July 24, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, in a Zen mood: Wabi-sabi— It is a compound word with a long history, and carries a lot of meaning. […]
July 17, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, for lovers of the arts: Duende— This Spanish word has a long and interesting history. Its original use was to […]
July 10, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson – finally, a word for the thing that happens to me all the time! : Tartle— A Scottish verb meaning […]
July 3, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, on how not to behave: Tingo— From the Pascuense language of Easter Island, it is the act of taking objects […]
June 26, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, useful worldwide: Prozvonit— In both the Czech and Slovak languages, this word means to call a mobile phone only to […]
June 19, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, something of a personality test: Ilunga (Bantu, Thsiluba, ee-LUN-ga, noun)—a person ready to forgive any abuse the first time, to […]
June 12, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, wishing you a happy Friday: Feierabend (German, fire-AH-bend, noun) — Festive frame of mind at the end of the working […]
June 5, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, perfect for pondering over late-morning coffee: Maya (Sanskrit, MAH-yah, noun)—the mistaken belief that a symbol is the same as the […]
May 22, 2009
We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, which you might need if you’re cleaning (or shopping) this weekend: Holopis Kuntul Baris (Indonesian, hoh-LOPE-iss COON-tool BAH-riss, noun) — […]
May 15, 2009
We’d like to introduce a new series that will run every Friday, entitled There’s a Name For It. We love language, and this series features words from various languages around the world that capture universal, but complicated, human emotions or situations. It’s fun and (gasp!) educational, too! We welcome your contributions! Today’s lesson, perfect for […]