Saturday & Sunday Word: Fecund & Gigil

Oct. 20th, 2013 08:18 am
[identity profile] theidolhands.livejournal.com
Fec·und or Fe·cund [ˈfiː.kənd/, ˈfɛ.kənd]:
origin: 15th century; Latin fecundus

adjective
To produce in abundance, wether that be offspring, vegetation, or ideas.



Gi·gil [gɪˈgɪl]:
origin: The Philippines

verb
An irresistible urge to do something, like pinch a cute baby's cheeks or grit teeth in anger.
→ “Ang cute! Nakakagigil!” = “So cute! Makes me gigil!” [more details here]

hit counter

Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Saturday & Sunday Word: Ilunga & Arigata Meiwaku

Oct. 6th, 2013 11:57 pm
[identity profile] theidolhands.livejournal.com
i·lun·ga (ee-loon-gah):
origin: Congo

adjective
The state of a person who is ready to forgive a first abuse, tolerate a second one, but never forgive or tolerate a third offense.



a·ri·ga·ta mei·wa·ku (ah-ree-gah-tah may-wah-koo):
origin: Japan

verb
1. "Unwelcome kindness" or "Misplaced kindness".
2. An act someone did for you that you didn't want and tried to avoid having them do, though they went ahead anyway, then things may have went wrong and caused trouble, yet social conventions required you to express gratitude in the end.



hit counter

Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Saturday & Sunday Word: Goya & Mångata

Sep. 29th, 2013 02:22 am
[identity profile] theidolhands.livejournal.com


Go·ya (ˈgȯi(y)ə\):
origin: Spain (1828), from Francisco de Goya y Lucientes; a painter. Also: Pakistan.

noun
1. deeper than "geranium red" with more yellow, bluer and deeper than "cherry red"
→ names: cadmium carmine, currant, English red, English vermilion, minium, oriental red, orient red, red currant, vermilion

verb
2. [گویا] Urdu word; "As if" or to experience something like it's happening, such as in good storytelling.
→ Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, also an official language in five of the Indian states

( Mångata )
hit counter

  • Current Music: Glenn Miller - Moonlight Cocktail | Powered by Last.fm
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Saudade

Nov. 20th, 2010 03:48 pm
[identity profile] fidgetspin.livejournal.com
Saudade /sa-oo-dah-der/ noun
Portugese, meaning: a kind of intense nostalgia that only Portuguese people are supposed to understand.

In Katherine Vaz’s definition, which she uses to explain the title of her novel Saudade (1994), it is a “yearning so intense for those who are missing, or for vanished times or places, that absence is the most profound presence in one’s life. A state of being, rather than merely a sentiment.”

In his 1912 book on Portugal, literary specialist and translator AFG Bell writes: “The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness.”
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Meraki, and a fun article

Nov. 13th, 2010 04:12 pm
[identity profile] fidgetspin.livejournal.com
Apologies for last week's absence.  To make amends I refer those interested to a fun NPR article discussing this website that seeks to bring obscure words back into our vocabulary.  Now, onto more untranslatable words...

Meraki Adjective, /may-rah-kee/
Literally translated from Turkish as "interest," "worry," or "concern." 
However, in Greek, the word denotes doing something with soul, creativity, or love.  More than an interest or hobby, it is when you put "something of yourself" into the activity.  Often used in regards to cooking and food, but can refer to any number of activities.

I still don't know exactly what I want to do in life but I know what all my career choices have in common: that meraki feeling of being able to submerge myself in a purpose bigger than myself.
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Torschlusspanik

Oct. 30th, 2010 11:48 am
[identity profile] fidgetspin.livejournal.com
Again, continuing on the untranslatable theme...

Torschlusspanik or Torschlußpanik singular noun, hear it pronounced here
German
Literally translated as gate-closing panic, the feeling that medieval peasants had when the castle gates were closing for an upcoming onslaught by enemies.
More commonly, it refers the the anxiety one feels as opportunities begin to diminish with one's age. 

Torschlusspanik ist ein schlechter Ratgeber.  Torschlusspanik is a bad adviser.
With my boyfriend's biological clock ticking (his own torschlusspanik), I am acutely feeling the torschlusspanik of getting an adult job and getting married.  Maybe I can still join the Peace Corps when the next torschlusspanik of my midlife crisis hits?
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Toska

Oct. 23rd, 2010 09:12 pm
[identity profile] fidgetspin.livejournal.com
Continuing the untranslatable theme...
Toska noun /ˈtō-skə/
Russian word roughly translated as sadness, melancholia, lugubriousness.

Best described by Vladimir Nabokov:
“No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry

Korinthenkacker

Oct. 16th, 2010 09:51 pm
[identity profile] fidgetspin.livejournal.com
Korinthenkacker /core-in-ten-cuck-er/ (noun)
Translated literally from German as "raisin pooper"
Means approximately someone so taken up with life's trivial detail that they spend their day pooping raisins; someone so petty they are even strict with their waste products; nitpicker, fusspot,
Example While I generally relish the bureaucracy of my job- the orderliness and the many specific rules and procedures for each and every situation- I have to also remember not to turn into that korinthenkacker with whom nobody wants to bother dealing.

I have a huge list of fun untranslatable words that I would like to post.  I'm interested if anyone would like to have a theme of them, either among all posters or just on Saturday, or if people would like to consider it for an open theme sometime if the community moves in that direction. 
Anyway, hope you're all enjoying the weekend!
Tags:
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry
Page generated May. 31st, 2025 10:49 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios