Best word of the night*:
While triple checking my spelling on that one, I found this lovely list of words as well.
Tingo: A Pascuense language word from Easter Island that means borrowing items from a pal's house, one by one, until there is nothing left.
Kummerspeck: a German word that literally means "grief bacon" but refers to the excess weight gained from emotion-related overeating.
Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who "seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front."
Ulykkesbilen: Danish for an "ill-fated car."
Putzfimmel: German word that means a mania for cleaning.
Nakkele: From Tulu, India, this describes a man who licks whatever the food has been served on.
Katahara itai: Japanese for laughing so hard that one side of your stomach hurts.
Drachenfutter: A German word that is "dragon fodder" when translated literally, but means the peace offerings made by guilty husbands to their wives.
Plimpplampplettere: Dutch for skimming stones.
Backpfeifengesicht: German for a face that cries out for a fist in it.
(From 10 Wise Words That Will Make You Laugh)
Plus - a bonus post for swissmiss:
Swiss-German Words of the Year (2005)
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*From the Germans, of course. Damn, you people have a way with words.
6 comments:
You should check out the book "the meaning of tingo" its a great source interesting words from all different languages and cultures.
Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.
(btw - the deleted comment is simply a duplicate post. I haven't gone all censor crazy...)
oh crud I forgot to watch the bee.
great words you found! I've always found German so beautifully expressive. BTW, the dictionary pronunciation note is slightly wrong -- the W should be pronounced like a V even tho the word has been adopted into English.
You'll be happy to know they pronounced it correctly in the bee. :)
I second the recommendation on the book.
You can find it at Schwartz in the reference section, if you absolutely have to rush out and get it. :) (Though you won't find it at Schwartz Downer at the moment, as I just bought their copy last week. Mwahh ha.)
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