When words aren’t enough
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The English language is incredibly hard to learn because it makes no sense.
There is no ham in a hamburger. You park in a driveway, but you drive on a parkway. We ship things by truck, but send cargo on ships. Buildings are only “burned-up” after they’ve “burned down.” We recite things during a play, but play things at a recital. Your alarm clock “goes off” by turning itself on. Quicksand moves slowly, boxing rings are square, and doctors and lawyers call what they do for a living, “practice.”
I am in the word business, so I deal with the paradox that is the English language on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great business to be in. Communication and communication skills are mankind’s single greatest invention. Think of what we’ve been able to accomplish in our short time on this planet, thanks to communication. Things like skyscrapers, bridges, trade, society, culture, religion, government, ships, trains, cars, electricity and the Internet would not have been possible without communication and language.
Now think of where we would be without the means to communicate emotion, give direction and instruction, and debate and dissect new ideas, points of view and moral and ethical values. If no communication were possible, if we couldn’t communicate through a spoken or written language, we wouldn’t be here.
Language is pretty sweet. Even if our language is harder to understand than Mike Tyson saying, “Sally sells seashells by the seashore.”
Ha.
Anyway, there are some occasions when words aren’t enough — when I can’t accurately describe the situation at hand without an annoying amount of descriptive adjectives, verbs, nouns, fillers and sentimentality. And sometimes, after all that, it’s still not enough because the word simply doesn’t exist ... in English, that is.
Last year, I stumbled upon (while on StumbleUpon, tee hee) an article on MentalFloss.com listing several words that have no English equivalent. I’ve transcribed five of my favorites below:
Bakku-shan (Japanese): The experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.
Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.
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L’esprit de l’escalier (French): Literally, “stairwell wit” —a too-late retort thought of only after departure.
Hygge (Danish): Denmark’s mantra, “hygge” is the pleasant, genial, and intimate feeling associated with sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends.
Bilita Mpash (Bantu): An amazing, pleasant dream. Not just a “good” dream; the opposite of a nightmare.
Pretty cool, right? So here’s the thing — there’s another word that I’ve not found an English equivalent for on Mental Floss or any other oddly titled Internet page.
I woke up this morning, looked outside, and absolutely everything was different. Everything was the same, but the entire landscape had changed. It had snowed. It was cold; most of the leaves had fallen, and a blindingly-white blanket of semi-frozen water covered everything I could see.
Winter had come.
The feeling I experienced in that moment is one that we English-speakers don’t have a word for, but we should really come up with one. It’s the same feeling I got while standing at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and staring out upon millions and millions of square miles of nothing but water. The same feeling I got when I watched a tornado take shape in the sky, silently descend, lay waste to an entire subdivision and then disappear as quickly as it had formed. The same feeling I get while staring into a massive fire, marveling at how it moves, breathes, destroys, creates and eats.
I don’t have a word for this feeling, but if I had to describe it, I’d say this:
It was like I’d just been given the ability to truly see and understand how small and inconsequential I am in the context of endless time, nature and the immeasurable universe. It was absolutely terrifying — and I loved it. Humans tend to be rather arrogant and prideful by nature. I can assure you, I felt very small and insignificant after watching Mother Nature destroy millions of dollars worth of homes with nothing but circulating air.
As Hemingway said, “Humility carries with it no loss of true pride.”
However, as profound and life-altering as these experiences are, no word exists to accurately describe them. Seems a shame, really. Something so profound should have its own word.
So, on the next clear night, walk outside and look up at the stars. While you’re gazing into the heavens, try to comprehend that what you are seeing is not a ceiling. As far as we know, it goes on forever. Endless. Reaching out in all directions for all time. Immeasurable.
Now make a noise with your mouth, write that noise down and call the dictionary people. I’m fairly certain that’s not the traditional method for creating new words, but hey, it’s a start.
