noun
Someone you have never seen before but who looks familiar, reminding you of someone you cannot place.
As Vincent waited in line, he couldn’t help but steal glances at the woman queuing for the other register. She was a doppelhalfte and it was really bothering him that he couldn’t recall the person she reminded him of.
verb phrase
To unfocus one’s mind from making sense of spoken words and take in the shape of the sounds.
When I’m really tired and a lot of people are speaking around me, sometimes I like to close my eyes and just go voice surfing on the audiocean, riding the sound waves and leaving meaning behind.
noun
A continually shifting dull roar made up of many separate conversations in an enclosed space from which it is difficult or impossible to pick out individual voices.
A frequent result of dinscalation.
Talkative crowds don’t usually bother me, but when I get tired they can be exhausting as my brain automatically struggles to make sense of the sentences all the people around are saying, but can scarcely do so out of the audiocean they add up to.
noun phrase
A word or phrase that catches one’s attention even when one is not consciously listening to its speaker by way of the cocktail party effect.
Everyone knows that they can hear their own name even when they aren’t paying attention, but when I realized that “Star Trek” and “Picard” are also noise drops for me, I had to do some serious reevaluation of my priorities.
noun
An unlikely yet somehow common phenomenon by which temperatures in a single room leave one person too warm and another too cold.
“Seems like we’re getting lots of complaints about the temperature up on the third floor shared office space."
“What else is new?"
“Well, half of the complaints are that the temperature is too low, and the other half are that it’s too high."
“Another hyperlocal weather system, eh? Well, let’s just follow standard procedure."
“What’s that?"
“Install two dummy thermostats on opposite ends of the room and let each group set their own temperatures."
“Nice. I’ll get right on that.”
verb
To relax by doing something repetitive and largely mindless.
In the evening after a long day at work, my mother liked to rotelax by playing solitaire.
noun phrase
An understandable but likely ignoble motivation ascribed to the action of another.
Personal hygiene not being very important to Vernon, he was confused when Karmen requested he wash his hands before borrowing her tablet. The only way he could make sense of it was by positing the extrapolated motive that it was a power move on her part.
noun
A hypothetical substance that causes crappiness and must be refined out of a work to increase the work’s quality. Per the law, it can be found in high quantities in most works.
The first draft of my novel is coming along, but I can tell there’s a lot of sturgeonite in it so far, so I’m going to be spending a lot of time revising.
noun
A lengthy speech delivered to someone who turns out to be asleep.
I’ve learned not to tell long stories when I go camping. They tend to turn into pillowloquys.
verb
To walk awkwardly at a slightly increased gait due to unimportant time pressure.
The loose crowd approaching the crosswalk dispersed further as some people flitwalked to catch the walk signal before the timer expired and others strolled casually, content to catch the next light change.
noun phrase
A large, soft, warm, and fuzzy blanket of the sort that demands to be curled up in on a lazy Sunday.
I’ve never understood the practice of decorating a couch with throw pillows. But keeping Sunday blankets on it, to stay warm and comfy when reading or watching a movie? Now that’s sensible.
noun
A smile that clearly indicates an emotional state other than happiness.
Whenever Paulina thinks I’m about to give her bad news, she gets this look on her face - her eyes get big and her teeth almost clench into this vacuipsum. It’s actually kind of creepy.
noun phrase
A claim that is technically false but is consistent with all available evidence.
When Leon texted me to ask if I’d remembered to pick up bread at the grocery store, I replied that I had, and then swung by the store to pick up the bread before I came home. Yeah, it was a lie, but it was a Schrödinger’s lie - as far as Leon will ever know, it was true.
noun
A commonly shared concept or experience that generally goes unspoken.
Linus knew that it was a common, unspoken rule to project an obvious reason when turning around while walking, but until someone else brought it up he didn’t realize that children imagining someone running alongside the car was an amperick too.
noun
An apparent insult that serves to demonstrate the strength of a friendship by proving that it’s impossible to mistake even an obvious insult for a genuine attack.
I can tell that Bert at the office is really gelling with the team. Today in the break room he called me a lunkhead when I used the coffee machine wrong. He’s usually so respectful - it’s pretty meaningful to get a poteet from him.
verb
To speak in a slightly raised voice.
“Stop shouting!” said Julianna.
“I’m not shouting!” Elijah said loudly. “I’m just… volocuting.”
noun
A person who attempts to join conversations by asking questions that retread topics already discussed, thereby derailing the conversation.
I was talking to Hallsteinn about his sister moving to Portland, when Julian came by and overheard us. Julian is a habitual oparrogator, so I had a feeling I knew what was coming - and sure enough, he asked us why she was moving and Hallsteinn had to spend five minutes covering it after he’d already told me. I just stood there and waited.
noun
A feeling of internal warmth, without which one feels cold even in a warm environment. Generally must be rebuilt after waking up.
On cold mornings, Cecilia made sure to drink a little extra hot tea before leaving her apartment. It helped her achieve calintradum, and if she skipped it she’d shiver all day.
verb
To correct a long-standing misapprehension.
“Come on, Hannah - or are you scared?” asked Adam with a smirk.
Fed up, I finally had the nerve to emorend him - “It’s Hania, you jerk!” I said. “You’ve been saying it wrong for ages!”
noun
A mundane profession that is later romanticized.
As Erick learned more about history and discovered the degree to which cowboys and samurai were romanticized, he couldn’t help but wonder what currently-normal-seeming job in his culture might end up as a profidin. He pictured future stories of brave, honor-bound startup founders, taming the economic frontiers.