Tag: words

maugry – adj. afraid that you’ve been mentally deranged all your life and everybody around you knows, but none of them mention it to you directly because they feel it’s not their place.

I don’t know that I quite feel maugry, though I certainly sometimes wonder if I view the world much differently (and strangely) than others. I certainly think in polite society that others often won’t point out something that others do or say that is very strange.

I also like to think that often I have lots of empathy and understanding of how others view the world, though maybe that means I am actually deranged from others’ point of view and I should feel maugry.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

wellium – n. an excuse you come up with to rationalize a disappointing outcome – telling yourself that you weren’t in the mood for that sold-out show anyway, that your safety school is actually a better fit, that your dream job might have been too stressful.

I come up with wellium all the time. I think it’s a very human reaction to try and make yourself feel better with some justification of why you are OK something didn’t work out.

As I’ve gotten older, I do try to just feel bad or disappointed, and then move on. I tell myself that often decisions made by others aren’t necessarily a rejection. Often it can be a preference for something else, or the competition was better.

It’s OK if others beat you at something if they’re better. That’s what we all want from competitive situations in sports, in jobs, in music. If they win, they win.

Hopefully that also spurs you to learn to be better.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

tarrion – n. an odd interval of blankness you feel after something big happens to you bt before you feel the resulting emotional reaction – stunned by a sudden loss, a stroke of luck, or an unexpected visitor – like those tension-filled seconds between a flash of lightning and the thunderclap that follows..

I don’t have a lot of big things happening in my life. No great joys, but not great sorrows (usually). However, I know I’ve had this a few times. I had one last year, which I don’t want to disclose, but I got some news and I missed the next few sentences. I was stunned, and didn’t know how to react. A few seconds later the emotion hit me.

This seems like a very common reaction to big news, and while I appreciate the excitement for some things, I’m glad I don’t feel tarrion too often with sad news.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

lyssanmania – n. the irrational fear that someone you know is angry at you, that as soon as you wander into the room, you’ll be faced with a barrage of questions that gradually escalates into a frenzy of outrage, for reasons that you don’t understand.

When I work with teenagers, I see lyssamania a lot. They often assign feelings and reactions to people before any situation occurs. They’ll assume others will react in some way without really thinking things through.

We know what assume means.

I’ve often felt this is am immature view of a situation that teenagers have, except that I see the same thing in business.

I have experienced this myself, though usually I have some idea of why a person might be upset. Usually I think I’ve offended someone, or I assume I have. Not always, and sometimes I have a variation of lyssamania with some idea of why there would be outrage.

Hopefully you don’t feel this, but if you do, get some counseling as this shouldn’t be your default view.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows