Beautiful Words The English Language Should Steal

I love the word 'schadenfreude'. It is one of those ooooh so delicious feelings when someone has really hurt you.

Or fernweh, a feeling I constantly suffer. Or 'heimweh' the opposite which means homesickness.

UBUNTU because I have arguments over that word with the BH every second day - he vows it is better than Windows and I of course have to prefer the latter!

Waldeinsamkeit is a very pretty word (if a word could be described that way). Actually German quite contrary to popular belief is a very descriptive and beautiful language. There are many words which I love, but which I will have to send RAM into overdrive to retrieve from my 'personal' hard disc!

Like the word 'hygge'. And oh....do I just love to gigil and hear the kid giggle! And of course I respond with another gigil.

Jayus!!! Who knew there would be a word for such a thing!

And I do tsundoku a loooooooooooot.

Dear oh, dear! Looks like I have reproduced nearly the entire list here.

Will come back with others when I am able to retrieve them from my black hole (memory, I mean).

Oh, just remembered. One is Fata Morgana which in German means a mirage.

 

Schadenfreude is much sweeter than mudita.

 

In Spanish restaurant menus, both the words Postre, and Sobremesa may appear as the title-word(s) on the dessert menu. When sobremesa is explicitly mentioned on the menu, it signals that one has the table for as long as they want, in most cases, the rest of the evening. Usually in pricey places. Whoever is paying the bill, has to be a mudita.

 

porque no? That mudita, among a few others, reminded me of how we(parents and teachers) advise children to read the new words, understand the context, and attempt to guess what the word might stand for. In USA it is usually part of the "Language Arts" reading exercises; not sure what it is called in Malaysia, or India. Given that we are influenced by the language(s) we already know, we suspect strange meanings for foreign words.

Mudita, sounds like a girl in a bad mood, i.e., a morose-lalita, hence moodita.

 

Or one who loves to eat her ragi mudde?

 

The spanish Embarazo confuses learners who already know the English word embarass. The spanish word means pregnancy.
I tried to see what those 28 words would mean to me by just sounding it out, and parsing the syllables, and think about it. Here is the result:

Mudita = a girl in bad mood
komorebi = Sister of the boss ( kemosabi)
tsundoku = A small portion of a snack
embasan= Ambassador’s spouse
voorpret = opposite of interpret, that is, obfuscate
depaysement= the reverse of an autodeposit at a bank.
mamihlapinatapai= blind folded older women trying to hit a pinata
Fernweh= footpath overgrown with ferns.
Meraki= ocean-catch
Jayus= first person plural, unclothed.
hanyauku= a chinese handball game
gigil = laugh uncontrollably
Lagom= eye irritant
desenrascanco = restful massage
hygge = three people embrace
Utepils = useful medicines
waldeinsamkeit= walking around at a fast pace
ubuntu = deep fried salty snack
laotong = knee length sarong (lungi)
kuidaore = open pit mine
tidsoptimist = predicting ocean tides.
sobremesa= designated driver at a party
goya= bitter gourd
nunchi = meditating female novice
mangata = pickle from mango
prozvonit = non-rhyming poetry
backpfeifengesicht= throwing your back out while lifting weighty stuff
shemomedjamo= taboo thing that brings shame on the family.

 

At the risk of being a tad risqué, my vote goes to Kenjataimu.

 

Just remembered two words:

Liebeskummer - anguish due to love, lovelorn, lovesick.

fait accompli: something every wife with a picky husband, every 'child' with parents who insist on running their lives have to resort to, if they want to have their way.