the.com/angst
existential dread wearing a band tee, convinced no one has ever felt this way before.
means A deep, often vague feeling of anxiety, dread, or unease about life and existence.
from Straight from German Angst, meaning 'fear' or 'anxiety,' itself from older Germanic roots tied to a sense of being squeezed or constricted — a cousin of the Latin angustus, 'narrow,' and angere, 'to choke.' That choking, tightening sensation is the through-line: anxiety as the throat closing. English borrowed the word in earnest in the early 20th century, largely through the spread of existentialist philosophy (Kierkegaard's Angest, Heidegger's brooding) and Freudian psychology, which is why it still carries that heavy, philosophical, faintly continental gloom.
- german roots
- From the German word for fear and anguish.
- kierkegaard's pet
- The philosopher called it the dizziness of freedom.
- teen specialty
- Adolescent brains feel emotions more intensely than adult ones.
- art fuel
- Powers entire genres of poetry, punk, and grunge.
the bell jar — sylvia plath's 1963 semi-autobiographical novel about depression and existential despair