectures on aesthetics (with a focus on modern art with all these "empty paintings", I didn't really understand either the art or the aesthetic theory...) and the professor loved a quote, supposedly from Chandler: "[Off to my left there was an empty swimming pool, and] nothing ever looks emptier than an empty swimming pool." (R. Chandler: The long goodbye)

[steve ridgway]

I hate clothes shopping, so I don't do it. But I love malls.

It's just the vibes. Nice, clean, open places are nice, clean, open places. Nothing to do on the weekend and wanna get outside for a bit, malls are the spot I'll always hit up.

Btw, I had signed my email up to get a notification from the guy who made that website when the official physical dictionary (and pdf) will be finished. Apparently he is open to suggestions, so anything you wanted to suggest apart from what you mentioned already? I'll send him my own and yours in the next day or two. Or you could just email him if you want.

You're welcome to include my thoughts in just the one email, they're not copyrighted.

Strangely I'd rather be out in the natural world but as a child was very impressed by regular visits to town centres full of shops, markets and large department stores with lifts, escalators, staircases and tunnels, all the twisting routes through the labyrinth. Square grids of streets with low, standard buildings were not a thing back then, all was jumbled, aged and irregular.

[greg]

But Kenopsia means just seeing empty, not feeling empty. It should be something like Kenothymia or Kenopsothymia. Many years ago I attended some lectures on aesthetics (with a focus on modern art with all these "empty paintings", I didn't really understand either the art or the aesthetic theory...) and the professor loved a quote, supposedly from Chandler: "[Off to my left there was an empty swimming pool, and] nothing ever looks emptier than an empty swimming pool." (R. Chandler: The long goodbye)

Hmmm yeah, I guess so, here's the official definition:

kenopsia
n. the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet—a school hallway in the evening, an unlit office on a weekend, vacant fairgrounds—an emotional afterimage that makes it seem not just empty but hyper-empty, with a total population in the negative, who are so conspicuously absent they glow like neon signs.

Probably needs to be more concise, just like a lot of the other words.

You're welcome to include my thoughts in just the one email, they're not copyrighted.

Cool!