In 1989, ‘hobbit’, a creature from from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. It comes as no surprise that Tolkien, who is considered the godfather of fantasy writing thanks to his genre defining Lord of the Rings, had a word from his fictional universe recorded in the Oxford English dictionary. However, he was not the first author to do so. In the 20th century alone, the work of Roald Dahl and Lewis Carrol was similarly honoured.
What separated these writers and their words from others was their ability to shape the culture. Their worlds– the rules, customs and languages within– were and are debated, discussed and reproduced over and over, often in the form of role-play, which blurs the line between reality and fiction. According to associate editor for Oxford Dictionaries, Charlotte Buxton, words from fictional worlds have to cross over in everyday use in the real world to be included in the large black (but also now available online) dictionary. Here are four words other than ‘hobbit’ that have successfully journeyed from fiction to non-fiction.
Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky was originally the title of a poem in Lewis Carrol’s Through the Looking Glass. In it, the jabberwock is a creature with sharp claws and eyes of flame. The poem itself is absurd, full of made up words intended to confuse. In recognition of Carrol’s nonsensical poem, jabberwocky is defined by the OED as “invented or meaningless language; nonsense”. Essentially, jabberwocky is a more sophisticated way of saying ‘gibberish’, and more self-aware of its ridiculous nature than ‘jargon’.
Oompa loompa
Oompa Loompas first appeared as workers in Roald Dahl’s classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While in the book they are described as black– an unfortunate byproduct of the rampant anti-black times– in most cinematic adaptations, they are portrayed as short, orange men. Therefore, they are ‘officially’ described in the dictionary as “a person whose skin has an orange appearance, typically because they are very suntanned.” Remind you of a certain person up for re-election in 2020?
Muggle
Harry Potter was a story that gripped the imagination of millions of children around the world in the late 90s and early 2000s. Perhaps that is why the only new words from fictional worlds included in the Oxford Dictionary in the 21st century were taken from the Potter books. In the books, a Muggle is used to refer to a non-magical person, weaponized later on in the series once Voldemort begins actively hunting muggles. However, in our world, Potterheads used Muggle as a derogatory term for someone with less than average abilities, defined in the dictionary as “a person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill.”
Quidditch
This magical sport has perhaps seen the most successful cross-over into real life, effectively blurring the line between role-play and reality. In the books, quidditch is played on broomsticks, up in the air. The aim of the game is to have as many points, mostly by capturing the golden snitch, worth 150 points. Muggle quidditch works almost the same way, except the players can’t fly, and the role of the snitch is played by a person completely dressed in yellow. Universities in the U.S. and U.K. now have official quidditch teams and championship.
In 2018, rapper Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN. At 31, Lamar became the first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer in a category normally overrun by classical composers. His win came fifty years after the explosion of hip-hop in the streets of Bronx, making it, more than anything, an indication of the dominant space hip-hop has earned in cultural and artistic spaces today.
Contrary to popular belief, hip-hop is not solely a genre of music. Since its inception, it has been a mode of expression that has shaped the fashion, art, dance, language, and music of the streets, steadily seeping into the mainstream. Today, hip-hop largely influences what is and isn’t cool. Whether it is Kanye West’s Yeezy’s, or Drake’s Kiki Challenge, the ‘youth’ as they say, drink all of the Kool-Aid poured by hip-hop artists. Much of the slang used for the past three decades also originates from specific moments in hip-hop. Here are five slang words that hip-hop has given to the world, and are in use today. Because you should know your history kids.
Extra
You may assume that extra means adding onto something. But as a slang word extra refers to over-the-top, dramatic behaviour, that is often inappropriate. For example, when your cousin who just got a modelling contract shows up to your birthday party in a bodycon dress, she is being extra, and should be kept in a corner until she leaves the party out of boredom or shame.
Beef
The world enjoys a good beef burger or medium rare steak. Except if you live in India, where your meat preferences can get you lynched, which is actually more relevant to the slang. As a slang word, beef refers to a grudge or a conflict between two people, particularly in rap. Beefing rappers write diss tracks singling each other out, but Gangsta rappers of the 90s considered diss tracks a ‘soft’ version of beefing. The Notorious B.I.G. even wrote a rap called What’s the Beef? calling out artists who beef on rap tracks, rather than with sticks and stones.
Wavy
You may think that wavy refers to slightly curly hair. But as a slang word, wavy refers to something positive, cool, or impressive. The use of this word as slang was popularized by rapper Max B. through songs like Coke Wave and Wave Gods. The ability to do a handstand, or speak several languages is wavy.
Lit
A candle you ignited a few hours ago was lit. A hallway that is illuminated by a lightbulb could be considered well-lit. However, in the context of slang, lit takes on a slightly different meaning. Initially popularized by jazz musicians in the late 50s or 60s, lit used to refer to someone who is buzzed enough to perform in a relaxed way, but not drunk enough to ruin to the performance.
Today, a person or event that is buzzing with activity, excitement, or is fun, is lit. So the next time your old classmate refers to an empty bar as lit in their instagram stories, tell them that it is, in fact, not lit.
Finesse
Finesse is probably a word you envision in the context of a game of cards, or a diplomatic summit. However, the slang appropriation, popularized by hip-hop artists from Chicago, is used when a person uses great cunning to get something they want from another person. When Bruno Mars says he’s dripping in finesse, he isn’t actually referring to the gold and fancy clothes he’s wearing, but his ability to persuade other people to give him their things. So, the next time somebody slyly grabs a fry off your plate, ask them how they think they can finesse you like that?
If you liked this, check out our other word nerd blogs:
When stepping out of your comfort zone to study abroad, learning a new language is often one of the major reasons. At least it was for me when I traveled westward from Germany as a foreign exchange student to spend a year at an American high-school. For me, learning a language in a classroom, online, or in self-study often gets tedious unless you get to test it out on native speakers or even better, on the ground.
You probably agree that the first phrases and greetings are usually quickly learned; especially when the new language one is learning is related to one’s own. Did you know that there are over 6,000 different languages spoken in the world which actually derive from only three root languages: the Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan and Afro-Asiatic languages?
Learning English as a native German speaker, I quickly figured out that both are West Germanic languages from the Indo-European language family. Hence, it came as no surprise that both languages share many cognates – words that have the same root and therefore look and sound similar even though they belong to different languages. True cognates have the same, or similar, definitions in both languages, e.g. the German word “Haus” is a cognate to the English word “house.”
Unfortunately, I also learned quickly that relying on these similarities isn’t foolproof. For the many cognates I found, I also learned that there are false cognates – words that look similar but have different meanings, e.g. the German word “bald” meaning “soon” which to the English speaker translates to “hairless.” (So when I say “Bis bald” I am hoping to see you soon…not commenting on your hairstyle!)
In the beginning, I might have been overwhelmed by the newness of it all, struggling to make sense of not only a new language, but also the new cultural context, and never-ending new experiences that came my way as I traveled the world. I realized that language is much more than the words in a dictionary or a rule-book; it is shaped by people and by their experiences over time. Learning English as a German speaker opened my mind up to not only a new language but also the history that shaped its use today – in my case, it was the stories of the many Germans before me who had arrived in America through waves of migrations over the last 400 years and left their mark on the English language. With Germans settling in America, German words – known as loanwords (leihwörter,) started getting integrated into the English language.
Below are 10 of my favourite leihwörter, first translated literally, and then as per the Oxford English Dictionary, followed by a sentence that you and I would use on ground. Besides earning a bunch of brownie points with my English teacher, discovering these loanwords helped me ease my journey into mastering and enjoying the (American) English language.
1. Angst – German: fear, panic, anxiety; English: a strong feeling of anxiety about life in general. Angst is what you feel when you decide to uproot yourself and study abroad.
2. Wanderlust – German: the longing to wander / travel / roam around, near and far; English: a strong desire to travel
Wanderlust is a gene commonly found in those who yearn to study, live or travel abroad.
3. Weltanschauung – German: the way we view the world; English: a particular philosophy or view of life; the world view of an individual or group.
An international student graduates not only with a degree but also weltanschauung – that unique ability to see the world from different angles.
4. Heimweh – German: the pain for home; English: the distress one feels when being homesick (not to be confused with the happy feeling of nostalgia)
Those moments in The Lord of the Rings, when Sam is overcome by heimweh, are the ones that moved me the most.
5. Dopperlgänger – German: double walker; English: an apparition or double of a living person – a ‘doppelganger’ is someone who looks spookily like you, but isn’t a twin. Also referred to as a type of a ghost or a shadow of oneself!
We all are said to have a doppelgänger but are often surprised when we find him/her halfway across the globe!
6. Hinterland – German: the land ‘behind’; English: An area lying beyond what is visible or known; The remote areas of a country away from the coast or the banks of major rivers.
I am always drawn to the big cities, but not so much the hinterland.
7. Kaputt – German: not working, broken; English: Broken and useless; no longer working or effective.
My brain is often kaput after a long day spent practicing a new language – kaput but happy!
8. Verboten – German: forbidden; English: something that is not allowed to be said or done, something that is inappropriate or taboo.
Chewing gum in Singapore, sunbathing in the nude in Spain, bringing a gun to a BBQ in Germany are all verboten!
9. Schadenfreude – German: Schaden is ‘harm’, Freude is ‘joy’ – to laugh at somebody else’s mishap. (English): Pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.
Letting people gossip in a language they think you don’t understand, and joining in suddenly, calls for a touch of schadenfreude.
10. Über – German: over, above, across (and so much more – go ahead and google it, its uber-cool), English:
1. referring to an outstanding or supreme example of a person or a thing: an uber-babe. 2. To a great or extreme degree; an uber-cool bar.
Honestly, you don’t need to be an Übermensch aka super human (yup, mensch is German too) to learn a new language!
Any interesting German words you think we’ve missed? Email us or drop a comment below.
Author: Julia Regul Singh has a master’s degree in urban planning and urban design from the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (Germany) and a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Bayreuth (Germany). Julia attended Columbia University as part of her masters on a scholarship from the German government. After graduating, she worked as an Urban Planner and Urban Designer in Germany and New York City before turning her hand to writing. In 2010, the Urban Crayon Press published her first book – Boris the Bench. In 2015, her novel Leap of Faith was published by Rupa Publications. Julia currently splits her time between New York City, New Delhi and Bielefeld.
There are no rules to winning at life, but here are 5 rules to winning at emails.
Do you groan at the thought of reading a long, boring email? If your answer is yes, you’re just like us. No one likes to go through a sloppy email without a beginning, a middle, or an end. Writing a great email is not a difficult thing to do, but it certainly is an important skill to acquire. Be it a friendly invite, a reply to your professor or boss, or a marketing pitch, getting it right will make a whole lot of difference. Now as with everything, writing a perfect professional email may come with a little practice. Here are 5 quick and easy tips for writing great emails.
1. Sharpen the subject line
Compare the following subject lines:
List of documents required for university admission
Vs.
Admission documents checklist
To put it simply, only a specific number of words can appear in the unread email bar on a phone/computer screen. So, the clearer your subject line is, more likely your reader is to click on it.
2. Start with the right salutation
It cannot be emphasized enough that an email is nowhere close to a text message. Therefore, it needs to be written professionally – we mean fully spelt out words and no slang (mostly!). And it means starting it off with a proper salutation. How you begin an email shapes the recipient’s perception of you.
Usually, Dear works with both people you know and people you don’t. If you’re writing to a Professor or a Dean, do use their full professional titles. Avoid guessing a person’s gender – it’s ok to use their full name. As you continue emailing each other, you can graduate to Hi. Hey is nay for all professional communication.
Additional tip: Avoid saying Good morning or Good evening because you don’t know when the recipient will read your mail. Go with Greetings!
3. Structure your email
An email with a clear structure is simpler to understand and respond to. Follow the inverted pyramid principle for the email body:
For instance, if you are writing to your project group about an idea for your next assignment, mention the key idea at the top. Follow it up with some figures, facts, and why you all should work on it. Towards the end, talk about how you came up with the idea and add maybe a relevant link to an article.
4. Use the right tone
Remember, your words represent you. Keeping the tone polite yet professional is essential. Here are a few things to remember about tone:
Use Please instead of Kindly:Please implies a polite request, while kindly suggests an instruction to be obeyed. Kindly is an old-fashioned word that was used by people in authority (mainly the British) to instruct their subordinates. Please is less imposing, yet professional.
Use softeners (such as could, would, should): Softeners are words that make your speech polite to read and add a deferential touch to your mails. Say the following out loud and compare:
Please send me the file again
Could you please send me the file again?
Don’t you think the second sentence reads more positive and would naturally invoke a response? Read more about it here.
Be positive: Avoiding negative words and using positive phrases are your non-verbal cues (compare body language in face-to-face conversations). For instance, compare the two ways your Professor could respond to your deadline extension request:
Mr. Smith,
The deadline for your assignment cannot be extended under any circumstances. I may have to give you a failing grade in case you fail to submit your work on stipulated time.
Vs.
Hi Patrick,
Unfortunately, the deadline cannot extended as the college administration has formalized it. What I can surely do is convey your request to the administrative head and support your case.
Signing off: When signing off, polite words such as regards, sincerely, and thank you are important. The simplest way to ensure your email includes them is by creating a signature and then adding your personal sign-off.
Use standard fonts and colors: Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Helvetica – the simple and sensible family of fonts is your best bet. Don’t make your emails an exercise for the eyes by using technicolor Comic Sans, or Lucida Handwriting. Those belong in memes.
5. Proofread and fact check
Have you ever received an email riddled with typos? Nothing is more annoying than that, right?
Using tools such as Grammarly often helps. Even the humble Microsoft Word will do a basic spellcheck for you. Double check or, in fact, triple check your complete email, not just the body. See that you have added a good subject line, addressed it to the right recipients, attached any file you need to, and don’t forget your signature.
So, there you have it. Your very own guide to make the internet a better place with cleaner emails.
Since ancient times, mythology has helped form a bridge between abstraction and personification, between imagination and belief, and mind and speech. Myth is a feature of every culture. In fundamental ways, it helps explain the world to us.
The means of that explanation is language. Naturally, myths are embedded in our vocabulary. Often, we use words from myths without being aware of their fascinating origin. The source stories, however, can help us understand and use the words even better.
In this blog, we share 6 words which have their roots in Greco-Roman myths.
1. Cereal
Not just breakfast for most of the western hemisphere, cereal is also any grain used for food – wheat, rice, maize. In this context it makes sense that the root of the word is Ceres – name of the Roman goddess of agriculture, fertility, and motherliness. In the Roman times, Ceres was synonymous with grain and bread. The association has lingered to this day.
2. Echo The word means repeating or reflecting sounds, ideas and phrases.
In Ovid’s ‘Metapmorphoses’, Echo is a nymph from the mountains, who has a wonderful voice and gift for storytelling. She distracts Juno while Jupiter escapes for an affair. An angry Juno curses her that henceforth she will only be able to finish or repeat sentences.
Later, when Narcissus rejects her love, Echo prays mentally to Venus to exist as a voice without a form. This explains the aural effect named after her.
3. Narcissistic Self-love taken to an unhealthy extreme is narcissism.
The origin of the term is in the myth of Narcissus – a proud hunter who broke several hearts (including Echo’s above). Nemesis, the Roman goddess who punishes pride, drew him to a pool where he saw his reflection and fell in love with it. He gazed at his image for so long that he wasted away and died.
4. Hypnosis OED defines hypnosis as “the induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction.”
The word comes from Hypnos – the Greek personification of sleep. Hypnos is the son of Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness). He is said to live in a dark cave in hell, where no light or sound can enter. Poppies and other hypnotic plants grow in his garden. His children are gods of the dream. Because he is god of sleep, he owns half of a human’s life.
5. Morphine A drug derived from opium, which is used to relieve pain, morphine is derived from the name of the Roman god of dreams – Morpheus. He is a son of Hypnos, one of thousands.
6. Tantalise
The verb means to excite or tease someone with the promise of something unattainable.
And the best example of this predicament is Tantalus. He is the first of that name in Greek myth. Tantalus was a son of Zeus who wined and dined with the gods. He stole from them and gave to his people. Also, he sacrificed his own son to the gods who hated human sacrifice. The gods brought the dead son back to life and threw Tantalus down to the depth of hell.
In hell, Tantalus stands in a pool of water under a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he stoops to drink water, it recedes. And when he reaches for fruit, the branches are beyond his grasp. A stone hangs above his head threatening to fall at any moment.
There are many, many more words inspired by myth – fury, chaos, chronology, grace, and so on.
Would you like to add to our list? Comment below or write to us.
Every year since 1976, the Lake Superior State University publishes an annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use, and General Uselessness. Although the first list was inspired by the pet peeves of LSSU’s late public relations W.T. Rabe and his friends, the list is now culled from thousands of international nominations.
“We’ve drilled down, and unpacked tons of pre-owned words and phrases deemed impactful by hundreds of nominators during 2017,” said an LSSU spokesperson. “Let that sink in.”
From 2018’s list of 14 words, we’ve chosen 5. These are words/phrases we can eschew because they are either clunky, cliché, or both. Try to avoid them, if you can, because “let us ask you” is that the way you want to talk? It’s probably the least “impactful” way.
1) Unpack – We can imagine the lure of the term initially – likening concepts, positions, and all carriers of meaning to suitcases. But, overuse has marred the charm. Use analyze, consider, and assess instead. Gives your language a touch of gravitas.
2) Tons – Technically, this means approximately 1000 kilograms. But now, dispersed through the language as it is – tons could refer to quantities of sunshine or work or friends. Rather a vague way to qualify things. Why not use lots instead?
3) Fake News – Any news broadcast with an intent to spread misinformation is fake news. However, the term is now used liberally to brand any story that a reader disagrees with.
4) Hot Water Heater – Unless there’s a specific kind of heater only for hot water, isn’t the term water heater just fine?
5) Covfefe – The list says this, “An impulsive typo, born into a 140-character universe, somehow missed by the autocorrect feature.”
And while the entire Twitterverse as well as the Interwebs have had a long and loud laugh about it, we think it’s now a bit tired. We’re sure the President will oblige us shortly.
It’s been quite a year for words, hasn’t it? Here are our top 10 words and phrases of the year. Let us know what’s missing from the list!
10. Fidget spinner
This was the year when this toy became a global industry. Contrary to some manufacturers’ claims, there is no scientific evidence that fidget spinners help people who suffer from autism or ADHD. Indeed, many schools in the US have banned them, saying they are a distraction for students. Anyway, it doesn’t look as if fidget spinners are about to go away any time soon.
Lesson learned: People fidget.
9. Cash me ousside how bow dah
In late 2016, Florida teen Danielle Bregoli and her mother appeared on the Dr. Phil television show, to discuss Bregoli’s unruly behavior, which included stealing a crew member’s car while the episode was being filmed. When the audience laughed at her, she responded by saying, “Catch me outside, how about that!”. But it sounded like “Cash me ousside how bow dah”, and it went viral. It inspired the single below by DJ Suede The Remix God, which hit the Billboard charts in March 2017. Since then, Bregoli has released several singles on the Atlantic label. Talk about cashing in!
Lesson learned: You can add a beat to literally anything and sell it.
8. Covfefe
On May 31, Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States of America and the supposed leader of the free world, sent out a seemingly nonsensical tweet. It immediately went viral and inspired comedians worldwide. In about five hours, Trump deleted the tweet and asked Twitter followers what they thought “covfefe” meant. Later that day, a spokesman told journalists “the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant”, but offered no further explanation. Some speculated that the tweet was a tactic to divert attention from serious controversies. Two weeks later, a draft legislation was filed, titled the “Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement (COVFEFE) Act”, which sought to amend the Presidential Records Act so that social media posts by the US president would be preserved under law.
Lesson learned: No amount of covfefe can stop the constant negative press.
7. Cultural appropriation
Each year, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show features different themes. This year, a segment titled “Nomadic Adventure” showcased looks that seemed “inspired” by tribal and Native American dress, spurring accusations of cultural appropriation. This is a sociological concept that refers to the unequal relationship between the colonizers and colonized (or formerly colonized) people. Many regard cultural appropriation as the dominant culture violating the intellectual property rights of the marginalized, and often stripping the meaning of an artifact or practice. Of course, cultural appropriation has been around for as many centuries as colonization. Shockingly, it’s still a thing in 2017.
Lesson learned: As Canadian radio host Rosanna Deerchild says in the video, “If it is about us, then it must include us.”
6. Ethereum
This is an open-source, public, blockchain-based computing platform that enables smart contracts, or deterministic mechanisms for direct transaction of value between untrusted agents. The platform also provides “Ether”, a cryptocurrency that is a rival to Bitcoin, and “Gas”, an internal transaction pricing mechanism. The system went live in 2015, but this year, growing interest in the Ethereum platform sent its exchange rate rocketing. The price rose more than 50 times this year, and in November it shot up by more than 16% in just 24 hours.
Lesson learned: As Pink Floyd sang in 1973, “Money – it’s a gas! Grab that cash with both hands and make your stash.”
5. Fake news
This type of propaganda, which deliberately misinforms its audience, has been around for ages. In 18th-century France, for example, intense attacks via political pamphlets known as libelles (the word comes from the Latin for ‘little book’) helped undermine the monarch’s authority and spurred the French Revolution. In our time, higher literacy rates, the internet, and social media have multiplied the power of the pre-industrial printed pamphlets by millions of times. As a result, even experienced, professional fact-checkers are not immune. Fake news often uses sensational headlines, and even entirely fabricated stories, to increase readership, sharing, internet revenue, and polarize opinion. Fake news undermines actual journalism, and makes it harder for journalists to cover significant stories.
Lesson learned: Don’t believe everything on the internet or TV – especially if it makes you feel outraged.
4. Anthropocene
Our species is having an unprecedented and alarming impact on the planet’s geology and ecosystems. This is why many scientists are calling our epoch the Anthropocene. The Greek word anthropos means human being, and –cene comes from the Greek kainos, meaning new. An epoch is a subdivision of geological time, and “Anthropocene” follows the pattern of Holocene, Pleistocene, and Eocene. The International Commission on Stratigraphy and the International Union of Geological Sciences have not officially recognized the term “Anthropocene”, but the Working Group on the Anthropocene has formally designated the epoch and sent a recommendation to the International Geological Congress.
Lesson learned: Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order.
3. Brexit
This is the popular term for the UK’s ‘divorce’ from the European Union. In 2016, 51.9% of voters in a leave-or-stay referendum supported leaving. Negotiations with the EU on Britain’s exit formally began in June 2017, and the UK will leave in March 2019. The UK joined the European Communities in 1973, confirming its membership in a referendum in 1975. Economists and analysts broadly agree that Brexit will hurt the UK’s real per-capita income. Studies show that Brexit has already cost the average British household £404 a year, and the GDP 1.3%. Brexit may curb immigration into the UK, and could hurt UK higher education and academic research.
Lesson learned: Most people do not understand economics.
2. Woke
The Merriam-Webster dictionary added this word in 2017. It’s a slang term that seems to be making its way into mainstream English from African-American usage: “I was sleeping, but now I’m woke.” Today the word has taken on a political sense, possibly starting with the 2008 release of the song “Master Teacher” by Erykah Badu. To stay woke means to be aware, be self-aware, and question everything.
Lesson learned: Being woke is just the beginning (please watch the video above!)
1. #MeToo
In 1997, American activist Tarana Burke heard a horrific story of child sexual abuse and launched the Me Too movement. Twenty years later, on October 5 this year, the first allegations of sexual harassment against powerful Hollywood producer and Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein made headlines. Ten days later, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged victims of sexual harassment or assault to tweet #MeToo, and within 24 hours, more than half a million tweets and 12 million Facebook posts went up, telling harrowing stories of harassment, abuse, and rape. By early November, #MeToo had been tweeted more than 2.3 million times in 85 countries, and shared in over 77 million Facebook posts or comments. Speakers of other languages used equivalents such as #BalanceTonPorc in French and #YoTambien in Spanish. Since then many famous men have lost their positions of power and prestige, including actor Kevin Spacey, comedian Louis C.K., chef Mario Batali, and TV host Matt Lauer. In India, too, an online list that named and shamed alleged abusers in academia spurred heated debate.
You know how hashtags work. A hashtag is a hash sign followed by a word. Sometimes a phrase is compounded into a single word. People can intuitively understand its meaning from either the word itself or the context. Sometimes, though, it’s possible to take it #TooFar #BeyondAllReason #DoesItEvenMakeAnySenseAnyMore #ICantEven.
Well, if you thought this was some Twitter-era madness, think again. German speakers have been compounding words for centuries. Sometimes it works great. After all, where would English be without German words like zeitgeist (Zeit = time, Geist = spirit, so zeitgeist means the defining mood or spirit of an era). But at other times, the German love of compounding just seems out of control. Check out our list and let us know which words you think are reasonable and useful, and which ones are absurd.
1. Schadenfreude
Pronounced ‘sha-den-FROY-duh’, this word refers to the pleasure someone derives from someone else’s misfortune. In German, Schaden means harm or damage, and Freude means joy.
2. Schlafgespräch
This word is pronounced SHLAF-ge-sprech (the ‘ch’ at the end is a peculiarly German sound, not ‘kh’ but not quite ‘sh’ either). Schlafen means to sleep, and Gespräch is a conversation. So a Schlafgespräch is a conversation about sleeping. How often do we engage in such a conversation that we need a word for it? Ask a doctor who specializes in treating stress-related illnesses.
3. Muskelpaket
In German, Muskel (pronounced MOO-skel) means muscle, and Paket (pa-KAYT) means – you guessed it – packet. Very reasonable, then, that Muskelpaket means a bulging muscle.
4. Weltschmerz
Welt means world, and Schmerz means pain. So Weltschmerz, pronounced VELT-shmairts, refers to a feeling of weariness stemming from the belief that the physical world can never satisfy the demands of the mind.
5. Kummerspeck
This unfortunate phenomenon can strike anyone. The word, pronounced COOM-mer-shpek, consists of Kummer, meaning grief, and Speck, meaning bacon. When a relationship ends, for example, one may overeat as a result of emotional turmoil. Kummerspeck refers to the weight you gain from overeating due to any sort of stress.
6. Fernweh
This is a familiar feeling for anyone who is away from home for a long time. It refers to a wish to be in a faraway place. Fern (pronounced ‘fairn’) means distant or far, and Weh means ache or pain. When the holiday season comes along and all the German students leave campus to go home to their families, many international students who remain behind suffer from Fernweh. The word should not be confused with Heimweh, which literally means home-pain (Heim = home).
7. Weihnachtenheimaterholungsurlaub
OK, you won’t find this word in a dictionary, but it was used in earnest by a Bavarian student who lived away from home and was planning to go home during the Christmas break. Weihnachten means Christmas, Heimat means home town or home country, Erholung means relaxation, and Urlaub means vacation. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of German would understand the word and know how to pronounce it. And if you’re a novice at German, good luck saying that word!
Color can mean a lot of things besides the wavelengths that reach your retina. It can refer to embellished rhetoric, or imparting a certain tone to a story. In music, it can refer to timbre, which is what enables us to distinguish a note played on a violin from the exact same note played on a trumpet or flute or some other instrument. But sometimes a color is not a color. Check out these words below, and add your own in the comments!
Green
In the plant kingdom, this is often a description of something that is unripe, immature, or undeveloped. When used to describe a human, it means simple or gullible. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the phrase “to be not as green as one is cabbage-looking” means to be less of a fool than one seems to be.
Blue
This word has so many meanings, it’s not funny. No, it’s literally not funny– it’s serious at best, and sad at worst. Blue can symbolize something that’s unchanging, possibly because of the blue of the sky. We use it in that sense when we say “true blue”, meaning faithful, staunch, or unwavering. Sometimes it’s the color of painful things, such as “blue murder” or “blue devils”. The latter, of course, are more commonly known as “the blues”, a phenomenon observed worldwide on Mondays. And the video above is a famous example of the musical genre known as the blues.
Yellow
The color may be cheery and sunny, but the symbolism is not. Yellow often refers to cravenness or cowardice. And when applied to journalism, it can refer to articles that are recklessly or unscrupulously sensational.
Pink
This can mean politically left of center, though not as far left as red. In a different sense it can mean mildly vulgar, but something that’s too pink would be called “blue”, or even “off-color”. And the expression “strike me pink!” can convey astonishment or indignation.
Scarlet
Not to be confused with the ideological symbolism of red. Scarlet can be the color of what respectable people wear, such as judges’ robes and soldiers’ uniforms. But, oddly enough, it can also signify shame and indignation. In the 19th century in the US, people convicted of adultery were condemned to wear a large scarlet letter A (hence Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter). The video above features a song from the hit Chinese TV drama series “Scarlet Heart”.
Technically, the language spoken by the Aztecs is known as Nahuatl, and there are many variants of it. It’s the language Europeans heard in the 16th century, when they first arrived in the great city of Tenochtitlan (the site of today’s Mexico City). Nahuatl has been spoken for more than 1,000 years in Mexico, where civilization goes back to approximately 8,000 BCE. Today, many Nahuatl words are part of everyday English, so you probably speak a smattering of Nahuatl without even realizing it.
1. Chocolate
Mexico is the birthplace of cacao and chocolate consumption. The word ‘cacao’ is derived from cacahuatl. And ‘chocolate’ comes from xocolatl or chocolatl, meaning food made from cacao seeds. Chocolate was not always the milky and sugary confection that we know today.
2. Chilli
Some people in India may swear that no traditional meal is complete without chillis. It’s a good thing those people weren’t around 500 years ago, otherwise they’d be very hungry indeed. After the Europeans conquered the Americas in the 16th century, global trade brought chillis and other native American species to Europe and Asia. But a couple of centuries passed before those foods – including chillis – reached the kitchens of ordinary people in India. Chilli is straight-up Nahuatl, not even a derivative word.
3. Tomato
Yes, this juicy fruit that is found in everything, from bacon-and-lettuce sandwiches to rasam to pizza, is native to Central and South America. Its Nahuatl name, tomatl, found its way into French, Spanish and Portuguese as tomate in the early 17th century.
4. Coyote
This English word refers to Canis latrans, a wolf-like wild dog native to North America. The original Nahuatl word is coyotl.
5. Shack
This English word for a roughly built hut or cabin dates back to the late 19th century. The Nahuatl word for ‘wooden hut’ is xacatli, and the Mexican Spanish word is jacal.
We’re pretty sure you know some more Nahuatl words. If you can think of any to add to our list, leave a comment below!
