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Are we lost for words or simply losing words?

With over 250,000 words in the English language, you’d think we would have enough words to describe just about everything, but apparently we don’t.
In Portugal, where I live, there is a word ‘saudade’ which even dictionaries admit is a word difficult to translate adequately. According to Wikipedia the word ‘describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return’
It is said to have originated from the days when Portuguese sailors went round the world and they and their loved ones never knew if they would come back or when; a sort of ‘unrequited love’.
In later years after the famous earthquake of 1755 and Portugal’s sudden traumatic end to their ‘golden age’ it was said to take root in the national psyche and become a cultural characteristic as epitomised by ‘fado’.
So, are there other words?
There are plenty according to Adam Jacot de Boinod in his new book I Never Knew There Was A Word For It who researched over 300 languages and found words like:
Kaelling (Danish) - a woman who stands on her doorstep screaming obscenities at her children
Tantenverfuhrer (German) - a young man who tries to seduce his aunt
Physiggoomai (Ancient Greek) someone who is aroused by garlic
Maybe not the most useful words in any language but try these:
Gheegle (Filipino) The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.
Cualacino (Italian) The mark left on a table by a cold glass.
Sgriob (Gaelic) The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky
L’esprit de escalier (French) Staircase wit: The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said.
Pari-pari and Saku-saku (Japanese) Hard-crispy verses Soft-crispy, i.e. a rice cracker versus fried chicken
Stam (Hebrew) An agreement out of amusement and frustration that something doesn’t have a satisfactory answer among those talking.
Forelsket (Norwegian) The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.
Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish) The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation.
Maybe you know some more - let us know
Ironically there are words – non words or failed words - that don’t make it into the dictionary at all.
According to the The Daily Telegraph words like wurfing, dringle, sprogging and optotoxical have all been considered as possibly being included in the OED but didn’t make it. There needs to be enough evidence that people are using the words, but they aren’t permanently rejected and may be put in future dictionaries.
Perhaps I’d better go now, time for a bit of wurfing to do a bit of lexpionage or am I a stealth-geek?


DICTIONARY OF NON WORDS
Accordionated – being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time
Asphinxiation – being sick to death of unanswerable puzzles or riddles
Blogish – a variety of English that uses a large number of initialisms, frequently used on blogs
Dringle – the watermark left on wood caused by a glass of liquid.
Dunandunate – the overuse of a word or phrase that has recently been added to your own vocabulary
Earworm – a catchy tune that frequently gets stuck in your head
Espacular – something especially spectacular
Freegan – someone who rejects consumerism, usually by eating discarded food
Fumb – your large toe
Furgle – to feel in a pocket or bag for a small object such as a coin or key
Glocalization – running a business according to both local and global considerations
Griefer – someone who spends their online time harassing others
Headset jockey – a telephone call centre worker
Lexpionage – the sleuthing of words and phrases
Locavor – a person who tries to eat only locally grown or produced food
Museum head – feeling mentally exhausted and no longer able to take in information; Usually following a trip to a museum
Nonversation – a worthless conversation, wherein nothing is explained or otherwise elaborated upon
Nudenda – an unhidden agenda
Oninate – to overwhelm with post-dining breath
Optotoxical – a look that could kill, normally from a parent or
spouse
Parrotise – a haven for exotic birds especially green ones
Peppier – a waiter whose sole job is to offer diners ground pepper, usually from a large pepper mill
Percuperate – to prepare for the possibility of being ill
Pharming – the practice of creating a dummy website for phishing data
Polkadodge – the dance that occurs when two people attempt to pass each other but move in the same direction
Pregreening – to creep forwards while waiting for a red light to change
Quackmire – the muddy edges of a duck pond
Scrax – the waxy coating that is scratched off an instant lottery ticket
Smushables – items that must be pack at the top of a bag to avoid being squashed
Spatulate – removing cake mixture from the side of a bowl with a spatula
Sprog – to go faster then a jog but slower then a sprint
Sprummer – when summer and spring time can’t decide which is to come first, usually hot one day then cold the next
Stealth-geek – someone who hides their nerdy interests while maintaining a normal outward appearance
Vidiot – someone who is inept at the act of programming video recording equipment

Comments

Finding words that exist in other languages but not in English provides a great cultural insight. I found a great website that has researched words that exist in Spanish but not in English.

http://iberianature.com

Some of my favourites include:

manco - a one-armed man
tuerto - a one-eyed man
zurdo - a left-hander
sobremesa - time spent sitting around table after lunch (unfortunately a concept that doesn’t exist in English culture)

By Jenny Bedwell on 2010 11 30

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