About Me

My photo
Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada
My virtue is that I say what I think, my vice that what I think doesn't amount to much.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Words That Don’t Exist in the English Language

Do you ever find yourself wishing there was a word for that? Of course you do! And there very likely is the perfect word, only not in English.
L'esprit de escalier: (French) The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said. Translated it means “the spirit of the staircase.” 

Pena ajena: (Mexican Spanish) The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation. 

Cualacino: (Italian) The mark left on a table by a cold glass.

Schadenfreude: (German) the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain.
Age-otori (Japanese) To look worse after a haircut. 
More at Crashingly Beautiful

No comments: