Untranslatable Words: words or phrases – okay, concepts – that are some of the most difficult to translate into other languages
Below is one category…more to come in the next few weeks…
Perfect Distillations Category
Words or phrases that sum up a concept perfectly
Fachidiot (German): Excessively narrow-minded technical expert.
Farpotshket (Yiddish): Something that is all fouled up, especially as the result of an attempt to fix it.
Attaccabottoni (Italian): A doleful bore who buttonholes people and tells sad pointless tales; literally, a button attacker.
Mokita (Kiriwina, New Guinea): A truth everybody knows but nobody speaks.
Mamihlapinatapai (Tierra del Fuego): Two people looking at each other each hoping the other will do what both desire but neither is willing to do.
Uovo di Colombo (Italian): A simple, obvious idea that doesn't occur to the person who could use it the most.
Kaelling (Danish): A woman who stands on her doorstep yelling obscenities at her kids.
Traer la lengua de corbata (Latin American Spanish): To be worn out; to be exhausted; literally, to have your tongue hanging out like a man’s tie.
L’esprit d’escalier (French): Used to describe the precise moment a person comes up with a clever retort to an embarrassing insult; literally, spirit of the staircase.
Nito-onna (Japanese): A woman so dedicated to her career that she has no time to iron blouses and so resorts to dressing only in knitted tops.
Faire du leche-vitrines (French): Window-shopping; literally, to lick the windows.
Below is one category…more to come in the next few weeks…
Perfect Distillations Category
Words or phrases that sum up a concept perfectly
Fachidiot (German): Excessively narrow-minded technical expert.
Farpotshket (Yiddish): Something that is all fouled up, especially as the result of an attempt to fix it.
Attaccabottoni (Italian): A doleful bore who buttonholes people and tells sad pointless tales; literally, a button attacker.
Mokita (Kiriwina, New Guinea): A truth everybody knows but nobody speaks.
Mamihlapinatapai (Tierra del Fuego): Two people looking at each other each hoping the other will do what both desire but neither is willing to do.
Uovo di Colombo (Italian): A simple, obvious idea that doesn't occur to the person who could use it the most.
Kaelling (Danish): A woman who stands on her doorstep yelling obscenities at her kids.
Traer la lengua de corbata (Latin American Spanish): To be worn out; to be exhausted; literally, to have your tongue hanging out like a man’s tie.
L’esprit d’escalier (French): Used to describe the precise moment a person comes up with a clever retort to an embarrassing insult; literally, spirit of the staircase.
Nito-onna (Japanese): A woman so dedicated to her career that she has no time to iron blouses and so resorts to dressing only in knitted tops.
Faire du leche-vitrines (French): Window-shopping; literally, to lick the windows.
