How about unheimlich? I know this is usually translated as ‘uncanny’, but I believe that word doesn’t convey the creepiness that is inherent in the ‘unheimlich’.
Don’t know the word at all, but the paragraph makes me think more of “being lost in the moment, or being lost in the beauty of something” more than wander-lust, which to me means something about getting somewhere. I don’t get a sense of that from the paragraph.
swannguy: Enne? 
Noone Special, I’m sorry for spelling Yiddish wrong. Thank you for explaining Mokum to me.
Hehehe, Amsterdammers are great people? I’m afraid the rest of the Dutch think Amsterdammers have “Kapsones”! 
gallows fodder: Isn’t there a doper named ‘litost’?
Shirley Ujest, Thanks for that link. I got to buy that book. From the review: Italian: “attaccabottoni” (“a doleful bore who buttonholes people and tells sad, pointless tales.”)
German: “Korinthenkacker” (literally “raisin crapper”) for a boss that obsesses on insignificant details. 
Originally posted by stately plump buck mulligan
That is indeed, hilarious.
Mycroft Holmes Okay. I like the word. *:: whispering: “saudades, saudades” *
I did find
I get lucky sometimes.
I have a habit of looking at the lowest reviews of every book, and I found this one interesting:
Is there a Russian speaker in the house?!
Annoying self hijack: I googled the word nominated to justify the disnomination of schadenfreude and thought to myself, “Dammit! I’m gonna subscribe to the OED online! That’ll be so handy!” Not for $260-ish a year it won’t! WTF?!
I did find the word here, by the way, but the online OED would save time and be a reliable source.
You didn’t get Yiddish wrong! For you, spelling it “Jiddish” makes perfect sense. For an English-speaking person like me - less And, after all, the language itself uses the Hebrew alphbet, so there is no “offical” spelling of its name in Latin characters!
Which means you can spell Chutzpeh as Guzpe, too! (did I get the dutch “spelling” right?)
P.S. and hijack - since this is a serious language thread: regarding Yiddish/Jiddish - all those initial “J”'s in all things Jewish (such as “Jew”, “Joseph”, “Judea”,… even “Jesus”) should all have in initial (English) “Y” sound. They got transliterated from the Hebrew letter yod into the latin “J” (which is sounded like a Germanic “J” - and like a Romance “Y”. Interesting when the switchover occured in Romance languages?). Then Enlish and French picked up these words and retained the letter “J” rather than the “Y” sound.
Dani
There’s a fabulous Spanish structure that’s used for disclaiming responsibility for something you did, as if you did it just by accident, so much so that it practically happened to you… or at least, that’s what you want to claim.
So instead of “olvidé mis llaves” (I forgot my keys) you say “se me olvidaron las llaves” (My keys forgot themselves to me).
Ah, I was going to mention davka. But it’s reminded me of another untranslatable Hebrew word: stam. Which means nothing, or never mind, or forget it. Sort of. I long to use it in English.
Also, ballegan, which means chaotic mess, or close enough. When I was in Israel I mostly associated with Americans, but it took approximately eight seconds for the lot of us to add it to our vocabularies, even when speaking English. Traffic is a ballegan. The garbage strike in Tel Aviv was a ballegan. When my geography professor gave out grades apparently at random, he caused a ballegan.
The most untranslatable word in Hebrew isn’t all that interesting. It’s very difficult to describe how to use the word et. It’s so simple that I actually once had an argument with an American-Israeli over whether an English equivalent exists - she just couldn’t believe that there wasn’t one. Basically, it makes a definite noun more definite. “I like dogs” becomes “I like et the dog.”
It also means “Just Kidding”. Good catch, there!
Ballagan is not a word, it’s a state of mind! (or, if you wish, a state of confusion… Or, in our case, the State of Mind/Confusion of the State… :smack: )
(and yes, another very good catch there)
It has been argued that et is, essentially, superflous (and thus, not necessary to translate :)). It is completely grammatical to say “I like the dog” without “et” (“Ani ohev ha-kelev”). It’s weird to a speaker of Modern Hebrew, but it’s grammatical. Basicly it’s really just a filler, giving the sentence no additional meaning.
Dani
Lut is the Arabic for the Biblical Lot.
Lutii: pederast; sodomite; homosexual.
liwaat, luwaat and liwaata: sodomy; pederasty; homosexuality
Clearly the conection with the sins of Sodom is made.
This is nonsense. You could ask your teacher where he got that.
First of all one can make in principle every word feminin by adding the feminine ending. But for female homosexuality there is a specific terminology.
musaahaqa and sihaaq : tribady, lesbianism
sihaaqii : lesbian (general meaning)
musaahiqa: lesbian (someone who is lesbian)
Salaam. A
If anyone’s interested, an earlier similar thread.
“Nooner” is sex at lunchtime. Usually a quicky.
“Going Postal”–A few years ago, there were several incidences of postal or ex-postal workers shooting up post offices and killing postal employees(including two in New Jersey, a very small state). The expression “going postal” meaning “going violently crazy and causing real damage” snuck into the language.
And…according to Hollywood, “Yes,” “No,” “Sir,” “Ma’am,” “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” and “Thank you” can’t be translated from English. Well, they can be, but hardly any non-English speakers can ever master their use, and they mostly have to rely on their own language’s equivilant words.
Ranchoth
.(P.S.: I proof-read the paragraph above twice, but I’m running on about 2 hours sleep and an energy bar right now. So I can’t promise that it’s actually coherant.)
That last one reminds me of the Dutch word “miereneuker”. It literally translates as “ant-fucker” and can be fairly accurately translated as “nitpicker”. As it can be translated it should really be in this thread but I think it is such a charming expression I’m including it anyway.
P.s.Gum and other Dutch speakers. Please don’t come back now and say it’s mierenneuker.
Oh, and “having a gas”. Not sure what you mean by that and not sure I want to be asking…It sounds suggestive. But in case the question was somewhat serious. No, you can’t be having a gas. You have a gas time.
Sorry about that. :smack:
In French, to nitpick is enculer des mouches – “to sodomize flies.”
Thanks, Annie-Xmas. I think we could translate a nooner as a “lunch-wip”.
PookahMacPhellimey, Now why would I say it’s miereNneuker? To fuck one ant at the time, will be plenty.
hehehehe, matt_mcl sodomize, no less.
Ranchoth, I don’t think I ‘got’ that one. Have another energy bar on me. Could you explain?
I am not Ranchoth, but I think I ‘get’ it.
In American movies, if you have a character that is supposed to be from another country, that character will be able to speak flawless, although heavily accented English. The only words that character will not speak in English are
(sets the scene…Evil French Art Thief has his plot foiled by American Detective…extremely bad dialogue to follow)
American Detective: You are under arrest. You were plotting to steal “Priceless Painting” from your own museum.
Evil French Art Thief: Oui! I was going to, how you say…counterfeeeet zee painting and sell zee oreegeenal to an underground collector of art for meeleeons! (pulls gun) I am sorry, Monsieur, but now I must keel you.
Not very much difference from the English active voice (I forgot my keys) and passive voice (the keys were forgotten). The English version of MS Word doesn’t like the passive voice (as do style guides, in all fairness) as being wimpy. But it is occasionally useful.
This word was used in the US national spelling bee a short time ago. The given definition was an art gallery opening.
This thread is fascinating.
hehehehe, Thank you Stillsmiling That was beautiful and I ‘get’ it now.
lavenderlemon We kinda use the vernissage the same: When a painter shows his new work for the first time in the gallery. I always thought it had to do with the ‘vernis’ [varnish] just being dry.