Words Are Hard. We Framed Them Anyway. Introducing the State the Obvious Framed Print Collection.

Let's talk about the word Colonel.

It's pronounced ker-nel. Two syllables. Zero connection to how it's spelled. The English language looked at those seven letters, decided to use exactly two of them for pronunciation purposes, and moved on without explanation or apology.

We've all just been living with this.

That's the whole point of the new Words Are Hard framed print collection from State the Obvious — and honestly, it might be the most on-brand thing we've ever made.

What It Is

The Words Are Hard collection is a series of 8×10 framed wall prints, each featuring one genuinely ridiculous English word, a deadpan punchline, and the reminder that words are hard. Obviously.

Clean typography. Black frame. White background. Ready to hang the moment it arrives.

No assembly. No trips to the frame store. No trying to figure out if it's a 5×7 or an 8×10 after you've already bought the frame at Target.

Just the word. The truth about the word. And somewhere to put it.

The Words

We didn't pick these randomly. Every word in this collection was chosen because it does at least one of the following: contains a letter that contributes nothing (Bologna — the G is decorative), is pronounced nothing like it's spelled (Colonel — it's ker-nel. obviously.), has been argued about for decades with no resolution (Niche — neesh. or nitch. nobody agrees. obviously.), or simply should not exist in its current form (Worcestershire — just point at the bottle).

Some of the Current collection that I am working on includes Colonel, Salmon, Bologna, Knife, Subtle, Debt, Gyro, Espresso, Wednesday, Worcestershire, Chipotle, Mischievous, Hors d'oeuvres, Hyperbole, Epitome, February, Pterodactyl, Charcuterie, Niche, Queue, GIF.

Yes, all of them. Yes, we have opinions about every single one.

Who These Are For

The short answer: word nerds, teachers, writers, editors, and anyone who has ever quietly corrected a pronunciation in their head without saying anything out loud.

The longer answer: these prints are for the person who notices things. The one who reads the menu twice. The one who looked up the etymology of Wednesday at some point and never fully recovered. The one who has been saying GIF correctly this entire time and has the receipts.

They're also genuinely good gifts. Easy to ship, ready to hang, specific enough to feel thoughtful, and funny enough to start a conversation the moment someone walks into the room and reads the wall.

Why Framed

Because digital downloads are great until you have to actually print them. And then you have to find a printer. And then you have to find a frame. And then you have to figure out why the colors look different from the screen.

We skipped all of that. These ship in a black frame, 8×10, ready to hang. You open the box, you put a nail in the wall, you're done.

The word nerd in your life — or the word nerd you are — deserves that level of convenience. Obviously.

Where to Find Them

The full Words Are Hard collection is available now in the State the Obvious Etsy shop at statetheobv.etsy.com. New words added regularly, because English is not running out of material anytime soon.

And if there's a word you think belongs in the collection — one that has offended you personally, one that has no business being spelled the way it is, one that you have had to quietly sound out more than once as an adult — send it our way.

We are listening. Obviously.