Word bank
-AUTOTRANSLATED-
Spacefarers, being spread across the galaxy and only in intermittent contact, may find it difficult to trust one another due to the figurative and literal distance between one another. It is our hope that this dictionary of obscure sorrows, shared between these far-flung travelers, can help to unite them in understanding.
Submit your own experiences, to share with others!
Spacefarers, being spread across the galaxy and only in intermittent contact, may find it difficult to trust one another due to the figurative and literal distance between one another. It is our hope that this dictionary of obscure sorrows, shared between these far-flung travelers, can help to unite them in understanding.
Submit your own experiences, to share with others!
Starsingling
n. The inexplicable feeling one experiences, when looking outside the window of a starship, that the stars that you can see are the same stars anyone else can see from any other porthole on any other ship or station – the feeling that your struggles and theirs are suddenly not so different anymore, and maybe you could take a turn scrubbing the solar panels, just this once.
n. The inexplicable feeling one experiences, when looking outside the window of a starship, that the stars that you can see are the same stars anyone else can see from any other porthole on any other ship or station – the feeling that your struggles and theirs are suddenly not so different anymore, and maybe you could take a turn scrubbing the solar panels, just this once.
Noggincounter
n. The act of finding your friend floating through some hallway, as lost in their own busy schedule as you are in yours, and wordlessly bumping heads together, in a matter of greeting, tumbling for a moment, before disconnecting and flying off in opposite directions.
n. The act of finding your friend floating through some hallway, as lost in their own busy schedule as you are in yours, and wordlessly bumping heads together, in a matter of greeting, tumbling for a moment, before disconnecting and flying off in opposite directions.
Radspectation
n. The creepy, crawly feeling that – right now! – radiation is bombarding your every cell and molecule, despite knowing that sensing this should be impossible; a tingling, buzzing, hair-raising, jittering coldness that makes sleeping in a solar storm difficult.
n. The creepy, crawly feeling that – right now! – radiation is bombarding your every cell and molecule, despite knowing that sensing this should be impossible; a tingling, buzzing, hair-raising, jittering coldness that makes sleeping in a solar storm difficult.
Wellsickness
n. The paradoxical, contradictory, bittersweet feeling when setting down in a gravity well for the first time in a long time, listening to your bones ache and muscles tear, feeling as though you’re falling while standing in place, yet reveling in the strength of gravity-compacted earth and the sweet smell of unfiltered air.
n. The paradoxical, contradictory, bittersweet feeling when setting down in a gravity well for the first time in a long time, listening to your bones ache and muscles tear, feeling as though you’re falling while standing in place, yet reveling in the strength of gravity-compacted earth and the sweet smell of unfiltered air.
Smatter
n. A lonely chunk of abandoned food, free-floating in the null-g section of the station; no-one knows if it’s safe to eat or not, and it’s unclear what meal it managed to escape from, but you make sure that no one is looking and snap it up.
n. A lonely chunk of abandoned food, free-floating in the null-g section of the station; no-one knows if it’s safe to eat or not, and it’s unclear what meal it managed to escape from, but you make sure that no one is looking and snap it up.
Vestiblutete
adj. Completely disoriented upon waking up in null-g, to the point of being useless to the world for a minute or two, without any immediate frame of reference for determining up from down, like the feeling of awakening in bed with your head at its foot, only the ceiling is a wall and your alarm clock is floating.
adj. Completely disoriented upon waking up in null-g, to the point of being useless to the world for a minute or two, without any immediate frame of reference for determining up from down, like the feeling of awakening in bed with your head at its foot, only the ceiling is a wall and your alarm clock is floating.
Ringball
n. A spacefarer’s game, supposedly based on an old Earth game, the object of which being, usually, to attempt to pass some sort of ball around 360 degrees of an artificial gravity ring, all the while fighting against the Coriolis effect just as much as you’re fighting the opposing team; a game in which the rules often change faster than the players can keep track.
n. A spacefarer’s game, supposedly based on an old Earth game, the object of which being, usually, to attempt to pass some sort of ball around 360 degrees of an artificial gravity ring, all the while fighting against the Coriolis effect just as much as you’re fighting the opposing team; a game in which the rules often change faster than the players can keep track.
Xenosomnia
n. The inability to rest on your sleep-shift because, during your recreation time, you watched one of those old scary sci-fi movies, and in an unfortunate case of life-imitating-art, your end of the station looks eerily similar to the dilapidated hulk where the movie’s heroes met their violent ends.
n. The inability to rest on your sleep-shift because, during your recreation time, you watched one of those old scary sci-fi movies, and in an unfortunate case of life-imitating-art, your end of the station looks eerily similar to the dilapidated hulk where the movie’s heroes met their violent ends.
Skiddy
Adj. The overwhelming giddiness that comes with walking, skipping and hopping upon a low-gravity body, perhaps causing yourself to burst out into song and dance as you bounce from rock to rock, forgetting just for a moment that there’s only a thin layer of insulation between yourself and a quick death.
Adj. The overwhelming giddiness that comes with walking, skipping and hopping upon a low-gravity body, perhaps causing yourself to burst out into song and dance as you bounce from rock to rock, forgetting just for a moment that there’s only a thin layer of insulation between yourself and a quick death.
Kratzerverrückt
Adj. The excruciating torture of finding that your nose really, really itches on a spacewalk, but you can’t get your arms into your helmet; the state of painful realization that it would take at least twenty minutes to get back into the airlock and doff your suit, and you really should stay out here longer and finish your work anyway, because you’ll never get done if you keep stopping to scratch yourself.
Adj. The excruciating torture of finding that your nose really, really itches on a spacewalk, but you can’t get your arms into your helmet; the state of painful realization that it would take at least twenty minutes to get back into the airlock and doff your suit, and you really should stay out here longer and finish your work anyway, because you’ll never get done if you keep stopping to scratch yourself.
Humblation
n. The feeling which accompanies comparing something to the vastness of space and the dread that rises from the pit of your stomach when the realization sets in that we are as small as sand to the expanse.
n. The feeling which accompanies comparing something to the vastness of space and the dread that rises from the pit of your stomach when the realization sets in that we are as small as sand to the expanse.
Artosickness
n. The disorienting feeling of entering an artificial gravity source and knowing that it can’t compete with the real thing whether it be a slight tingling in your extremities or the feeling of some parts of your body being too heavy or too light.
n. The disorienting feeling of entering an artificial gravity source and knowing that it can’t compete with the real thing whether it be a slight tingling in your extremities or the feeling of some parts of your body being too heavy or too light.
Erkits
n. Small trinkets from earth, like chotchkies, that have so much sentimental value you forget that they are just taking up space in this already tiny compartment.
n. Small trinkets from earth, like chotchkies, that have so much sentimental value you forget that they are just taking up space in this already tiny compartment.
Geobox
n. A collection of one's favorite memories from Earth, such as, stuffed animals, pictures, trinkets, etc.
n. A collection of one's favorite memories from Earth, such as, stuffed animals, pictures, trinkets, etc.
Citril
adj. The chemical taste of artificial fruits and vegetables grown on the spacecraft
adj. The chemical taste of artificial fruits and vegetables grown on the spacecraft
Solacing
v. Reminiscing on the smell of Earth; the flowers, trees, and free flowing oxygen.
v. Reminiscing on the smell of Earth; the flowers, trees, and free flowing oxygen.
Ensile
n. The total darkness and emptiness one sees when looking out of a spacecraft window.
n. The total darkness and emptiness one sees when looking out of a spacecraft window.
Locus
n. The sick and dizzy feeling one gets when pressurization in the shelter gets too low for comfort
n. The sick and dizzy feeling one gets when pressurization in the shelter gets too low for comfort
Atmosickness
n. The feeling of anxiety and nervousness one feels as they leave earth's atmosphere.
n. The feeling of anxiety and nervousness one feels as they leave earth's atmosphere.
Microindoevent
n. Originally meant when an accident occurs on a space ship due to the impact of micrometeorites and other small objects gradually over time. It has in recent years taken a different meaning when a problem occurs in general due to a build up of smaller preventable causes usually in a social setting.
n. Originally meant when an accident occurs on a space ship due to the impact of micrometeorites and other small objects gradually over time. It has in recent years taken a different meaning when a problem occurs in general due to a build up of smaller preventable causes usually in a social setting.
Geolofting
n. The feeling of missing earth's nature; grass, trees, flowers,etc.
n. The feeling of missing earth's nature; grass, trees, flowers,etc.
Zermonic
The feeling of one's body becoming weightless in zero gravity.
The feeling of one's body becoming weightless in zero gravity.
Tellurian
n. The burnt, metallic smell of outer space.
n. The burnt, metallic smell of outer space.
Xyscated
adj. That level of exhausted experienced by very few. The exhausted that results from barely holding on for dear life for hours while everything in the universe convenes in all your bad luck to tear you apart and shred you down to nothing. Think: the old movie Gravity
adj. That level of exhausted experienced by very few. The exhausted that results from barely holding on for dear life for hours while everything in the universe convenes in all your bad luck to tear you apart and shred you down to nothing. Think: the old movie Gravity
Furcostellate
v. Splitting away from relaxation, comfort, and life on earth, in favor of the challenging and pioneering appeal of the new frontier, and in doing so, splitting away from relationships long established, knowing your actions are what currently drives the wedge between you and the past.
v. Splitting away from relaxation, comfort, and life on earth, in favor of the challenging and pioneering appeal of the new frontier, and in doing so, splitting away from relationships long established, knowing your actions are what currently drives the wedge between you and the past.
Apoffort
v. the act of struggling while removing a clunky spacesuit, is tight conditions, in a manner that leaves you utterly exhausted by the completion of the ordeal
v. the act of struggling while removing a clunky spacesuit, is tight conditions, in a manner that leaves you utterly exhausted by the completion of the ordeal
Cambellishing
adj. Oversharing the intimidating parts of real, heroic stories that have no place in space because the problems are so serious and close to home one just doesn’t even want to think about right now. “Listen, I know that everything turned out fine and I’m impressed you were able to save the day, but I DON’T need to hear you Cambellishing how much trouble we would have been in if you hadn’t just decided to change your routine and go for a spacewalk today to notice the break in the rubber seal. The whole ordeal has me shaken up enough already.”
adj. Oversharing the intimidating parts of real, heroic stories that have no place in space because the problems are so serious and close to home one just doesn’t even want to think about right now. “Listen, I know that everything turned out fine and I’m impressed you were able to save the day, but I DON’T need to hear you Cambellishing how much trouble we would have been in if you hadn’t just decided to change your routine and go for a spacewalk today to notice the break in the rubber seal. The whole ordeal has me shaken up enough already.”
Spacepaste
n. Cheap cheap nutrient paste, as tasteless as it is calorically efficient, and despite being a necessity, it just sits in your cabinet as you eat anything but that, reminding you that the biggest reason for preventing a catastrophe on the station is having to eat that in case of an emergency.
n. Cheap cheap nutrient paste, as tasteless as it is calorically efficient, and despite being a necessity, it just sits in your cabinet as you eat anything but that, reminding you that the biggest reason for preventing a catastrophe on the station is having to eat that in case of an emergency.
Aridiatic
adj. The dehydrated nature of interstellar ice, such as the ice rocks around Saturn, frozen so solidly that you wouldn’t recognize it as ice any longer, causing you to consider the laughably juxtaposed idea of dehydrated water.
adj. The dehydrated nature of interstellar ice, such as the ice rocks around Saturn, frozen so solidly that you wouldn’t recognize it as ice any longer, causing you to consider the laughably juxtaposed idea of dehydrated water.
Malfenestrand
adj. Trapped and limited, in the same way space loses its expansiveness to the borders of the window you see it through.
adj. Trapped and limited, in the same way space loses its expansiveness to the borders of the window you see it through.
Kylmalatent
Adj. A kind of communication which, due to the tyranny of the universal speed limit - the speed of light, or causality - has arrived just too late to matter anymore; from a notification of failure to pay one’s bills to the heart-shattering news of the death of a loved one, who you could’ve seen one last time, if only you knew that they didn’t have much time left.
Adj. A kind of communication which, due to the tyranny of the universal speed limit - the speed of light, or causality - has arrived just too late to matter anymore; from a notification of failure to pay one’s bills to the heart-shattering news of the death of a loved one, who you could’ve seen one last time, if only you knew that they didn’t have much time left.