Sunday, October 31, 2010

Words we need to add to English

In a list of novel words from around the world, I found six we should add to English, and three in bold I have added to a list of words I practice ...

Language Log » Translating the untranslatable

  • tartle (Scots): hestitate while introducing someone because you forgot their name
  • Torschlusspanik (German): gate-closing panic as age begins to close off opportunities
  • wabi-sabi (Japanese): way of living that peacefully accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay
  • dépaysement (French): the feeling of not being in one's own country
  • tingo (Pascuense): obtain desired objects from a friend by borrowing them one by one
  • l'appel du vide (French): that "call of the void" that makes you feel you want to jump when you look down from somewhere up high

2 comments:

Paul said...

How could you miss:

[b]Schadenfreude[/b] (German): is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

JGF said...

I consider Schadenfreude to be already an English word! It is delightful, but it's also fairly commonly used in English writing.