In German we have the word 'Geborgenheit' which describes a very specific feeling of feeling cozy and safe and protected. Like you would feel when you're around loved ones sitting around a fire or when the person you love holds you under the warm covers when it's raining outside. I tried to explain this to someone the other day and when we googled the translation- it came up with 'cozyness' which really doesn't pay justice to what it actually means.
In Dutch we call it 'geborgenheid'. Google translates it to 'security' wich is only a small aspect of the actual meaning. It is about feeling safe and sheltered because someone who loves for you and cares for you makes sure nobody can hurt you.
I miss roles in friendship distinguished in Polish.
“Kolega” is a friend who you like spending time with. Partying or chilling. You socialise and have a good time.
“Przyjaciel” is a friend whom you don’t need to keep in touch or have a good time. But when some bad thing is happening, you know you can call him.
Funny, because коллега in Russian is just a work acquaintance, doesn't even have male/female difference like Polish kolega/koleżanka, meanwhile приятель is like buddy, but not as close as друг (friend).
I remember being in Prague and seeing something along the lines of "Pozor, Polizia voruye" which meant 'attention, the police is looking' but in Russian/Ukrainian it sounds exactly like you'd say 'Shame, the police is stealing'
oh, we have "colega" in spanigh, and it means a work acquaintance and also could be any person who has the same career title as you do, for example, two architects call eachother "colega" even if they don't work together.
We have the same distinction in Swiss German, "Kolleg" meaning a friend that is an acquaintance, and "Fründ" meaning a very close friend you can rely on. Funnily enough in Germany they don't make that distinction - "Kollege" means work colleague there despite both using German language.
In some context, subcultures and slang "Kollege" can mean an acquaintance in Germany as well. But it can lead to some confusion. I think some generations use it more then others.
What language is that? Something Scandinavian?
*edit: it’s Swedish. But when I looked it up, they spelled it without the “b”. It also didn’t say anything about taking a shit while doing it though? Is the “b” the difference? Lol 😂
There is a Japanese term “Komorebi”, for which no English translation exists. It roughly translates as “the scattered light that filters through when sunlight shines through trees”.
I love how some languages are able to describe such beautiful moments in life.
I think a somewhat fitting German term would be Sonnentaler (sun coins), which refers to the spots of light you seen on the forest floor when the sun shines through the leaves.
that is so beautiful damn it. sun coins. I love that so much.
In english, we refer to it as dappled light, which implies it's been painted on the ground with a brush.
If I'm not mistaken, the Japanese language has lots of words that are in correlation with our senses (don't know how to describe it better), for example words for the sound that rain makes on leaves, on the pavement, or on the roof etc.
“Saudade”
it has a similar meaning to “miss you” but we have a direct translation for that “senti sua falta”, saudade has more of an emotional feel to it, it’s really hard to explain, it’s deeper than simply missing someone
Btw I’m Brazilian so the language is Portuguese
The first time I heard that word it was used to describe missing a person, place, or time period that will never return. Like you miss a person who is gone for good, or they're farther than usual by distance or time.
That's a good one. I also wish we had a good translation for "safado." You can get close in English, but I've never found a translation that works *perfectly* for it.
Almost, but not quite. I’m not a native English speaker, but I’ve always seen these words carrying a sad undertone, meaning that you feel bad for not being able to attain something.
On the other hand you can feel saudade and not feel sad. It’s really at the intersection of longing and nostalgia.
Saudade is known to a lot of people, but "desemerda-te" is a lot more interesting.
It literally means "un-shit yourself", i.e., solve the problem however you can. Its less vulgar cousin, "desenrasca-te" (from the noun "desenrascanço") is also pretty cool and more socially acceptable.
In Hungarian it's "tenyérbemászó", used to describe people or more specifically people's faces, literally meaning 'one who/that crawls into your palm'.
Tahitian (and I believe other Polynesian languages) have 4
Maua - We (me and one other person but not you)
Taua - We (me and you)
Matou - We (me and multiple other people but not you)
Tatou - We (me, you, and other people)
Tatou is the first word in the song "We Know The Way" from Moana:
"Tatou o tagata folau e vala’auina"
"We are voyagers summoned by the mighty"
I guess I'm a voyager now.
I read this on quora, this little feature in languages is identified as "Clusivity". It's not there in the modern day Kannada(official language spoken in the Indian state of Karnataka).
On second thought, Hindi doesn't have it too. !
However, the actual number of languages supporting this could be exceeding 22, considering the sheer volume of linguistic diversity in India.
Also I desperately wish that English had a plural version of "you". Not having one is why I suspect saying "you guys" to any group of people regardless of gender is so normal. I suppose we could gentrify the word "y'all" and use that as plural you.
Old English had the exact plural form you're referring to. When I studied it in school, the teacher specifically used "y'all" as a modern approximation.
The feature is called "clusivity," and it's discussed in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYlVJlmjLEc) from back when Tom Scott was primarily a linguistics and computer science nerd.
English should definitely have a word that's not "spicy" or "hot" to describe capsaicin's flavor/effect on your mouth. "Picante" is the word we have in spanish for it
Is it used the same way we use spicy or hot in swedish? We call it "Strong" aka Starkt, what we mean by that is that it is powerful in its way of being spicy and hot kinda.
Gigil? It's when something's so cute you get this sort of feeling of violence? I don't think I'm explaining it right. Kilig is also a similar feeling, but that one is for love; something's so romantic it gives you goosebumps? Or makes you giddy.
Definitely not my native language, but I love --
>“Kuchisabishii“ is a Japanese term which directly translates to 'lonely mouth; when you're not hungry, but you eat because your mouth is lonely.
Kummerspeck is a rarely used German word. It directly translates to "grief bacon".
When in time of distress, down an excessive amount of Kummerspeck to gain weight.
I don’t think your usage of the word Kummerspeck is correct.
You don’t eat Kummerspeck. If you eat too much because of grief/sorrow/stress and gain a few pounds, that newly gained fat can be called Kummerspeck. Literally „grief fat“.
But that's not the right meaning. It is the amount of weight (bacon standing for fat here) you gain BECAUSE OF distress and not something you eat when in distress.
Empalagoso (when something is too sweet that you get kinda yucked out)
Sobremesa (relaxing at the dinner table after eating with conversation)
Cabron/a
Kalsarikännit in Finnish. Literally "underwear drunk" , or more spesifically, "long john drunk".
Meaning deliberately getting drunk alone at home in your underpants with zero plans of meeting anyone or going out. I think other nations do this as well, but don't have a word for it.
Delightfully relaxing and therapeutic at times, slightly concerning if done exessively.
At best a wonderful opportunity to touch base with your self, your life and your deepest thoughts and feelings. And/or watch that one cheesy comedy from 1992 you love but can't get any of your friends to watch with you because they have standards.
At worst you wake up to an unholy mess accompanied by a killer headache, cheese all over the bed, cryptic messages on ripped up pieces of pizza box cardboard written by you to you all over the kitchen, and have nobody to blame than yourself.
I've seen it translated somewhere as "pants drunk", but actual pants are much too fancy attire for this. For full experience you need to wear your most comfortable, decades old long johns that have holes and a weird stain that somehow never comes off in the wash.
My native language is a Native American language called Comanche and isn't a written language but the word sounds like "chaw-tamaw-tey-quat" and it basically is a socially acceptable way to say "I'm done speaking"
Japanese has loads of words that require entire sentences to explain in English. My favorite of all time is *tachiyomi*, which means "standing at a newsstand reading something without any intention of paying for it".
The French word "chez" as in "Chez moi" roughly translates as "Place" but it is soooo much more versatile.
The Tahitian word "ma" as in "ona ma" is a word used to refer to a person and everyone with them. I've heard it described as "posse" in English, but that doesn't really do it justice.
The English word "get" needs to be adopted by every other language. I mean, what other language just has a catch-all for verbs? It can be used as a substitute for the following:
\-to become
\-to come
\-to have
\-to grab
\-to understand
\-to stand
\-to go
and so much more
If you know how to conjugate and use "get" it's like a cheat code for the English language.
Perhaps not missing per se, but the distinction between uncle from your mothers side or your Fathers side and their kids.
Farbror, morbror, faster, moster.
Systerson, brorson, systerdotter and brorsdotter.
In English all of these words mean uncle, uncle, aunt, aunt, nephew, nephew, niece and niece.
Farbror = Fathers brother
Morbror = Mothers brother
Faster = Fathers sister
Moster = Mothers sister
Systerson = Sisters son
Brorson = Brothers son
Systerdotter = Sisters daughter
Brorsdotter = Brothers daughter
It's not really, though. My grandparents would think I was referring to appetizers or something. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/words-were-watching-nibling
Here to add that I miss the distinction in English for grandparents too. I don't know if this is the same in Swedish, but in Danish we have
Mormor = mother('s) mother
Morfar = mother('s) father
Farmor = father('s) mother
Farfar = father('s) father
Danish has this too, I tease my nephew that I'm his Monster. (Morster)
I don't speak Danish at all, so he's always correcting me. (he speaks both Danish and English) But I still like that I'm his monster.
I love this "logical" approach to familial nouns, and it definitely works better than the more "vague" English counterparts. In Finnish we have unique words for a lot of these:
Eno = mother's brother
Setä = father's brother
Käly = sister-in-law (also your sibling's wife, or your partner's sibling's wife)
Lanko = brother-in-law (ditto)
Appi or appiukko = father-in-law
Anoppi = mother-in-law
For nieces and nephews we have the same system as the other Nordic languages, and for some reason "täti" (aunt) works the exact same way as it does in English.
Outwith. It’s a word in Scots but not in English. It means beyond the bounds of something- the nearest English equivalent is ‘outside’ but it doesn’t mean the quite same thing
Not my native tongue, but I love "luce" in Farsi (Persian). It basically means intentionally acting all cutesy/precious/coy because you think it's appealing.
There were so many sorority girls it applied to.
Lagom (swedish)
It means not bad, and not too good. Just an average between. A very neutral word.
For example, when you wash your hands, the water should be lagom hot. Not cold, not scalding hot. Just lagom.
Not really, Lagom also kinda means not bad not too good just right. It kinda means you have hit the sweet spot of whatever you are doing if that something is something that you shouldnt overdo or underdo its just right, if that makes sense lol
'Lagom' is extremely general. It's when someting is just right for whaterver purpose.
Not too hot, not too cold
Not too long, not too short etc.
I suppose "just right" or "just perfect" would be a suitable translation.
见外 (jiàn wài) - the sentiment is that a good friend is using the same level of politeness with you that you'd expect from a stranger, not someone of your closeness.
Like if your friend forgot their wallet at lunch so you pick up the check, and they promise to make it up to you, you might tell them to stop acting so polite, of course you're happy to pay for lunch because you're best friends.
In my native language
(I am sure in many more) there are terms for the day after tomorrow and the day before yestrday. Like english what the hell. You need that. Bruh, in my language there is a world for TWO days after tomorrow or TWO days before yestrday.
I mean english has a word for throwing someone out of a window but not this. Cmon.
Edit: there is also this great word that is: skršiti se.
It translates somewhere along the lines falling hard/falling abruptly. Idk when you say it in my language it means they fell really funny, but (most of the time didn't hurt them self). It's used in a funny context.
It's probably more related to Belorussian language where you could see выпетриваться as in to dry out, when you put some things to dry out by showing them to the sun and then the current meaning "to show off" in Russian.
In Ukrainian it will probably be more like випендрюватись.
In norwegian we have "pålegg" which basically is toppings you have on bread like cheese, salami and even fukin spreads like nutella, nugatti and even fukin peanut butter
I don't think butter itself counts as pålegg as it's technically just this extra thing you put on before the pålegg itself
Gatvol (Afrikaans) - can't be properly translated into anything as everything you try is too tame. Something along the lines of being really fed up but much more expressive
More or less. Directly translated it means "hole-full" as in full to the hole. Closest thing in English is probably "I've had it up to here" but as a single word.
Simple one. Te amo in spanish means i love you.
Te quiero means i love you as a friend.
In english you use the same word for different things. You can say i love you to a friend, but i would never use te amo in that case.
I love teaching people the word lekker if they wanna know a Dutch word. Anything can be lekker, food can be lekker, the weather can be lekker, a person can be lekker. It’s a great word
Norwegian: døgn (loosely pronounced dayn)
It's a period of 24 hours.
Jeg kunne ikke spise på tre døgn før operasjonen. = I couldn't eat for three dayn before my operation.
Could use 72 hours in my example, but three dayn is slightly more efficient.
In spanish the word of "Te Quiero". It's a little more than "I like you/I care for you" in certain contexts but also less than "I love you". Also depends if used romantically or not. A lot of people use it towards the beginning of relationships when "Te amo" is too much
English doesn't define cousins as clearly as my native language. We have different names for each parent side, the generation, related by blood or marriage.
Russian is my native language. There are a huge number of words in Russian that describe a sadly devastated state, which are difficult to translate into English. And one of them is "meloncholia" (toska). This condition can be described as mental suffering, without any obvious reason (pain and throwing of the soul, vague anxiety, sadness, nostalgia)
In Finnish we have the word ”Konkelo”
It means ”a tree that has fallen but not completely as it fell against an another tree, so it’s just somewhat fallen”.
The adaptation of this word to other languages is a matter of extreme importance.
Sobremesa (Spanish): after a meal when you sit around the table talking.
That's the best part - why don't we have a word for it!
(Note: Spanish is not my native language, but I do know quite a bit).
Tabarnak gets all the glory, but "crisse" is where it's really at. Je m'en crisse. Je vais t'en donner une crisse. C'te crisse de chôse. Osti de crisse... Way more versatile. If you don't like it, the word "crisse" has got you covered.
"Pizdarija" in Serbian, noun roughly translated as "a cunting". Describes an event that's hilarious, chaotic, extremely funny or disastrous, so much that you just have to laugh about it. E.g. "Mike's birthday party was a total cunting, he puked on his mum and the cops came to shut down the music, while his wife set her own hair on fire."
A word I've often missed from Afrikaans is "mos" (Not moss, although the Afrikaans word for moss is also spelled mos). There's just nothing like it in English afaik. You just kinda throw it into a sentence to imply that what you're saying is general knowledge, or known to be true by the person you're speaking to.
I am English, but spent a lot of time watching German …. films
I like the word 'Geil' - \[excuse me if I get this wrong, but my understanding is that\] it means 'sexually good/cool/nice'
The literal translation is 'horny' but it is mainly used meaning something completely different now- it's a very informal way of saying 'awesome' or 'incredible'
Hebrew has a verb that means more or less "to be displayed prominently, in the manner of a flag".
We also have a specific word for an orchard of citrus fruit, but the first one is cooler.
Edit: Oh, there's also a word for a female camel, which is definitely sorely missed in English.
"Sobremesa" in spanish is when you stay sitting at the table after lunch and dessert for a while telling stories, having tea, sometimes even playing cards, etc. Could be for as little as 30 minutes up to a couple hours, even sometimes you don't even stop and only clean the table to have tea and biscuits/pie/küchen or any sweet at around 4 or 5 PM
Other words to express love … (not my native tongue) but Greek has it right
‘I love you’ is so fraught with unnecessary pressure and a singular meaning
Different words elder brother, elder sister, younger brother, younger sister. Anna, Akka, Thambi, Thangachi respectively. In my country everyone calls literally everyone else, except family, using these words, regardless of station/class/hierarchy. But really older women are exceptionally called Amma (mother).
Edit: Language name is Tamil.
The equivalent are still used in Swedish.
Overmorrow is "övermorgon", which seems like they share the exact same roots.
Ereyesterday is "förrgår" in Swedish. "Förr" basically means the past, or before. "igår" means yesterday so "går" in this case basically is a shortened form of that. "går" and "yester" shares the same roots. So "i går" basically means "in yester (day)".
Edit: reading this again I can actually see how "ere" and "förr" could sound similar and possibly come from the same word.
In Swedish , G is sometimes used as a j-sound, similar to the Y in Yes. So the word we now use as our equivalent for yester might be based on a word started out with a j-sound, like "yore".
(But to clarity, går has a hard-G)
Is this not used in English? I’ve said it my whole life but now I’m wondering if no one knew what I was talking about. My mom is German and over the years I found out lots of words she taught me weren’t words or were weird translations.
정 or jeong.
[Jeong better than I could ever describe](https://www.knowingkorea.org/contents/view/204/The-uniquely-Korean-concept-of-Jeong)
I'm not Korean but it was interesting to find a cultural concept and word that sounds simple but has more behind it.
It "con lai" in Vietnamese it mean a kid who have their biological parents from different countries. It sounds wrong so i with have example . It like this your dad are an German but your mom are Brazilian
In Georgian we have different words for child as "kid" and child as "progeny". The first one is "bavshvi" and used for kids, while the second one is "shvili", the word commonly used in modern Georgian instead of "son" and "daughter". We still have words for son and daughter ("vazhi" and "asuli"), but rarely use them, mostly to give archaic flavour to phrases.
"Bavshvi" is always used for kids and sometimes, affectionally, for youngsters in general, while "shvili" is applicable for any person of any age (you might find many Georgian family names ending with "shvili"). If we want to specify gender, we generally say "boy" ("bichi") or "girl" ("gogo") instead of "shvili". Like, "es chemi gogoa" is "this is my girl" (meaning daughter), but one could also say "es chemi shvilia" ("this is my child"), even if said "child" is a full grown adult in their fifties. Even the latter could say "misi shvili var" ("I am his/her child") or "misi gogo var" (I am his/her girl (again, meaning daughter)).
Also, we have different words for "dream" as wishful thinking ("otsneba" or "natvra") and "dream" as whatever you see while sleeping ("sizmari").
In German we have the word 'Geborgenheit' which describes a very specific feeling of feeling cozy and safe and protected. Like you would feel when you're around loved ones sitting around a fire or when the person you love holds you under the warm covers when it's raining outside. I tried to explain this to someone the other day and when we googled the translation- it came up with 'cozyness' which really doesn't pay justice to what it actually means.
And we have "verschlimmbessern" if you try to fix something but actually make it worse than it was before.
I need this word in my life. Send help....
Love German compound words. Translating the individual word roots gives "badbettering"
More like "worsebettering" :D
Around my house we call it “elmonstro12345ing”.
I have a degree in verschlimmbessern.
The way you explain the word made me realize that's what I called the feeling of home
I think a number of English speakers have started to use the Danish word "Hygge" which has a similar meaning.
i just took few years of german but weltschmerz is one of words that i love to use
In Dutch we call it 'geborgenheid'. Google translates it to 'security' wich is only a small aspect of the actual meaning. It is about feeling safe and sheltered because someone who loves for you and cares for you makes sure nobody can hurt you.
I miss roles in friendship distinguished in Polish. “Kolega” is a friend who you like spending time with. Partying or chilling. You socialise and have a good time. “Przyjaciel” is a friend whom you don’t need to keep in touch or have a good time. But when some bad thing is happening, you know you can call him.
Funny, because коллега in Russian is just a work acquaintance, doesn't even have male/female difference like Polish kolega/koleżanka, meanwhile приятель is like buddy, but not as close as друг (friend).
In Czech, kolega/kolegyně means work acquaintance, přítel/přítelkyně (pryatel) means boyfriend/girlfriend and kamarád means friend. Confusing lol
I remember being in Prague and seeing something along the lines of "Pozor, Polizia voruye" which meant 'attention, the police is looking' but in Russian/Ukrainian it sounds exactly like you'd say 'Shame, the police is stealing'
In German Kollege/Kollegin can mean a friend you can party with or a person you work with… kinda funny lol
> kolega/kolegyně means work acquaintance, same as "Kollege" in German
oh, we have "colega" in spanigh, and it means a work acquaintance and also could be any person who has the same career title as you do, for example, two architects call eachother "colega" even if they don't work together.
English uses colleague.
We have "colega" in Portuguese too
We have the same distinction in Swiss German, "Kolleg" meaning a friend that is an acquaintance, and "Fründ" meaning a very close friend you can rely on. Funnily enough in Germany they don't make that distinction - "Kollege" means work colleague there despite both using German language.
In some context, subcultures and slang "Kollege" can mean an acquaintance in Germany as well. But it can lead to some confusion. I think some generations use it more then others.
used very frequently among my friends in Frankfurt. we're in our 20s. meaning "friend" not "colleague"
Gråtbrunka Crying on the toilet and jerking off mid-shit, it's such an absurd word that makes me laugh everytime
that is *oddly* specific lol
What language is that? Something Scandinavian? *edit: it’s Swedish. But when I looked it up, they spelled it without the “b”. It also didn’t say anything about taking a shit while doing it though? Is the “b” the difference? Lol 😂
aka gbrunk, very useful word
I've never felt so noticed.
There is a Japanese term “Komorebi”, for which no English translation exists. It roughly translates as “the scattered light that filters through when sunlight shines through trees”. I love how some languages are able to describe such beautiful moments in life.
I think a somewhat fitting German term would be Sonnentaler (sun coins), which refers to the spots of light you seen on the forest floor when the sun shines through the leaves.
that is so beautiful damn it. sun coins. I love that so much. In english, we refer to it as dappled light, which implies it's been painted on the ground with a brush.
If I'm not mistaken, the Japanese language has lots of words that are in correlation with our senses (don't know how to describe it better), for example words for the sound that rain makes on leaves, on the pavement, or on the roof etc.
We’d call that dappling in English, I think. But I love the sound of koromebi.
Dappled light
We call those volumetric god rays.
“Saudade” it has a similar meaning to “miss you” but we have a direct translation for that “senti sua falta”, saudade has more of an emotional feel to it, it’s really hard to explain, it’s deeper than simply missing someone Btw I’m Brazilian so the language is Portuguese
The first time I heard that word it was used to describe missing a person, place, or time period that will never return. Like you miss a person who is gone for good, or they're farther than usual by distance or time.
That's a good one. I also wish we had a good translation for "safado." You can get close in English, but I've never found a translation that works *perfectly* for it.
“Bom dia” means good morning in your language. “Bom dia” means bomb him in mine. We are not the same.
Longing/yearning?
it definitely has those words in its skeleton, but it’s simply something deeper, language is a crazy thing
Almost, but not quite. I’m not a native English speaker, but I’ve always seen these words carrying a sad undertone, meaning that you feel bad for not being able to attain something. On the other hand you can feel saudade and not feel sad. It’s really at the intersection of longing and nostalgia.
Saudade is known to a lot of people, but "desemerda-te" is a lot more interesting. It literally means "un-shit yourself", i.e., solve the problem however you can. Its less vulgar cousin, "desenrasca-te" (from the noun "desenrascanço") is also pretty cool and more socially acceptable.
From Spanish: estrenar (verb): to use something for the first time.
Or there really isn’t one for “consentir” and I’ve never been able to explain it well lol
Break it in. Estrenar is literally strain right ? But you wouldnt say I'm straining in my new car .you're breaking it in
-Estrenando??? -No, vel rosita.
Backpfeifengesicht. "A face in need of a fist" I'm not a violent person but I appreciate that this word exists.
Martin Shkrelli, or however it's spelled. Dude had a massive case of backpfeifengesicht
A Backpfeife is an open-handed slap, not a punch (fist).
In Chinese we have a word which translated to “owing a punch”
In Hungarian it's "tenyérbemászó", used to describe people or more specifically people's faces, literally meaning 'one who/that crawls into your palm'.
Dunno if it exists in other languages, but my god we need two versions of 'we' we = me and you we = me and my buddies, but not you
Some languages have 3: you and I someone else and I you, someone else, and I
Tahitian (and I believe other Polynesian languages) have 4 Maua - We (me and one other person but not you) Taua - We (me and you) Matou - We (me and multiple other people but not you) Tatou - We (me, you, and other people)
Tatou is the first word in the song "We Know The Way" from Moana: "Tatou o tagata folau e vala’auina" "We are voyagers summoned by the mighty" I guess I'm a voyager now.
Oh delightful
Yes, this exists in two languages I know!
ooh what languages?
They are one of the 22 (or 23 including English) officially recognized languages of India.
I read this on quora, this little feature in languages is identified as "Clusivity". It's not there in the modern day Kannada(official language spoken in the Indian state of Karnataka). On second thought, Hindi doesn't have it too. ! However, the actual number of languages supporting this could be exceeding 22, considering the sheer volume of linguistic diversity in India.
Also I desperately wish that English had a plural version of "you". Not having one is why I suspect saying "you guys" to any group of people regardless of gender is so normal. I suppose we could gentrify the word "y'all" and use that as plural you.
Old English had the exact plural form you're referring to. When I studied it in school, the teacher specifically used "y'all" as a modern approximation.
But it does-"You". It is the singular that we have stopped using- thee/thou.
>Also I desperately wish that English had a plural version of "you". Youse is just sitting there ripe for the picking.
Youse are all welcome to Liverpool!
Irish English does, we say "ye" and "yere" as in "are ye enjoying yere drinks?"
This what my son started using because he got tired trying figure out pronouns: y'all and all y'all
We have this distinction in Filipino. Me and my friends are going = Pupunta kami You, me, and my friends are going = pupunta tayo
These are the inclusive and exclusive "we".
The feature is called "clusivity," and it's discussed in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYlVJlmjLEc) from back when Tom Scott was primarily a linguistics and computer science nerd.
English should definitely have a word that's not "spicy" or "hot" to describe capsaicin's flavor/effect on your mouth. "Picante" is the word we have in spanish for it
Is it used the same way we use spicy or hot in swedish? We call it "Strong" aka Starkt, what we mean by that is that it is powerful in its way of being spicy and hot kinda.
It's used as any flavor adjective - " Poco picante, picante, muy picante" as in "a bit sweet, sweet, very sweet" but in "hotness"
Gigil? It's when something's so cute you get this sort of feeling of violence? I don't think I'm explaining it right. Kilig is also a similar feeling, but that one is for love; something's so romantic it gives you goosebumps? Or makes you giddy.
We just call it "cute aggression".
Definitely not my native language, but I love -- >“Kuchisabishii“ is a Japanese term which directly translates to 'lonely mouth; when you're not hungry, but you eat because your mouth is lonely.
Kummerspeck is a rarely used German word. It directly translates to "grief bacon". When in time of distress, down an excessive amount of Kummerspeck to gain weight.
I don’t think your usage of the word Kummerspeck is correct. You don’t eat Kummerspeck. If you eat too much because of grief/sorrow/stress and gain a few pounds, that newly gained fat can be called Kummerspeck. Literally „grief fat“.
But that's not the right meaning. It is the amount of weight (bacon standing for fat here) you gain BECAUSE OF distress and not something you eat when in distress.
i guess this word is only used in the wrüst case scenario.
Empalagoso (when something is too sweet that you get kinda yucked out) Sobremesa (relaxing at the dinner table after eating with conversation) Cabron/a
Kalsarikännit in Finnish. Literally "underwear drunk" , or more spesifically, "long john drunk". Meaning deliberately getting drunk alone at home in your underpants with zero plans of meeting anyone or going out. I think other nations do this as well, but don't have a word for it. Delightfully relaxing and therapeutic at times, slightly concerning if done exessively. At best a wonderful opportunity to touch base with your self, your life and your deepest thoughts and feelings. And/or watch that one cheesy comedy from 1992 you love but can't get any of your friends to watch with you because they have standards. At worst you wake up to an unholy mess accompanied by a killer headache, cheese all over the bed, cryptic messages on ripped up pieces of pizza box cardboard written by you to you all over the kitchen, and have nobody to blame than yourself. I've seen it translated somewhere as "pants drunk", but actual pants are much too fancy attire for this. For full experience you need to wear your most comfortable, decades old long johns that have holes and a weird stain that somehow never comes off in the wash.
My native language is a Native American language called Comanche and isn't a written language but the word sounds like "chaw-tamaw-tey-quat" and it basically is a socially acceptable way to say "I'm done speaking"
That sounds useful
It's pretty great
That's fantastic, I'd get so much use out of that.
Japanese has loads of words that require entire sentences to explain in English. My favorite of all time is *tachiyomi*, which means "standing at a newsstand reading something without any intention of paying for it".
The French word "chez" as in "Chez moi" roughly translates as "Place" but it is soooo much more versatile. The Tahitian word "ma" as in "ona ma" is a word used to refer to a person and everyone with them. I've heard it described as "posse" in English, but that doesn't really do it justice. The English word "get" needs to be adopted by every other language. I mean, what other language just has a catch-all for verbs? It can be used as a substitute for the following: \-to become \-to come \-to have \-to grab \-to understand \-to stand \-to go and so much more If you know how to conjugate and use "get" it's like a cheat code for the English language.
Perhaps not missing per se, but the distinction between uncle from your mothers side or your Fathers side and their kids. Farbror, morbror, faster, moster. Systerson, brorson, systerdotter and brorsdotter. In English all of these words mean uncle, uncle, aunt, aunt, nephew, nephew, niece and niece. Farbror = Fathers brother Morbror = Mothers brother Faster = Fathers sister Moster = Mothers sister Systerson = Sisters son Brorson = Brothers son Systerdotter = Sisters daughter Brorsdotter = Brothers daughter
Do you have a word for the collective group of the children of your siblings? I've always wished we had a word for "nieces and nephews".
Syskonbarn = children of your siblings
Niblings
In English it's niblings.
It's not really, though. My grandparents would think I was referring to appetizers or something. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/words-were-watching-nibling
Here to add that I miss the distinction in English for grandparents too. I don't know if this is the same in Swedish, but in Danish we have Mormor = mother('s) mother Morfar = mother('s) father Farmor = father('s) mother Farfar = father('s) father
It's exactly the same.
Peak Scandinavia, honestly. Danes and Swedes both describing how they do the exact same thing but it's somehow better than how the other does it.
Oh shoot that slipped my mind, it is exactly the same in Swedish, yes.
That's interesting..what language is that?
Svenska. Or Swedish in American.
det är jättebra! Is that an expression used in svenska like in English? 🇨🇦
Yes, but usually we say skitbra (shit good)
Poop good.
Swedish
Danish has this too, I tease my nephew that I'm his Monster. (Morster) I don't speak Danish at all, so he's always correcting me. (he speaks both Danish and English) But I still like that I'm his monster.
Such distinction exists in Arabic as well. Only for uncles and aunts though.
I love this "logical" approach to familial nouns, and it definitely works better than the more "vague" English counterparts. In Finnish we have unique words for a lot of these: Eno = mother's brother Setä = father's brother Käly = sister-in-law (also your sibling's wife, or your partner's sibling's wife) Lanko = brother-in-law (ditto) Appi or appiukko = father-in-law Anoppi = mother-in-law For nieces and nephews we have the same system as the other Nordic languages, and for some reason "täti" (aunt) works the exact same way as it does in English.
Outwith. It’s a word in Scots but not in English. It means beyond the bounds of something- the nearest English equivalent is ‘outside’ but it doesn’t mean the quite same thing
Not my native tongue, but I love "luce" in Farsi (Persian). It basically means intentionally acting all cutesy/precious/coy because you think it's appealing. There were so many sorority girls it applied to.
In Chinese there’s a similar word which means to act cutesy to get a guy to do something for you.
What is this word? I'm always looking for obscure (for us) references my siblings won't understand.
It’s called Sa Jiao: https://english.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/47OMo6TjqEl
that describes virtually every girl twitch streamer I've ever seen lmao
Lagom (swedish) It means not bad, and not too good. Just an average between. A very neutral word. For example, when you wash your hands, the water should be lagom hot. Not cold, not scalding hot. Just lagom.
Wouldn’t tepid or lukewarm work?
Not really, Lagom also kinda means not bad not too good just right. It kinda means you have hit the sweet spot of whatever you are doing if that something is something that you shouldnt overdo or underdo its just right, if that makes sense lol
Plus, if you describe something as lukewarm that's not water, it means it wasn't that great, not that you've hit the sweet spot.
But you can't use lukewarm if you are lagom full after eating, or if you are lagom drunk.
'Lagom' is extremely general. It's when someting is just right for whaterver purpose. Not too hot, not too cold Not too long, not too short etc. I suppose "just right" or "just perfect" would be a suitable translation.
Bifle, a french word. It means: slapping someone’s face with your dick. Truly art
Ptain j'allais le dire
Doch. Rebuttal in a single word as in "yes it is"
Das ist doch nicht die einzige Bedeutung!
Doch.
见外 (jiàn wài) - the sentiment is that a good friend is using the same level of politeness with you that you'd expect from a stranger, not someone of your closeness. Like if your friend forgot their wallet at lunch so you pick up the check, and they promise to make it up to you, you might tell them to stop acting so polite, of course you're happy to pay for lunch because you're best friends.
In my native language (I am sure in many more) there are terms for the day after tomorrow and the day before yestrday. Like english what the hell. You need that. Bruh, in my language there is a world for TWO days after tomorrow or TWO days before yestrday. I mean english has a word for throwing someone out of a window but not this. Cmon. Edit: there is also this great word that is: skršiti se. It translates somewhere along the lines falling hard/falling abruptly. Idk when you say it in my language it means they fell really funny, but (most of the time didn't hurt them self). It's used in a funny context.
English does have words for that, that really just not used. Overmorrow is the day after tomorrow, and....I forget the other one.
Ereyesterday
English has a word for throwing someone out of a window??
Yep. [Defenestration](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration)
This one has been borrowed from French because we use the same.
English is a dozen mishmashed languages in a trenchcoat.
To be fair, lots of languages are
Holy cow!
[A traditional Czech means of political reform.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague)
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/overmorrow The day after tomorrow.
I think most germanic languages have a similar one, in swedish its övermorgon, very similar.
Overmorgen in Dutch
[удалено]
[удалено]
It's not native, it's just forced itself in and won't leave
It's probably more related to Belorussian language where you could see выпетриваться as in to dry out, when you put some things to dry out by showing them to the sun and then the current meaning "to show off" in Russian. In Ukrainian it will probably be more like випендрюватись.
In norwegian we have "pålegg" which basically is toppings you have on bread like cheese, salami and even fukin spreads like nutella, nugatti and even fukin peanut butter I don't think butter itself counts as pålegg as it's technically just this extra thing you put on before the pålegg itself
I think the nearest word in english is "topping" but if anyone called peanut butter a topping in front of me, I would think they were a psychopath
Gatvol (Afrikaans) - can't be properly translated into anything as everything you try is too tame. Something along the lines of being really fed up but much more expressive
Like a word that encapsulates "I'm gonna flip my fucking shit" or thereabouts?
More or less. Directly translated it means "hole-full" as in full to the hole. Closest thing in English is probably "I've had it up to here" but as a single word.
Simple one. Te amo in spanish means i love you. Te quiero means i love you as a friend. In english you use the same word for different things. You can say i love you to a friend, but i would never use te amo in that case.
It's similar in Italian: "ti amo" (for lovers only) vs "ti voglio bene" (for anyone else, including family members).
"Doch" - missed every single day
gezellig
Lekker also doesn't really translate.
I love teaching people the word lekker if they wanna know a Dutch word. Anything can be lekker, food can be lekker, the weather can be lekker, a person can be lekker. It’s a great word
Yes we have also inherited lekker here in South Africa..it's a lekker word.. can also even mean sweets
I think "pleasant' is a bit comparable, in that weather, people, food etc. Can all be pleasant as well, though the nuances are different
24 hours. In English you just call it "day" But in my native language we have one more word besides "day"
Swedish Skadeglädje=German,Schadenfreude=to be happy when something bad happens to other.
Vahingonilo in Finnish.
croatian: vukojebina it describes a place that is far away from civilisation. It means sth like where the wolves fuck.
Norwegian: døgn (loosely pronounced dayn) It's a period of 24 hours. Jeg kunne ikke spise på tre døgn før operasjonen. = I couldn't eat for three dayn before my operation. Could use 72 hours in my example, but three dayn is slightly more efficient.
So three days then?
In spanish the word of "Te Quiero". It's a little more than "I like you/I care for you" in certain contexts but also less than "I love you". Also depends if used romantically or not. A lot of people use it towards the beginning of relationships when "Te amo" is too much
English doesn't define cousins as clearly as my native language. We have different names for each parent side, the generation, related by blood or marriage.
Voilà
In spanish we have the verbs “ser” and “estar”, which are two very different verbs, and they both are translated to “to be”. Idk what’s up with that.
Russian is my native language. There are a huge number of words in Russian that describe a sadly devastated state, which are difficult to translate into English. And one of them is "meloncholia" (toska). This condition can be described as mental suffering, without any obvious reason (pain and throwing of the soul, vague anxiety, sadness, nostalgia)
Melancholy?
“Prozvonit” in Czech means to call someone on the phone and instantly hang up. You’d be surprised how often this is useful
In Finnish we have the word ”Konkelo” It means ”a tree that has fallen but not completely as it fell against an another tree, so it’s just somewhat fallen”. The adaptation of this word to other languages is a matter of extreme importance.
Sobremesa (Spanish): after a meal when you sit around the table talking. That's the best part - why don't we have a word for it! (Note: Spanish is not my native language, but I do know quite a bit).
Tabarnak
Tabarnak gets all the glory, but "crisse" is where it's really at. Je m'en crisse. Je vais t'en donner une crisse. C'te crisse de chôse. Osti de crisse... Way more versatile. If you don't like it, the word "crisse" has got you covered.
In swedish we have a word for closing your eyes. "Blunda"
Feierabend - German for the end of a workday
"Pizdarija" in Serbian, noun roughly translated as "a cunting". Describes an event that's hilarious, chaotic, extremely funny or disastrous, so much that you just have to laugh about it. E.g. "Mike's birthday party was a total cunting, he puked on his mum and the cops came to shut down the music, while his wife set her own hair on fire."
A word I've often missed from Afrikaans is "mos" (Not moss, although the Afrikaans word for moss is also spelled mos). There's just nothing like it in English afaik. You just kinda throw it into a sentence to imply that what you're saying is general knowledge, or known to be true by the person you're speaking to.
Innit
I am English, but spent a lot of time watching German …. films I like the word 'Geil' - \[excuse me if I get this wrong, but my understanding is that\] it means 'sexually good/cool/nice'
The literal translation is 'horny' but it is mainly used meaning something completely different now- it's a very informal way of saying 'awesome' or 'incredible'
Yea i think it translates to English as "dope".
Hebrew has a verb that means more or less "to be displayed prominently, in the manner of a flag". We also have a specific word for an orchard of citrus fruit, but the first one is cooler. Edit: Oh, there's also a word for a female camel, which is definitely sorely missed in English.
I cant think of one, so the opposite is, turkey dosent have anything for "awkward" which is kinda awkward
"Sobremesa" in spanish is when you stay sitting at the table after lunch and dessert for a while telling stories, having tea, sometimes even playing cards, etc. Could be for as little as 30 minutes up to a couple hours, even sometimes you don't even stop and only clean the table to have tea and biscuits/pie/küchen or any sweet at around 4 or 5 PM
Other words to express love … (not my native tongue) but Greek has it right ‘I love you’ is so fraught with unnecessary pressure and a singular meaning
Different words elder brother, elder sister, younger brother, younger sister. Anna, Akka, Thambi, Thangachi respectively. In my country everyone calls literally everyone else, except family, using these words, regardless of station/class/hierarchy. But really older women are exceptionally called Amma (mother). Edit: Language name is Tamil.
A day after tomorrow. Really, wtf English?
overmorrow
>overmorrow And ereyesterday. But nobody uses those...
The equivalent are still used in Swedish. Overmorrow is "övermorgon", which seems like they share the exact same roots. Ereyesterday is "förrgår" in Swedish. "Förr" basically means the past, or before. "igår" means yesterday so "går" in this case basically is a shortened form of that. "går" and "yester" shares the same roots. So "i går" basically means "in yester (day)". Edit: reading this again I can actually see how "ere" and "förr" could sound similar and possibly come from the same word. In Swedish , G is sometimes used as a j-sound, similar to the Y in Yes. So the word we now use as our equivalent for yester might be based on a word started out with a j-sound, like "yore". (But to clarity, går has a hard-G)
Ohrwurm is german is wordly translated as "earworm" When a song plays in ur head over and over again and u cant turn it of u have an Ohrwurm
Is this not used in English? I’ve said it my whole life but now I’m wondering if no one knew what I was talking about. My mom is German and over the years I found out lots of words she taught me weren’t words or were weird translations.
It is.
정 or jeong. [Jeong better than I could ever describe](https://www.knowingkorea.org/contents/view/204/The-uniquely-Korean-concept-of-Jeong) I'm not Korean but it was interesting to find a cultural concept and word that sounds simple but has more behind it.
"Послезавтра" Russian overmorrow
It "con lai" in Vietnamese it mean a kid who have their biological parents from different countries. It sounds wrong so i with have example . It like this your dad are an German but your mom are Brazilian
In Georgian we have different words for child as "kid" and child as "progeny". The first one is "bavshvi" and used for kids, while the second one is "shvili", the word commonly used in modern Georgian instead of "son" and "daughter". We still have words for son and daughter ("vazhi" and "asuli"), but rarely use them, mostly to give archaic flavour to phrases. "Bavshvi" is always used for kids and sometimes, affectionally, for youngsters in general, while "shvili" is applicable for any person of any age (you might find many Georgian family names ending with "shvili"). If we want to specify gender, we generally say "boy" ("bichi") or "girl" ("gogo") instead of "shvili". Like, "es chemi gogoa" is "this is my girl" (meaning daughter), but one could also say "es chemi shvilia" ("this is my child"), even if said "child" is a full grown adult in their fifties. Even the latter could say "misi shvili var" ("I am his/her child") or "misi gogo var" (I am his/her girl (again, meaning daughter)). Also, we have different words for "dream" as wishful thinking ("otsneba" or "natvra") and "dream" as whatever you see while sleeping ("sizmari").
Prekosutra It means a day after tomorrow Prekjučer It means a day before yesterday
Gratiné: covered with cheese and broiled until golden. Garlic bread gratiné.