[personal profile] squirmelia
A few weeks ago, the Metro had an article about So Bad So Good's 25 Handy Words That Simply Don't Exist in English.

Other words I have been thinking about recently include "souffle" ("breath" in French), and the fact that paper, hair and God sound the same when you say them in Japanese. I ate Sicilian cactus fruit ice-cream recently and [livejournal.com profile] verticalsun26 told me prickly pears are also called "tuna". I ate tuna!

Date: 2012-05-31 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bennybunny.livejournal.com
That ice cream sounds positively ethereal in its goodness.

Desire.

Date: 2012-06-01 01:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] squirmelia.livejournal.com
I think I preferred the Sicilian cactus fruit ice-cream to the mulberry sorbet I last tried, but the Sicilian cactus fruit flavour did taste a little envelopey (this may be because I was told that cactus fruit is used to make the sticky bit that you lick on envelopes.)

Date: 2012-06-01 01:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] strawberryfrog.livejournal.com
"Schadenfreude" may be better known in English than German. "Ucalegon" has its uses in both.

Date: 2012-06-02 07:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] squirmelia.livejournal.com
I didn't know the word "Ucalegon", but have now looked that one up, and hope I don't really ever need to use it, although it is quite satisfying to say.

Date: 2012-06-02 09:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] strawberryfrog.livejournal.com
"Ucalegon" is more useful than it might seem - I can imagine using the concept when speaking about Spanish banks or at Jubilee street parties.

Date: 2012-06-01 09:55 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] shermarama
Excellent. I like 'lekker' in Dutch, which means tasty but for any or all of the senses; a hot drink on a cold day is 'lekker warm', and to wish someone a good night's sleep you say 'slaap lekker'.

Date: 2012-06-02 07:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] squirmelia.livejournal.com
'Lekker' sounds like a useful word!

From the Shipwreck Museum in Hastings, I learnt the Dutch word 'kraken'. :)

Date: 2012-06-02 09:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] strawberryfrog.livejournal.com
"Lekker" in Afrikaans fills much the same role as "nice". i.e. it's positive, but not very specific. Languages need general words too!

Date: 2012-06-05 10:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] finglish.livejournal.com
Including German words in these lists is, I feel, a bit of a cheat since they are just several words stitched together.

And I'd also like to propose one of my favourite Finnish words for inclusion: "avanto" which means the hole in the ice (in a lake or the sea) you make to go swimming in the winter.

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