These words do not have direct equivalents in English. Some of them would definitely be useful for us English-speakers, what do you think?
1. Waldeinsamkeit (German): the feeling of being alone in the woods
2. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time
3. Taarradhin (Arabic): a way of resolving a problem without anyone losing face (not the same as our concept of a compromise - everyone wins)
4. Litost (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery
5. Esprit de l’escalier (French): a witty remark that occurs to you too late, literally on the way down the stairs…
6. Meraki (Greek): doing something with soul, creativity, or love
7. Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways’, referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language:
8. Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc.
9. Guanxi (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favour, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favour to be repaid.
10. Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions
11. Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbour's house until there is nothing left
12. Radioukacz (Polish): a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain
13. Selathirupavar (Tamil): a word used to define a certain type of absence without official leave in face of duty
~~~
This is a constant in my life and I wish I could predict it better:
2. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time
Some people get upset with me for not bringing issues up earlier, but I wait to see if there's a pattern before I address something that might me an inconsequential aberration. When I realize there is a pattern, I say something.
I am stupefied that this is such a phenomenon that there is a word specific to it in another language. I wish it were so in English.
This applies to my week.
Do any of these apply to you or do you have a vocabulary suggestion?
This is a constant in my life and I wish I could predict it better:
2. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time
Some people get upset with me for not bringing issues up earlier, but I wait to see if there's a pattern before I address something that might me an inconsequential aberration. When I realize there is a pattern, I say something.
I am stupefied that this is such a phenomenon that there is a word specific to it in another language. I wish it were so in English.
This applies to my week.
Do any of these apply to you or do you have a vocabulary suggestion?
5 comments:
this is good stuff...I gave my dad a book which was all words that didn't exist in English...he's a linguist so he loved it...
wondering if you got this from the same book...I don't remember the title...
Gianna,
I cheated and stole it from elsewhere. I wish I knew the original source. It is such an interesting subject!
I'll try getting the name of the book from my dad...he's moved since I bought for him and he tends to give books away, but this one he may have kept since it's fun to just flip through....
Eureka! I called my dad, he didn't remember but my brilliant husband found it by doing some complex query on google...
The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World
It's a really fun book!
Great, Gianna. Will check out the library for it. Neat.
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