7 ms·

216 postive words not in the English language

27 points by zeristor 11y ago

zeristor 11y ago
The link is for the raw list; additions seemingly welcome. This link gives more of an explanation about it: http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/01/there-are-at-least-216-foreign-words.html http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/01/there-are-at-least-216-fore...
- guitarbill 11y ago
  Oh dear: "Publishing his initial findings in the The Journal of Positive Psychology, Lomas' hope is not only that we might learn more about the positive psychology of other cultures, but that hearing of these words might enrich our own emotional lives. [...] Lomas' method was to trawl websites devoted to "untranslatable words" (i.e. words that don't have a single corresponding word in English), then to do some googling and finally to consult colleagues and students. This way he ended up with a list of 216 untranslatable words for positive emotional states and concepts."
  - dmoy 11y ago
    Wait you mean they didn't ask people who are actually native/fluent speakers of each language? Seems like that would be a pretty minimal bar for publishing...
jeremysmyth 11y ago
Mistitled. It's not words that aren't in English, but words categorized by language, many of which are (naturally) not English. There is, however, a category for English language, and other languages have words that have migrated to English, like "Tao" and "wanderlust".
Grue3 11y ago
I can't speak for other languages, but Toska is not a positive word. It means "boredom" or "homesickness". What's the criterion for inclusion anyway?
lucb1e 11y ago
This list is a bit... off. Speaking Dutch, I can say that: - Borrel could be translated as drinks. Usually there will be small snacks as well, but that often goes together with drinks as well. - Gezellig is not just cosiness. If that was it, there'd be an English word right? - Gunnen is the only one, besides gezellig, that seems to really not exist. Gezellig is rather famous for it because it's difficult to translate. Gunnen on the other hand can easily be described with other words: "ik gun het je" ("I 'gun' it [to] you") would be "I'd like for you to have it" (e.g. the last piece of cake). - I never heard of Janteloven or anything similar. Turns out it doesn't exist: http://www.woorden.org/woord/janteloven http://www.woorden.org/woord/janteloven - Queesting does not exist, either. I never heard of that. - Lekker is tasty or nice depending on context. It has different meanings in different contexts, but that doesn't mean there is no translation. It doesn't mean all of the possible contextual translations at the same time. - Uitwaaien is getting some fresh air.
- chaosmachine 11y ago
  Some background on Janteloven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
  - anotherdutchy 11y ago
    So, as stated in the parent comment, not Dutch.
  - zeristor 11y ago
    Janteloven doesn't sound very positive to me in the first place.
- legulere 11y ago
  As a German I always find lekker funny, as in German lecker only means tasty. Even stronger is the effect with heftig (hefty, intense). In Dutch it seems to have a very positive meaning while in German there's more of a negative connotation.
bshimmin 11y ago
I suppose you could argue that "Schadenfreude" counts as a positive word, for at least one of the parties involved anyway.
JanneVee 11y ago
Speaking both Finnish and Swedish I think it is a little mislabeled. just two examples Finnish: 'Sisu' could be translated 'Grit' and in Swedish 'Trygghet' can be translated 'Security' or 'Safety' depending on context.
tetraodonpuffer 11y ago
speaking for the Italian side of things, 'sprezzatura' is a 16th century term, don't think I've ever heard it used by anybody before. Rather than 'sprezzatura' I would have put something like 'bella figura' which is instead in wide use and not present in English as far as I can think of, it could be taken as meaning to present oneself at one's best, sort of like showing off but without the negative connotations associated to it. This can be related to dress, or to doing something really well, to having really good etiquette, etc. etc.
dEnigma 11y ago
Weird, a lot of "words not in the English language" are described with ONE English word. Like "Asabiyyah = togetherness"; "Sumud = steadfastness". So it seems those words in fact ARE in the English language. edit: Also, at least a lot of the German words have really strange (or simply wrong) translations: Fingerspitzengefühl is NOT "the ability to think clearly about multiple phenomena". Wikipedia has a better definition[1]: "It describes a great situational awareness, and the ability to respond most appropriately and tactfully. It can also be applied to diplomats, bearers of bad news, or to describe a superior ability to respond to an escalated situation." A "Schnapsidee" is not "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk". In fact, most "Schnapsideen" are, while often imaginative, quite stupid, unrealistic or just weird. "Feierabend" is not the "festive mood at the end of a working day" but simply "the end of a working day". "Feierabend-Stimmung" or "Feierabendlaune" would be what describes the mood. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl
- guitarbill 11y ago
  Gah, just saw your edit :) You're correct, seems like this article is not well researched at all. Schnapsidee doesn't mean "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk", as you might expect it just means an obviously stupid idea, hatched with or without alcohol. Also, "© 2023 by Tim Lomas", wtf?
- DanBC 11y ago
  > A "Schnapsidee" is not "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk". In fact, most "Schnapsideen" are, while often imaginative, quite stupid, unrealistic or just weird. I'd love a website to collect examples of these. The Japanese Chindogu are perhaps similar, but for inventions not ideas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu http://www.chindogu.com/ http://www.chindogu.com/
  - dEnigma 11y ago
    Inventions would count as Schnapsideen too, so most Chindogus could probably be called a Schnapsidee ;) I'm sure there must be a website collecting Schnapsideen somewhere, one just has to find it.
nokicky 11y ago
'Tuko pamoja' translates literally to 'we are together'. Not only is it not a single word, but it's literally translatable to English. Tuko - we are, pamoja - together.
sakopov 11y ago
A couple of corrections. > Prostor (простор): desire for spaciousness and freedom. The direct translation is "open range." I wouldn't call it a desire. > Razljubít (разлюбить): the feeling a person has for someone they once loved. To fall out of love with someone or something. Here is a few I'd like to add: милосердие (miloserdie) - Showing mercy and compassion истина (istina) - the ultimate truth Великодушие (velikodushie) - unselfish compliance, indulgence? I'm not sure how to translate this one lol
bonoboTP 11y ago
Totally wrong about Hungarian. "Pihentagyú" (literally "relaxed-brained") is a negative word. It implies the person hasn't had to used his brain in a while (for normal day-to-day worries) and so he comes up with some crazy ideas. It could be some terrible pun, some stupid "life-hack" or prank. When someone looks like they were bored and tried to get creative but ends up looking silly or hurt himself. The typical funny "fail" videos where someone feels they have a new "clever" way of something, like tie a sledge behind a tram or similar. It's totally mistranslated.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Frondo 11y ago
The transliteration for قاموس is also wrong. He has 'tarab' but it should be something more like 'qaamus'.
petke 11y ago
Just looked up Finnish quickly. I never thought of it before but its very strange to me that a basic word like jaksaa is missing from English. It seems as basic a word as want or cant. In English you have to say something cumbersome "I don't have the energy to do that" in Finnish or Swedish you say that in 3 short words.
- bboreham 11y ago
  "Meh"
  - petke 11y ago
    It took me a while to get that. Yes thats a very useful word. Much information per character. If we could use it as a verb also it would be very useful. Ex: I meh calling her, could you do it?
diego_moita 11y ago
Cafuné is a Brazilian Portuguese word and is not very common in other Portuguese speaking countries. It originates from "kifumate" a word in Umbundu, a native language in Angola, that designates collective grooming, the activity of picking lice and parasites from someone's hair. The explanation for "desenrascanço" is wrong. It actually means the verb "desenrascar", similar to the English "dodging a bullet". Desenrascanço is a substantive and means the trick actually used to avoid the trouble. It is a word used mostly in Portugal, most people would probably not understand it in other portuguese-speaking countries.
T-R 11y ago
Looking at the Japanese and Korean, it seems there's some over-romanticization here.It's a little odd seeing the Japanese "nakama", the word Monkey D. Luffy constantly throws around to refer to his crew, described like it has some deep philosophy behind it. Similar goes for Korean "Sarang", which is probably the first word every Korean student learns, and the most common word said by any K-Pop star - if its usage isn't in any way distinct from the English word for "love", it shouldn't be described like some alien concept. On the other hand, Japanese "Ai" would actually be slightly distinct, since people use "Suki" for anything more casual.
miguelrochefort 11y ago
In French, "flâner" is a negative word. It directly translates to "loitering". I only ever see it being used on these signs: http://frenchpotatoes.r.f.f.unblog.fr/files/2008/07/dsc01060.jpg http://frenchpotatoes.r.f.f.unblog.fr/files/2008/07/dsc01060...
ajuc 11y ago
If you like such words there's whole subreddit with them: https://www.reddit.com/r/doesnottranslate https://www.reddit.com/r/doesnottranslate
nordify 11y ago
Myötähäpeä: vicarious embarrassment. This is one of my favorite words in Finnish. It is so apt and describing. I totally get it. I cannot, for example, watch a lot of reality tv because I feel so ashamed and embarrassed for the person on tv.
DotSauce 11y ago
Thank you, I registered Bitmoun.com. I like the ring of it and the Arabic meaning is great "building up good social Karma" I also found another translation may be "I owe you." It would also lend itself nicely to a Bitcoin related service. If anyone can confirm this Arabic translation I would be very grateful.
dang 11y ago
You've broken the HN guidelines by rewriting this title to make it more misleading and linkbaity, not to mention adding the arbitrary sort of number (216) that the guidelines ask you to take out. Please read them so your submissions can follow the rules in the future: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

27 points by zeristor 11y ago

The link is for the raw list; additions seemingly welcome. This link gives more of an explanation about it: http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/01/there-are-at-least-216-foreign-words.html http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/01/there-are-at-least-216-fore...

guitarbill 11y ago
Oh dear: "Publishing his initial findings in the The Journal of Positive Psychology, Lomas' hope is not only that we might learn more about the positive psychology of other cultures, but that hearing of these words might enrich our own emotional lives. [...] Lomas' method was to trawl websites devoted to "untranslatable words" (i.e. words that don't have a single corresponding word in English), then to do some googling and finally to consult colleagues and students. This way he ended up with a list of 216 untranslatable words for positive emotional states and concepts."
- dmoy 11y ago
  Wait you mean they didn't ask people who are actually native/fluent speakers of each language? Seems like that would be a pretty minimal bar for publishing...

jeremysmyth 11y ago

Mistitled. It's not words that aren't in English, but words categorized by language, many of which are (naturally) not English. There is, however, a category for English language, and other languages have words that have migrated to English, like "Tao" and "wanderlust".

Grue3 11y ago

I can't speak for other languages, but Toska is not a positive word. It means "boredom" or "homesickness". What's the criterion for inclusion anyway?

lucb1e 11y ago

This list is a bit... off. Speaking Dutch, I can say that: - Borrel could be translated as drinks. Usually there will be small snacks as well, but that often goes together with drinks as well. - Gezellig is not just cosiness. If that was it, there'd be an English word right? - Gunnen is the only one, besides gezellig, that seems to really not exist. Gezellig is rather famous for it because it's difficult to translate. Gunnen on the other hand can easily be described with other words: "ik gun het je" ("I 'gun' it [to] you") would be "I'd like for you to have it" (e.g. the last piece of cake). - I never heard of Janteloven or anything similar. Turns out it doesn't exist: http://www.woorden.org/woord/janteloven http://www.woorden.org/woord/janteloven - Queesting does not exist, either. I never heard of that. - Lekker is tasty or nice depending on context. It has different meanings in different contexts, but that doesn't mean there is no translation. It doesn't mean all of the possible contextual translations at the same time. - Uitwaaien is getting some fresh air.

chaosmachine 11y ago
Some background on Janteloven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
- anotherdutchy 11y ago
  So, as stated in the parent comment, not Dutch.
- zeristor 11y ago
  Janteloven doesn't sound very positive to me in the first place.
legulere 11y ago
As a German I always find lekker funny, as in German lecker only means tasty. Even stronger is the effect with heftig (hefty, intense). In Dutch it seems to have a very positive meaning while in German there's more of a negative connotation.

bshimmin 11y ago

I suppose you could argue that "Schadenfreude" counts as a positive word, for at least one of the parties involved anyway.

JanneVee 11y ago

Speaking both Finnish and Swedish I think it is a little mislabeled. just two examples Finnish: 'Sisu' could be translated 'Grit' and in Swedish 'Trygghet' can be translated 'Security' or 'Safety' depending on context.

tetraodonpuffer 11y ago

speaking for the Italian side of things, 'sprezzatura' is a 16th century term, don't think I've ever heard it used by anybody before. Rather than 'sprezzatura' I would have put something like 'bella figura' which is instead in wide use and not present in English as far as I can think of, it could be taken as meaning to present oneself at one's best, sort of like showing off but without the negative connotations associated to it. This can be related to dress, or to doing something really well, to having really good etiquette, etc. etc.

dEnigma 11y ago

Weird, a lot of "words not in the English language" are described with ONE English word. Like "Asabiyyah = togetherness"; "Sumud = steadfastness". So it seems those words in fact ARE in the English language. edit: Also, at least a lot of the German words have really strange (or simply wrong) translations: Fingerspitzengefühl is NOT "the ability to think clearly about multiple phenomena". Wikipedia has a better definition[1]: "It describes a great situational awareness, and the ability to respond most appropriately and tactfully. It can also be applied to diplomats, bearers of bad news, or to describe a superior ability to respond to an escalated situation." A "Schnapsidee" is not "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk". In fact, most "Schnapsideen" are, while often imaginative, quite stupid, unrealistic or just weird. "Feierabend" is not the "festive mood at the end of a working day" but simply "the end of a working day". "Feierabend-Stimmung" or "Feierabendlaune" would be what describes the mood. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl

guitarbill 11y ago
Gah, just saw your edit :) You're correct, seems like this article is not well researched at all. Schnapsidee doesn't mean "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk", as you might expect it just means an obviously stupid idea, hatched with or without alcohol. Also, "© 2023 by Tim Lomas", wtf?
DanBC 11y ago
> A "Schnapsidee" is not "an ingenious plan hatched while drunk". In fact, most "Schnapsideen" are, while often imaginative, quite stupid, unrealistic or just weird. I'd love a website to collect examples of these. The Japanese Chindogu are perhaps similar, but for inventions not ideas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu http://www.chindogu.com/ http://www.chindogu.com/
- dEnigma 11y ago
  Inventions would count as Schnapsideen too, so most Chindogus could probably be called a Schnapsidee ;) I'm sure there must be a website collecting Schnapsideen somewhere, one just has to find it.

nokicky 11y ago

'Tuko pamoja' translates literally to 'we are together'. Not only is it not a single word, but it's literally translatable to English. Tuko - we are, pamoja - together.

sakopov 11y ago

A couple of corrections. > Prostor (простор): desire for spaciousness and freedom. The direct translation is "open range." I wouldn't call it a desire. > Razljubít (разлюбить): the feeling a person has for someone they once loved. To fall out of love with someone or something. Here is a few I'd like to add: милосердие (miloserdie) - Showing mercy and compassion истина (istina) - the ultimate truth Великодушие (velikodushie) - unselfish compliance, indulgence? I'm not sure how to translate this one lol

bonoboTP 11y ago

Totally wrong about Hungarian. "Pihentagyú" (literally "relaxed-brained") is a negative word. It implies the person hasn't had to used his brain in a while (for normal day-to-day worries) and so he comes up with some crazy ideas. It could be some terrible pun, some stupid "life-hack" or prank. When someone looks like they were bored and tried to get creative but ends up looking silly or hurt himself. The typical funny "fail" videos where someone feels they have a new "clever" way of something, like tie a sledge behind a tram or similar. It's totally mistranslated.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

Frondo 11y ago

The transliteration for قاموس is also wrong. He has 'tarab' but it should be something more like 'qaamus'.

petke 11y ago

Just looked up Finnish quickly. I never thought of it before but its very strange to me that a basic word like jaksaa is missing from English. It seems as basic a word as want or cant. In English you have to say something cumbersome "I don't have the energy to do that" in Finnish or Swedish you say that in 3 short words.

bboreham 11y ago
"Meh"
- petke 11y ago
  It took me a while to get that. Yes thats a very useful word. Much information per character. If we could use it as a verb also it would be very useful. Ex: I meh calling her, could you do it?

diego_moita 11y ago

Cafuné is a Brazilian Portuguese word and is not very common in other Portuguese speaking countries. It originates from "kifumate" a word in Umbundu, a native language in Angola, that designates collective grooming, the activity of picking lice and parasites from someone's hair. The explanation for "desenrascanço" is wrong. It actually means the verb "desenrascar", similar to the English "dodging a bullet". Desenrascanço is a substantive and means the trick actually used to avoid the trouble. It is a word used mostly in Portugal, most people would probably not understand it in other portuguese-speaking countries.

T-R 11y ago

Looking at the Japanese and Korean, it seems there's some over-romanticization here.It's a little odd seeing the Japanese "nakama", the word Monkey D. Luffy constantly throws around to refer to his crew, described like it has some deep philosophy behind it. Similar goes for Korean "Sarang", which is probably the first word every Korean student learns, and the most common word said by any K-Pop star - if its usage isn't in any way distinct from the English word for "love", it shouldn't be described like some alien concept. On the other hand, Japanese "Ai" would actually be slightly distinct, since people use "Suki" for anything more casual.

miguelrochefort 11y ago

In French, "flâner" is a negative word. It directly translates to "loitering". I only ever see it being used on these signs: http://frenchpotatoes.r.f.f.unblog.fr/files/2008/07/dsc01060.jpg http://frenchpotatoes.r.f.f.unblog.fr/files/2008/07/dsc01060...

ajuc 11y ago

If you like such words there's whole subreddit with them: https://www.reddit.com/r/doesnottranslate https://www.reddit.com/r/doesnottranslate

nordify 11y ago

Myötähäpeä: vicarious embarrassment. This is one of my favorite words in Finnish. It is so apt and describing. I totally get it. I cannot, for example, watch a lot of reality tv because I feel so ashamed and embarrassed for the person on tv.

DotSauce 11y ago

Thank you, I registered Bitmoun.com. I like the ring of it and the Arabic meaning is great "building up good social Karma" I also found another translation may be "I owe you." It would also lend itself nicely to a Bitcoin related service. If anyone can confirm this Arabic translation I would be very grateful.

dang 11y ago

You've broken the HN guidelines by rewriting this title to make it more misleading and linkbaity, not to mention adding the arbitrary sort of number (216) that the guidelines ask you to take out. Please read them so your submissions can follow the rules in the future: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html