20 Stunning Words From Other Languages We Don't Have In English.

[yuiyoshida]

Definitions for this article were pulled from articles: "20 AWESOMELY UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD" and "38 Wonderful Foreign Words We Could Use in English". If you're interested in reading more, check out the links at the bottom of the article.

Have you ever had a feeling and you wish you knew the word for it? Maybe your confusion comes from the fact that many experiences and emotions do not have words in the English language. Let's take a trip around the world to see what other languages have for us!

1. Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan): The wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start.

2. Jayus (Indonesian): A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

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[KamaAina]

1. 15. Duende (Spanish): The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.

Duende has many meanings; the nearest English equivalent is "soul".

[Sanity Claws]

2. I see a definite need for some of those words, like Jayus

But I am totally puzzled by 12. Tingo (Pascuense): The act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.

I hope to never know the basis of that word.

[JI7]

7. maybe a cultural thing where is normal to do that

But the word describes what it becomes when taken advantage of.

[lunatica]

12. We call it sticky fingers here

Where what one touches seems to end up in their pocket. somehow

[longship]

3. Sisu!

What does that mean? My mother was a Finn and she tried to tell me what it means. It is difficult to translate because it does not have a literal translation.

[Brickbat]

5. Gumption, resolute courage, guts.

[Sanity Claws]

9. Sounds like spunk, moxie

[Brickbat]

10. Yeah, but without the winsome personality.

[hfojvt]

18. or sand

from my school song

we'll back you to stand
against the best in the land
for we know you have sand
Huron High

English has words we don't even us any more - if we ever did.

[hifiguy]

4. I still like "backpfeifengesicht"

German for "a face badly in need of being punched." See Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan for examples.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Lol

[JI7]

8. sean Hannity and jindal and george zinmerman

[SwankyXomb]

13. PharmaBro and Affluenza Kid come to mind

as well as most of the Republicans.

[hifiguy]

15. Those two turds are on the Top Ten list.

[smirkymonkey]

16. That's one of my favorites as well! Perfect examples!

[Mike__M]

11. But soon, American English will have

"To bundy" as a transitive verb.
No other language will have that one.

[SwankyXomb]

14. Seems like

Wabi-sabi is just the thing for someone with Torschlussplanik.

[hfojvt]

17. the first one is way too long

and I don't see a lot of use for it.

Now if there was a word for the look a woman makes to convey the message "forget about it kid" then I could use that.

When I was younger I used to note the look I got when passing random girls, they would put their lips into a straight line. I always wondered what that was supposed to mean.

My Indian roommate said it means "no". I am sorta thinking it means "yuck". Which is close to the same thing, I suppose.

I may be getting close to a jayus, but that seems like a mean word. I am not sure we really need more mean words.

[winter is coming]

20. It doesn't necessarily mean "yuck". It does mean a sort of no, namely, "I'm not going to

show any facial expression that could be remarked upon as a conversation starter." It means "leave me alone" and when I was young and pretty I used that expression a lot when out in public.

[hfojvt]

21. but would you really say "leave me alone"

if you were NOT thinking "yuck"?

There's not really a lot of room for conversation when people are just walking past each other. The thing to me is - many of the girls giving me that look were not all that pretty.

Which is why my roommate's explanation of 'no' seemed quite presumptuous. Like I was asking for, or hoping for sex, and they were saying no. Like I said, they were not necessarily all that attractive.

Lately I have notice a number of times when pretty girls have smiled at me, and I have reacted kinda like "what are you trying to sell?" Granted most of these girls are far too young for any sort of relationship, but I am sorta bemused by my own cynicism and lack of sociability. Like why can't I smile back?

[winter is coming]

22. Yes, I'd really say "leave me alone" without necessarily meaning "yuck".

Most of the time when I'm out in public, I'm just trying to get from one place to another, doing my thing. I'm not interested in being interrupted by anyone.

[kristopher]

19. Why is it important that it be one word?

All of these terms are able to be translated, so the basic premise of the post is false.

[Recursion]

24. I love "kummerspeck".

One I love is "bandrami" (Bengali): the activities proper to a monkey, or "monkey business" (a mother might come back to kids making a ruckus and exclaim "eta ki bandrami?" "what's this monkey business&quot

For "litost", I think Shakespeare described it best in the Winter's Tale:

There may be in the cup
A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected: but if one present
The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk,
and seen the spider.