Foreign languages often contain phrases and words so rich in expression and meaning that it shames the English language to not have a counterpart.Here are just five such terms:
1. L'esprit de L'Escalier (French): Literally, "the spirit of the staircase." This phrase describes that feeling you get when you think of a brilliant and witty response to an insult you received earlier but now can do nothing about.
2. Tartle (Scottish): The act of recognizing a person whom you have previously met or been introduced to but can't recall their name.
3. Bilita Mpash (Bantu): This denotes a good or happy dream. In English, we use the word nightmare to describe a bad dream but we have no single word for a good one.
4. Razbliuto (Russian): The mixed feelings that a person has for someone he or she once loved but no longer does.
5. Dohada (Sanskrit): The unusual food cravings of pregnant women. There is scientific research to support this term: the condition where pregnant women feel the need to consume dirt (called Pica) or chalk results from a lack of essential minerals in the diet.
2 comments:
#1 is actually "The Mind of the Staircase." The thoughts you would have said to your (now ex-) lover as you are slamming down the stairs after your final fight.
One of my favorite expressions!
Tartle happens to me on a daily basis! Is it a noun, akin to a brain burp, or is it an adjective as in "So sorry, I just tartled!" -
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