- bakku-shan (japanese): a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.
- begadang (indonesian): to stay up all night talking.
- boketto (japanese): the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.
- cafuné (brazilian portuguese): to tenderly run one’s fingers through someone’s hair.
- connaître versus savoir (french): there is distinguished difference between knowledge that results from recognition and knowledge that results from understanding, respectively.
- dépaysement (french): the feeling that comes from not being in one's home country.
- duende (spanish): originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned to "the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person," representing an emotion or response to a selected piece of art.
- empêchement (french): an unexpected last-minute change of plans.
- esprit d’escalier (french): to think of a comeback when it's already too late, literally meaning "staircase wit."
- fernweh (german): the yearning to be far away - the opposite of homesickness (farsickness).
- flâneur (french): "the deliberately aimless pedestrian, unencumbered by any obligation or sense of urgency, who, being French and therefore frugal, wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city."
- fremdschämen (german); myötähäpeä (finnish): these words mean something akin to "vicarious embarrassment."
- french terms
- glas wen (welsh): an insincere or mocking smile, literally translated as "a blue smile."
- greng-jai (thai): that feeling of not wanting someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.
- gumusservi (turkish): moonlight shining on water.
- Hygge - a very important Danish word to express a sense of warmth and companionship. Or cosiness. As explained by author Cristian Bonnetto in his article on where to get some ‘hygge‘ in Copenhagen. According to the Danish tourism body it’s as Danish as ‘pork roast and cold beer’. There is interesting overlap with the German gemütlich and the Dutch word gezellig as discussed in this Thorn Tree topic. Whatever version of cosy you favour, it’s all about happy places.
- Hygge is something we all want all the time – but seldom have. It is a Danish word meaning a “complete absence of anything annoying, irritating or emotionally overwhelming, and the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle and soothing things”. (danish)
- hyggelig (danish): a calm, relaxed time with friends.
- Hyggelig Danish – Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire. (Altalang.com)
- iktsuarpok (inuit): to go outside to check if anyone is coming in anticipation of a guest's arrival.
- ilunga (bantu-tshiluba): a person who will forgive any transgression the first time, tolerate it the second, but never the third.
- jayus (indonesian): a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.
- Kaelling (Danish)You know that woman who stands on her doorstep (or in line at the supermarket, or at the park, or in a restaurant) cursing at her children? The Danes know her, too.
- koi no yokan (japanese): the sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.
- kummerspeck (german): the excess weight gained from emotional overeating, literally translated as "grief bacon."
- kyoikumama (japanese): a mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.
- l’appel du vide (french): literally "the call of the void," this term describes the instinctive urge to jump from high places.
- la douleur exquise (french): the heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have.
- lagom (Swedish): meaning something akin to "neither too much nor too little," similar to goldie-locks.
- layogenic (filipino): a person who is only good-looking from a distance.
- litost (czech): "a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery," which is in some ways a counter point to schadenfreude.
- luftmensch (yiddish): an impractical dreamer with no business sense, literally meaning "air person."
- mahj (persian): looking beautiful after a disease.
- mamihlapinatapei (yaghan): a wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.
- mencolek (indonesian): tapping someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them.
- nedotipva (czech): someone who finds it difficult to take the hint.
- objet petit a (french): the unattainable object of desire.
- pana po’o (hawaiian): to scratch your head in order to help you remember something you've forgotten.
- pelinti (buli, ghana): to move hot food around in one's mouth to disappate the heat.
- pochemuchka (russian): a person who asks a lot of questions.
- profiter (french): to make the most of or take advantage of.
- prozvonit (czech): to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. in spanish, the phrase for this is "dar un toque," or, "to give a touch."
- retrouvailles (french): the happiness of meeting again after a long time.
- saudade (portuguese): a melancholic longing for better times "refering to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost." Which can be a longing for something concrete, a person who has left or passed away, or a "vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist." It is stronger than the sense of the English nostalgia.
- schadenfreude (german): the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another's misfortune or unhappiness.
- Selathirupavar – a certain type of truancy (Tamil)
- Shemomedjamo (Georgian)You know when you’re really full, but your meal is just so delicious, you can’t stop eating it? The Georgians feel your pain. This word means, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”
- shlimazl (yiddish): a chronically unlucky person.
- Shvitzer: Yiddish for someone who sweats a lot, particularly a nervous seducer.
- Slampadato (Italian)Addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons? This word describes you.
- sortable (french): an adjective to describe someone you can take anywhere without being embarrassed.
- Ta’arof – a Farsi word that is at the heart of Persian culture. According to Lonely Planet’s Iran guidebook, ta’arof describes a system of formalised politeness that can seem very confusing to outsiders, but is a mode of social interaction in which everyone knows their place and their role. In ta’arof, two people will try to show their deference to the other by repeatedly offering food, hospitality or anything at their disposal. For travellers to Iran the most important thing to note is that taxi drivers will often tell you that the ride was free, or offer it to you at a lower price. Not true, this is classic ta’arof; travellers should pay the right amount to avoid annoying the driver. That said, sometimes an offer will be genuine. Knock it back a couple of times and, if it’s still being offered, take advantage of Iranian hospitality.
- Talkoot - In Finnish it’s ‘talkoot‘, in Swedish it’s ‘talko‘. What does it mean? As commenter Haje says on Logolalia’s Untranslatable community project, ‘having talkoot or talko means getting together, voluntarily, to get some not-so-fun-but-needs-to-be-done-work done, either for one single occasion or on a regular basis, e.g. people in a village building a school, members of the snowmobile club breaking a new trail.’ How Scandinavian.
- tartle (scottish): the action of hesitating while introducing someone due to having forgotten his or her name.
- tingo (pascuense): the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.
- torschlusspanik (german): literally meaning "gate-closing panic," used to describe the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.
- toska (russian): "at its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. at less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. in particular cases it may be the desire for somebody or something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. at the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom."
- uitwaaien (dutch): literally meaning "to walk in the wind," it means to take a brief break in the country side to clear one's head.
- vacilando (spanish): the act of wandering when the experience of travel is more important than reaching the specific destination; "if one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction."
- voila/voici (french): literally meaning "there it is" and "here it is," respectively.
- Vybafnout (Czech) A word tailor-made for annoying older brothers—it means to jump out and say boo.
- wabi-sabi (japanese): put succinctly one might be able to understand it as "a way of living that emphasizes finding beauty in imperfection and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay."
- waldeinsamkeit (german): the feeling of being alone in the woods.
- ya'aburnee (arabic): a declaration of one's hope that they'll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them, literally meaning "you bury me."
- yuputka (ulwa): the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.
- zalatwic (polish): the use of friends, bribes, personal charm or connections to get something done.
- zeg (georgian): the day after tomorrow.
- zhaghzhagh (persian): the chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.
feb 4 2012 ∞
feb 12 2012 +