MARY GABLE

(via Fuchsia Macaree)

I love stumbling across “untranslatable” words: those that sum up an idea in a single word where other languages demand three or four.

Some words we American English-speakers don’t have because we don’t really need them. Like the Finnish word tokka, a large herd of grazing reindeer. We can probably get by without that one.

Others relay concepts we simply haven’t thought to express. There’s mamihlapinatapei from the South American indigenous language Yagan. It’s a “wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start.”

Gigil, from Filipino, is “the irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze something cute.” (Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a word for that?!)

Tartle is that awkward hesitation upon running in to someone whose name you can’t remember.

The list goes on. Even after a year of researching this stuff for my thesis, I’m still enamored by these neat little packages of words. There’s something satisfying about seeing an idea expressed just right. Now, if only there was a word for that…

For more untranslatables, go to Better Than English—they post a new word every day.

Also check out Fuchsia Macaree’s untranslatable alphabet. Letter “B” is pictured above.

Tagged: language, words