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weird vocabulary
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 4:42 am
by whatis
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/book ... 315207.ece
so what's the most unique word in your vocab/native tongue that has no equivalent in any other language? i could think of a chinese few, but i'm sure Alex could beat me in this [crazy]
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 1:32 pm
by barrett
Some days around these parts theres a constant very light drizzle of rain .On such days folk greet each other with"sure,tis a fine soft day".
Also if you put off a job til another day ,its "put on the long finger".
Also, only in Cork, is a term "langer" for someone whos up to no good but in a fun kind of (only in Ireland )oddly acceptable way. Or at least thats the closest i can get the meaning .I am open to correction. 
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:59 pm
by wirbel
i like the word 'taffer' which is 'native' to the thief games and used to describe the scum of the city or just to call somebody by name. there's been loads of discussion about references to real words, but i think it's just a made up word, but i love it!
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:55 pm
by puce
In this moment I can only think of dietrologia (behindology) and I found out a page that describes the meaning better than I could do
http://what.really.happened.at.german.pages.de/
Dietrologia is the Italian word for the science of what is behind. Italians never believe things at face value. There is always something hidden behind it which provides the real explanation. The science of finding these hidden explanations is dietrologia (from dietro= behind )", an expression coined in the 1980s. "Usually this concerns the background of sinister events: bribery; corruption; the misuse of power for private benefit; crooked politicians." (
http://www.bk.tudelft.nl/media/breen/.. ... SHORT.htm0
"Living in Italy, one quickly realises that suspicion and paranoia are the standard emotional twinges of "imaginative Italians": suspicion about amorous betrayal, paranoia that the goodies in government might actually be the baddies, suspicion about whether organised crime is quite as organised in reality as it appears in books and films. Rampant suspicion is the reason Italians love the dinner-party game of dietrologia ( X-Files-style conspiracy-theorising), in which participants try to out-trump each other with paranoid ideas about the country's terrorism, its fascism and the links between the two. The reason for that Italianate suspicion is that there is so much food for thought. The country seems to have an unlimited supply of real-life thrillers, called gialli or "yellows" because thrillers are published with yellow bindings." (
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/cri ... 84,00.html)
"One such element involves the Italian concept of dietrologia, which translated literally into English means "behindology." Dietrologia is a belief that for every public action, some sort of conspiracy exists behind it. The Italian public believes it never knows the whole story, but is nevertheless obsessed with speculating about what the whole story could be." (
http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~nak421/thesis.html)
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:51 pm
by daniel
Oh there are a lot of them
Fika
Sv?rmod
Vemod
Lagom
...and others. But I don't have the energy to write what they're about right now. Maybe later.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:06 pm
by puce
daniel wrote:Oh there are a lot of them
Fika
I know this, meeting friends in a bar and eating and chatting together, isn't it?
The pronnciation of this word in Italian has a very vulgar meaning.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:10 pm
by sound world
daniel wrote:Oh there are a lot of them
Vemod
That Stina interview I sent you has that word in the headline,doesn't it Daniel?
So I'm intrigued....!
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:25 am
by kuhn
Bygdedyr
Puddersn?
....
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:32 am
by kuhn
sound world wrote:daniel wrote:Oh there are a lot of them
Vemod
That Stina interview I sent you has that word in the headline,doesn't it Daniel?
So I'm intrigued....!
That word and the meaning is not Swedish-only. The same word is used in Norwegian.
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.o ... choly.html
Swedish - (languor, sadness)
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:16 am
by ruth1998
hm...is "ghetto" native to N. America? I have no idea where it came from, just appeared. But It's evolved in meaning since it started being used daily here.
I'm sure you all know what it meansa: cheap, poor, unkempt, making due with what little you have, or just tacky. It's a great word. Could be used to describe alot of my possesions;)
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:25 am
by alx5962
Something wrong at first :
SEIGNEUR-TERRASSE French
Someone who spends time, but not money, at a caf?.
This is NEVER used here, we have another word for it.
27 words for "moustache" in an Albanian dictionary ?
Maybe it means moustache have a strong meaning int the albanian culture.
And the answer is maybe this one : we don't need those words in our culture that's why we have no translation for them....
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:51 am
by puce
I never heard the Italian smonta and squadretta, they must be criminal slang. Squadretta for the common Italian means little team.
I guess an intranslatable French word is flaneur (sorry, I can't type the accent on the a).
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:05 pm
by barrett
alx5962 wrote:Something wrong at first :
SEIGNEUR-TERRASSE French
Someone who spends time, but not money, at a caf?.
This is NEVER used here, we have another word for it.
The Irish publicans have a word for people who sit in a pub with one drink for hours.....TOURISTS...
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:14 pm
by picsou
One for the francophones:
maringoin...
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:51 pm
by puce
picsou wrote:One for the francophones:
maringoin...
What is it?
Another Italian one: gambizzare, to shot someone in the legs, this is a neologism from the 70s when in Italy there were terrorists who used to shot people in the legs for intimidation.