bits & bits & bits
folks, it's been a long time.
but i couldn't sleep, so i thought i'd check this thing out. looks about the same as when last i blogged it.
minha aula de português é dificil mas vai bem. estou aprendendo muito.
one day in class we discussed the word saudade, the notoriously untranslatable portuguese word for the feeling you have when you are separated from someone by a great distance of some sort, and you miss them, and you wish to be with them. longing is an approximation in english, i guess, but it looks that way only cuz describing it in english is not quite grasping the depth of meaning in portuguese. we concluded in my class that there is no real, exact equivalent in spanish. (the class designed for those with a background in spanish. in fact, i am one of the maybe 3 non-native or heritage spanish speakers in the class.)
people always say english sucks as a language because it is not very expressive. i disagree. i think english is incredibly rich. and i got to thinkin about english words that are untranslatable. and i did a google search (of course) and stumbled across this list as voted upon by the linguists a couple of years ago. notice anything about it?
1 plenipotentiary
2 gobbledegook
3 serendipity
4 poppycock
5 googly
6 Spam
7 whimsy
8 bumf
9 chuffed
10 kitsch
i noticed that it kinda sucks. cuz most of these are not words in common usage. and kitsch isn't even english. and i don't know what a bumf is. however, i thought whimsy and serendipty were absolutely brilliant additions.
well, my point, i suppose, is well suited for describing the world that english speaking people live in, and it has some brilliant and beautiful words. what other english words would be hard to translate? maybe i'll try and keep a running tally.
speaking of brilliant and beautiful, i saw a girl on the street yesterday wearing some skinny jeans and these:
the mork & mindy dunks. oh my, they are lovely, lovely sneakers.
but i couldn't sleep, so i thought i'd check this thing out. looks about the same as when last i blogged it.
minha aula de português é dificil mas vai bem. estou aprendendo muito.
one day in class we discussed the word saudade, the notoriously untranslatable portuguese word for the feeling you have when you are separated from someone by a great distance of some sort, and you miss them, and you wish to be with them. longing is an approximation in english, i guess, but it looks that way only cuz describing it in english is not quite grasping the depth of meaning in portuguese. we concluded in my class that there is no real, exact equivalent in spanish. (the class designed for those with a background in spanish. in fact, i am one of the maybe 3 non-native or heritage spanish speakers in the class.)
people always say english sucks as a language because it is not very expressive. i disagree. i think english is incredibly rich. and i got to thinkin about english words that are untranslatable. and i did a google search (of course) and stumbled across this list as voted upon by the linguists a couple of years ago. notice anything about it?
1 plenipotentiary
2 gobbledegook
3 serendipity
4 poppycock
5 googly
6 Spam
7 whimsy
8 bumf
9 chuffed
10 kitsch
i noticed that it kinda sucks. cuz most of these are not words in common usage. and kitsch isn't even english. and i don't know what a bumf is. however, i thought whimsy and serendipty were absolutely brilliant additions.
well, my point, i suppose, is well suited for describing the world that english speaking people live in, and it has some brilliant and beautiful words. what other english words would be hard to translate? maybe i'll try and keep a running tally.
speaking of brilliant and beautiful, i saw a girl on the street yesterday wearing some skinny jeans and these:
the mork & mindy dunks. oh my, they are lovely, lovely sneakers.
Post a Comment