it just fascinates me that there are words common to certain languages that others don’t even have. here are a few of my favorites, especially L’esprit de escalier i get this feeling a lot.
Gheegle: (Filipino) The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.
Cualacino: (Italian) The mark left on a table by a cold glass.
L’esprit de escalier: (French) The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said. Translated it means “the spirit of the staircase.”
Stam: (Hebrew) An agreement out of amusement and frustration that something doesn’t have a satisfactory answer among those talking.
Forelsket: (Norwegian) The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.
Pena ajena: (Mexican Spanish) The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation.
Waldeinsamkeit (German): the feeling of being alone in the woods
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
Taarradhin (Arabic): a way of resolving a problem without anyone losing face (not the same as our concept of a compromise – everyone wins)
Litost (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery
Meraki (Greek): doing something with soul, creativity, or love
Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways’, referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language:
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.
Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions
Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor's house until there is nothing left
No comments:
Post a Comment