# Does any language have a word for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525 "2006-04-27T22:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/1 "2006-04-27T22:34:43Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369078) which contains a link to [this site](http://lib.ru/ADAMS/liff.txt). Is there a real word for “droitwich” in any language? I’m looking at you, German. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/2 "2006-04-27T22:53:16Z")
Hmm, I’m thinking that a better way to phrase that may have been: Is there a word in any language that means the same thing as “droitwich”? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/3 "2006-04-27T23:04:01Z")
I don’t know about a single English word for _droitwich_ but the phrase I’ve always used is _The Concrete Quadrille_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/4 "2006-04-27T23:06:43Z")
German: Gehendertanzdesverlegenheitflures. (I made that up.) ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/5 "2006-04-28T01:21:54Z")
Well, according to [Cecil himself](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_241.html), it’s an “awkstep”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/6 "2006-04-28T01:25:35Z")
The Pavement Pavane? The Sidewalk Shuffle? The Walkway Waltz? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/7 "2006-04-28T01:28:21Z")
The Corridor Cakewalk? The Hallway Hotstep? ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/8 "2006-04-28T03:39:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > German: Gehendertanzdesverlegenheitflures. > > (I made that up.) Nah. It’s not long enough for a German word. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/9 "2006-04-28T19:00:58Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Well, according to [Cecil himself](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_241.html), it’s an “awkstep”. Thanks for this. I think I’m going to go with “avoidancing”. I was really hoping there’d be something in German or Norwegian or Icelandic though. Those guys have a word for everything. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/10 "2006-04-29T02:46:31Z")
Wow. Following **tanstaafl** ’s link I see I picked up the term Concrete Quadrille from The Master himself while I still was in college. I could never have guessed where I picked it up and thus a small bit of personal ignorance is vanquished. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-language-have-a-word-for-this/354525/11 "2006-04-29T13:56:02Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Well, according to [Cecil himself](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_241.html), it’s an “awkstep”. Thank you very much for that link! The first word that popped into my head was “shuggleftulation” and I was wondering where the hell that came from!