I've become mildly obsessed with foreign words that have no direct translation into English. There are some fantastic words that need to be integrated into our language. I've definitely found some new song titles!
A few of my favorites are:
Toska
Russian – Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody or something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
Saudade
Language: Portuguese
Meaning: Melancholic longing or nostalgia for a person, place or thing that is far away from you.
Litost
Language: Czech
Meaning: A feeling that synthesizes grief, sympathy, remorse and longing.
Language: Czech
Meaning: A feeling that synthesizes grief, sympathy, remorse and longing.
Mangata
Language: Swedish
Meaning: The glimmering, road-like reflection that the moon creates on the water.
Language: Swedish
Meaning: The glimmering, road-like reflection that the moon creates on the water.
Tartle (Scots)
The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember.
The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember.
Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese)
Leave it to the Brazilians to come up with a word for “tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.”
Duende
Spanish – While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.”
Okay there are a lot, here are the links:
http://www.misanthropytoday.com/21-cool-foreign-phrases-and-words-that-mean-something-very-specific/
I'm basically listening to two songs on a loop right now, East of Eden by Zella Day and The Driver by Bastille. Go listen to/buy them immediately.
I've had a cold for the past week, so I haven't been able to sing at all. This cold stole my low notes and threw off my pitch, very sad. But the music is returning, thank goodness.
I also got a kitty last week (on National Cat Day, coincidentally). She lives at my aunt's house, about five minutes away. So far she doesn't have a name, although we've been calling her Queek (Squeak). She is insane and I have various claw marks all over my hands and arms, but I love her.
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