stairwellfog
/ˈstɛəwɛlˌfɒɡ/nounVerified NewThe mutual opacity of people who have shared a building for years without ever learning each other's names.
You know the door codes, the coats, the sound of each other's locks — and nothing else. Cities run on this polite blindness.
Etym. — stairwell + fog — visibility oddly reduced by constant proximity.
Rel. — unwavedyear
Novelty check: NEW · checked 2026-11-08
review evidence: wordstoreview/review-batch-3-09-social.md
Evidence log
No query log recorded.
Method: Editorial batch review — per-word exact-form web search (WebSearch/Tavily) per docs/REVIEW-criteria.md §2