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

Uh, we do have a word for that.

Now that i looked back at it, I think u r right. Thanks!

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.

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.

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.

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.

hottentottententententoonstellingsterrein

This is a field where you show the tents of hottentots.

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?

For example: peanuts, chips, and dried squid.

For example: peanuts, chips, and dried squid.

"To attempt to assassinate an african leaders aunt."

Brace yourselves....

"Hottentottenpotentatentantenattentat"

I thank you!

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.

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.

In spain is "Gorron"