monachopsis
Jul. 30th, 2015 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordmonachopsis - n., the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach—lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits, unable to recognize the ambient roar of your intended habitat, in which you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.
To quote the coiner of the word, John Koenig, in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. I admit I'm feeling iffy about running a recent creation that has the barest hints of catching on in the wild, but this one resonated. From Greek roots monachus, single/solitary + opsis, vision. The word also happens to be the name of an extinct genus of seal, reflected in the definition.
---L.
To quote the coiner of the word, John Koenig, in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. I admit I'm feeling iffy about running a recent creation that has the barest hints of catching on in the wild, but this one resonated. From Greek roots monachus, single/solitary + opsis, vision. The word also happens to be the name of an extinct genus of seal, reflected in the definition.
---L.
