to some, this might be a boring post. w

i ran across this list of words that are untranslatable into English. learn them well. they're sure to come in handy sometime.

Esprit d’Escalier 

meaning literally "the spirit of the staircase." it is that witty comeback that you think of moments after leaving the situation in which you might have been able to use it.

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Bakku-shan 

the word for a girl who looks pretty from behind, but is actually ugly in front.

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Biritululo

what do you normally do when you have a dispute? do you talk things over? go to court? well, in New Guinea, to settle disputes, the people rely on biritululo. it is the act of comparing yams to settle a dispute.

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Jayus

conveys the awkward humor behind a joke delivered so badly that you can’t help but laugh. in English, we sarcastically say, “that’s so funny i forgot to laugh.” 

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Tartle

a Scottish (no, really?) word for the hesitation one feels when introducing people but having forgotten someone’s name.

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 Prozvonit

refers to a mobile phone user who calls, lets the phone ring once then hangs up. the person who was called then dials the caller, saving the caller the cost of the call. 

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Saudade 

longing for someone or something that someone has loved and lost. it is stronger than the sense of the English nostalgia. 

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Cafune

running your fingers through someone’s hair tenderly.

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...and the story behind my personal favorite...

Duende

in the dictionary, the word is listed as “elf” or “magic.” however, in actual practice, when the word shows up in text, it is rarely in the context of a woodland spirit, although that is where the word’s etymology begins.

in 1933 Spanish poet and theater director Federico Garcia Lorca gave a lecture in Buenos Aires titled “Play and Theory of the Duende” in which he addressed the fiery spirit behind what makes great performance stir the emotions: 

“The duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, ”The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.’ Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation … everything that has black sounds in it, has duende.” 

so, could this quality be translated via the use of a calque as “black sounds?” that doesn’t quite work, although Lorca does use that term in describing the qualities of duende. a meaning for the untranslatable usually ends up being borrowed from the original language and becoming a loan word.

the word “duende” often represents an emotion or response to a selected piece of art. perhaps this is exactly what makes it so difficult to translate; can you ever really translate a feeling? how would you translate this beautiful, if difficult concept into English?