Wednesday, January 30, 2008

language poverty

"Refuseniks" are people whom the USSR refused to allow to emigrate. Perhaps a figurative usage here? I'd need more context.
Gwarlingo (Welsh) The rushing sound of a grandfather clock as it limbers up to strike the hour
Chaponner (Gallo dialect of French) To investigate digitally a chicken’s rear end to see if an egg is about to be laid
Oka-shete (Ndonga language, Namibia) Waterworks difficulties engendered by eating frogs out of season
Pisan zapra (Malay) The time needed to eat a banana
Baku-chan Nice-from-the-back(-only)-girl "Truly the Japanese have a talent for coming up with words to describe common social situations so succinctly. Like they did with "bukkake."
Portuguese: raimunda! that means a ugly woman but with beautiful ass, or camarão" (shrimp), you cut the head and eat the rest ("eat" in Brazilian Portuguese can mean "f**k").
Espirit d'escalier Staircase inspiration, or a good witty saying come too late, as you're already retiring up the stairs. There is an american version of Esprit d'escalier. It is "albuquerque", or "left turn at albuquerque", or "I should have made that left turn at albuquerque". It refers to the thing you should have said or done, but didn't and now regret.
Mamihlapinatapai. It's a "look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."
backpfeifengesicht, a face that cries out for a fist in it, or for "face that needs a crowbar", it would be "Brecheisengesicht.
Koreans would say they lack nunchi, the innate ability that lets you sense what would be the wrong thing to say in a situation (and presumably the ability to then not say it).
When you'r glad, you feel joy, when you'r depressed you feel sadness, despair, loneliness. When you miss someone, you feel "SAUDADE", or another similar term, "natsukashii" in Japanese, "dor" in Romanian, translating into English as "missing someone or something that's gone and/or not available at the time".
"Falasha" a nice thing to say to just about any mid-eastern person you hate. Means your mother squated in the gutter to recieve someones ejaculate and concieve you
Another good Korean word that the English language needs is Jusa: when you do something when you're drunk that you normally wouldn't do otherwise. This was explained to me by a Korean coworker before she suggested that we take a trip alone to another room while we were drunk off our asses on a work retreat.
In Portugal a "gambiarra" is a source of light used in construction work (looks loke a light-bulb in an extension-cord with a hook in the bulb end)
This is more of a profanity, but "stronzo" from Italian means "big long piece of s**t" and is one of the best curse words available in any language
There's also a schlumiel, a guy who's extremely clumsy. The schlumiel is the one that spills soup on the schlimazl :) There is a word for shlimazl in bosnian language it is Baksuz
Anteayer (Spanish),the day before yesterday. In Japanese: ototsui, ototoi, or issakujitsu.
"Qrrbrbirlbel" and "Zeekyboogydoog". these words, of course, coming from the land of the demented cartoon movie. Translations, please, folks.
Swedish word "lagom", which means 'about just right' or 'not too much nor too little'. As a measurement it kicks ass, since it's rather vague but still explains exactly what it is, ergo just right for you.
Desenrascano (literally "to disentangle" yourself out of a bad situation), the Portuguese word for these last-minute solutions, is what is says about their culture. "gambiarra" (something like a "patch"), that means exactly the same, the solution for a situation applied without the proper knowledge or tools, mostly in a shabby but effective way. This is probably one of the most distinct characteristics the Portuguese inflicted upon us.
Denuement, French for the untying after the climax of a plot
Ilunga, a word doubtedly from a language in the DRoC. 'a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time'."
Gezellig, which does not have an English equivalent. Literally, it means cozy, quaint, or nice, but can also connote time spent with loved ones, seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness. Gazelling, Gazelled.
пошлость /posh-lost'/. This noun roughly means a mixture of banality, commonality and vulgarity.
φθάνω (phthánō), generally accompanied by a complementary verb, approximately translates "I do [something] before someone else realises that I'm doing it" or "I get away with [doing something]." In a similar vein, the syntactically equivalent verb λανθάνω (lanthanō, etymon of the chemical element lanthanum), conveys the meaning of escaping the notice of others while doing something, and is often unsatisfactorily rendered by the adverb "secretly".


And a link to Wikis "untranslatability": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untranslatability
and a related page: http://www.cracked.com/article_17251_10-coolest-foreign-words-english-language-needs.html
"compoundwords" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_words
uglier, "pornmanteaus" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau

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