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28 comments to "Why Don’t We Have a Word for That?"
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Javi
November 19th, 2007 at
4:20 am
Gorrero (Spain, Central America): Someone who never picks up the check.
In spain is “Gorron”
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maquessimme
November 19th, 2007 at
4:52 am
let’s not forget the german “Ohrwurm” (Earworm): this is when you have that one song in mind for hours…
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Eugenio Martínez Sierra
November 19th, 2007 at
6:30 am
Wikipedia said:
Saudade (singular) or Saudades (plural) (pron. IPA [s?u'dad(?)] in European Portuguese, [saw'ðaðe] in Galician, and [sau'dad?i] or [sau'dadi] in Brazilian Portuguese) is a Portuguese and Galician word for a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return.
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Eugenio Martínez Sierra
November 19th, 2007 at
6:31 am
Wikipedia said:
Saudade (singular) or Saudades (plural) (pron. IPA [s?u'dad(?)] in European Portuguese, [saw'ðaðe] in Galician, and [sau'dad?i] or [sau'dadi] in Brazilian Portuguese) is a Portuguese and Galician word for a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return.
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dodgyd55
November 19th, 2007 at
7:53 am
I’ve never herd of “Tartle” must only be used in west Scotland
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Pol x
November 19th, 2007 at
8:20 am
The german phrase for
“To attempt to assassinate an african leaders aunt.”
Brace yourselves….
“Hottentottenpotentatentantenattentat”
I thank you!
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Nicholas Dollak
November 19th, 2007 at
8:59 am
Pol x’s lengthy German word must be a new record! That’s pretty long even for German.
One of my sisters invented several words when she was very young, one of which was so original and apropos-sounding that it really SHOULD become part of the English language. Here’s the context of its creation:
My sister told Mom she wanted to dress herself, so Mom let her do so. Some time later, she proudly announced that she’d dressed herself, and Mom inspected her. “Very good!” Mom said. “Except that your shirt’s on backward… and inside-out.”
My sister laughed and said, “I put it on ‘gackaway’!”
Ever since then, “gackaway” has been a family word for “inside-out & backward.” Isn’t it perfect? -
Ed Lemon
November 19th, 2007 at
9:03 am
The Russian word should be ‘razliubito’ which means something like ‘disloved’. Definitely needed!
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Brendan Mackie
November 19th, 2007 at
10:07 am
Actually, English had a term for “Modré Pondeli” - the Czech three day weekend: we had what was known as “Saint Monday.” You take off a holiday in honor of Saint Monday.
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Dusty
November 19th, 2007 at
10:36 am
I always liked the Japanese word: otsumami ????
(n) snacks to go with alcoholFor example: peanuts, chips, and dried squid.
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Dusty
November 19th, 2007 at
10:36 am
I always liked the Japanese word: otsumami
(n) snacks to go with alcoholFor example: peanuts, chips, and dried squid.
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sal
November 19th, 2007 at
1:17 pm
We have a word for dinner left over for breakfast. It’s called cold pizza.
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Joanne
November 19th, 2007 at
2:26 pm
A “tartle” is what my mother calls a dingleberry.
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Daniel Kim
November 19th, 2007 at
2:26 pm
Hmmm . . . when I saw “Papierkrieg”, I thought it would refer to “battlefax”: The exchange of hostile fax messages.
Now that we’re in the new century, I wonder if there’s an equivalent word for an email exchange . ..
Oh! A “flamewar”.
From watching “Seinfeld”, we all became familiar with “Schadefreude”, the illicit pleasure of seeing someone else’s discomfiture. This was immortalized in Schiller’s poem “Ode an de Schadenfreude”, which was put to music by Beethoven.
Schadenfreude, Gotterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium.
Wir betreiten, feuertrunken, himmlische den Heiligtum!etc. . .
Howcome I am the only one laughing?
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Mindpimp
November 19th, 2007 at
3:53 pm
That is NOT a tartle, Joanne is quite right. For those of you not familiar with this particular gem, the tartle is the wool around a sheep’s anus that has become matted with excrement, forming dreadlock-type horrors. These have to be cut off due to the flys which eventually infest them and the skin of the unfortunate animal.
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Pingo Wellman
November 19th, 2007 at
4:22 pm
Wait a minute! Did I just read “Spain , Central America”? I thought this was a serious blog… Please! Go to your Atlas and you will find Spain in EUROPE! You know, from where Columbus started his Great Joureny. That kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?
Anyway, never heard of a “Gorrero” but of a “Gorrón”.
Apart from that, interesting post. -
max d.
November 19th, 2007 at
4:49 pm
In Holland we have:
hottentottententententoonstellingsterrein
This is a field where you show the tents of hottentots.
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Loopy Loo
November 19th, 2007 at
5:43 pm
i had some shitta this morning.
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joo
November 19th, 2007 at
10:32 pm
Pingo Wellman:
I’m quite sure it means to convey that the word is used in both Spain and Central America, not suggest that Spain is in Central America.
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MadMolecule
November 20th, 2007 at
2:12 am
From French, I’d submit the expression “faire le pont” (literally, “make the bridge”). You “make the bridge” if Tuesday is a holiday and you take Monday off to make it a four-day weekend, or if Thursday is a holiday and you take Friday off to make it a four-day weekend. Effectively, you’re “making the bridge” between the holiday and the weekend.
When I learned this phrase in high school French class, I thought, “Wow, there’s something really cool about a culture that values its leisure time so much that they have an actual phrase for this.”
It’s a phrase instead of a single word, but it seemed relevant.
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Fredda
November 20th, 2007 at
6:53 am
In the Philippines, we also have a word for “snacks that go with alcohol”. It is called “pulutan”.
Pulutan is traditionally a dish with a very strong taste, like minced meat that is sauteed with onions, or raw fish in vinegar. In modern times pulutan has begun to include peanuts and chips.
other words I like , without English translation:
“pasma” - a physical condition where one feels sick and hot from the body or any of its parts being subjected to a SUDDEN change in temperature, as when someone ironing clothes suddenly washes her hands with water or someone who just finished hard physical labor takes a bath.it is not something like a medical term, but rather akin to a folk illness. it may seem like a a superstitious or primitive belief to foreigners but for us this belief is a part of everyday life.
“nagdilang-anghel”- literally to mean “suddenly had the tongue of an angel”. the term must have come about after the Spaniards colonized us, w/c brought Xianity. if someone had “the tongue of angel” it means what he said came true. when someone makes a prediction, people wish that he gets or has “the tongue of angel” so the statement would come true.
“pagbabalik-loob” -literally means “to go back inside”. it’s something like going back to your inner self or inner soul in order to attain deliverance, redemption or higher spirituality or connection with others. the term is used only in relation to spiritual or moral things, as when one returns to religion. The term “Introspection” doesn’t come close because it involves dualistic acts of thinking and feeling whereas our term connotes spiritual or soul rebirth.
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PK
November 20th, 2007 at
6:44 pm
TAUMATAWHAKATANGIHANGAKOAUAUOTAMATEATURIPUKAKAPIKIMA UNGAHORONUKUPOKAIWHENUAKITANATAHU
A hill in New Zealand. This Maori name was in general use, but is now generally abbreviated to Taumata. The name means: the summit of the hill, where Tamatea, who is known as the land eater, slid down, climbed up and swallowed mountains, played on his nose flute to his loved one.
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PK
November 20th, 2007 at
7:48 pm
oh… that was/is the world’s longest place name
PK -
PK
November 20th, 2007 at
7:49 pm
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Pingo Wellman
November 21st, 2007 at
5:10 pm
joo:
Now that i looked back at it, I think u r right. Thanks!
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mochili
November 21st, 2007 at
10:42 pm
papierkrieg -paper war
in the U.S. we call it “red tape”
i don’t know why -
Charlie
December 4th, 2007 at
9:09 pm
Attaccabottoni (Italy): A “buttonholer”
Uh, we do have a word for that.
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stok
December 5th, 2007 at
5:23 am
@ mochili:
The expression “red tape” comes from the medieval English bureaucracy, where official documents such as land deeds where made official with wax seals, which hung from the parchment or paper by red ribbons or cords. So the red ribbons came to be the name for any official document, specifically when overwhelming for a simple thing.
“Papierkrieg” is a more active notion, it suggests that you are actively involved in fighting with officials who deliberately try to prevent you from getting what you want
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