What are your favorite words or phrases, in any language?
Daughter taught me Kummerspeck recently–literally grief bacon. It’s the German compound noun for the weight one gains from emotional eating.
How awesome is that?
I posted the word on Facebook the other day, and a loving friend of German descent commented, “I hope you are reveling in the bizarre household-nature of German compound words, and not suffering from Kummerspeck.” I replied that I have indeed experienced Kummerspeck before (possibly also now, not sure), and that “I *love* German precisely because by having words for such mundane and yet significant experiences, the language, and thus the culture, validate them and make us feel not alone for having them.”
In med school we learned Mittelschmerz–middle pain–the pain women feel from ovulation, which happens 14 days prior to menstruation (the middle of a typical 28 day cycle). Now I also love Drachenfutter–dragon fodder–‘apology gift (given to a spouse)’. And everybody knows Schadenfreude–joy in others’ misery; but I like Freudenfreude–joy in others’ joy.
In Chinese I particularly love shang nao jin, 傷腦筋, which literally means to wound (shang) the mind (nao jin–‘brain nerve’). It’s used to express when one is exhaustingly vexed by a problem. Similarly, when we say someone is dong nao jin, 動腦筋, moving the mind, we mean they are actively, even agilely, thinking. I also love shuai, 帥, which is usually translated simply as handsome. But the connotation encompasses more than just physical appearance. There is something attractive, masculine, strong, graceful, respectable, and maybe even alpha, all included in the one word, one syllable expression. Chinese language is extremely efficient.
Here are some British expressions I love, which really make me want to live there for a while someday:
Barmy, barking mad, and off your head — crazy
Fiddly — fussy, requiring an annoying amount of close attention
Faff — to make a fuss over nothing
Cheeky — amusingly irreverent (I also love irreverent itself–the word and the way of being)
Dodgy — dishonest, unreliable, potentially dangerous, low quality, or just ‘off’ in some way
Loo — the best word in the whole world for bathroom
Isn’t this fun?? Won’t it be fantastic if everybody writes about their favorite phrases in the comments below? C’mon, it’ll only take a minute!! 😀
Healing Through Connection 
I’ve always thought the Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’ is such a great saying.
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Interesting, Mick, thank you for commenting! I’ve never heard that in Chinese before, so I looked it up. Here’s what I found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times
Thanks again for reading along this week! 😄
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That’s interesting to read. At some stage I may look it up, but I wonder whether it might have come from the writings of Ernst Bramah
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Oops, didn’t mean to press ‘send’…he was an English author who wrote the ‘Kai Lung’ series of short stories, about a fictitious story teller of that same name, set in China. Kai Lung was forever telling tales that often had a moral point, often with pithy phrases. I no longer have any of the books, but must get hold of some and read them again!
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Ooo, thank you, Mick! That does sound cool! Language is such a live, dynamic thing… 😉
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Definitely!
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I love this post! It makes me smile and think – such an awesome combination. I realize how few words and phrases I know from other languages. This just may be a new challenge I embark on. Thank you!
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Thank you, my friend! I bet you come across at least one before we see each other again! 😄
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Such an entertaining read, Catherine. I’ve always been amused by some of the German words (and particularly long ones) and found it fun to pick up the Chinese saying “shang nao jin.” Oh boy does that one hit home.
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Hi Mark! Nice to see you here! Hope your shang nao jin moments are few and far between. Happy Fall! 😀
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What a fun post, Cathy. A phrase I have used for 30+ years is “Criminy Dutch!” which means—at least how I use it—What the holy hell?
And I’ve always liked the sound of many Yiddish phrases, like:
Kvetch – which means complain or whine
Schlep – carrying or dragging something heavy (and often unnecessary)
Mentch – a good, reliable person
Shmooze – compelling conversation or small talk
Chutzpah – audacity, boldness
Meshuggeneh – absurd, crazy
Mishegas – a whole lotta messy foolishness
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Ooo, thank you, Donna, these are fantastic! They remind me of many of my teachers in med school, and Rachel Naomi Remen… All heartwarming and loving memories. Have a great weekend!
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I can only think of the British words “Blimey” used to express surprise and “daft” which translates into absurd.
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Oh yeah, those are good, too! Daughter reminded me of ‘chuffed’–delighted, pleased. We learned that from the Great British Baking Show. 😉
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A favorite word just for its onomatopoeic value: goiter.
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Teeheehee 😏
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Our daughter married an Irishman and we now have 3 Irish grandchildren (they live in Killiney, south of Dublin). A favorite expression our daughter and son-in-law use with the kids is (not sure if it is Irish or British) is “how about a cuddle?” meaning ‘a warm embrace to make you feel safe and secure’. I think we could all do with a ‘cuddle’ every now and then.
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Hi John! Thanks for reading and commenting! that is such a sweet saying, we should all use it on one another more often! 😀 Hope you are well, sir, and that our paths cross again soon!
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Hi again, John! Okay so now that my post on romance novels has dropped, I can mention a Scotish phrase that comes up often in the ‘In a Kilt’ series: “Have a poke”, which means to have sex. 😀 Perhaps not to be used around the children… 😉
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😂
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Thanks, Catherine. A delightful and informative read. My husband loved words and their etiology and taught me to do the same. I adore grief bacon, having eaten a fare amount of it in my time.
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Thank you, sir! I wonder if all of us who write share this love of words? Are we etymolophiles? Oh I just looked it up—lexiphiles or logophiles. 😉 But I like etymolophiles. Maybe that another thing we also do—invent words.
We are such a great contribution! 😄
Thank you for stopping by and sharing. 🙏🏼😊
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