What’s a word for that? 20 great words we need to adopt

You get out of the car and catch sight of yourself in reflection. What is it you see? Have you succumbed to kummerspeck? Or is it a feeling of litost? Maybe you are just caught in a moment of boketto.

There are occasions, no matter how universal, that we just don’t seem to have the words for. Well, maybe we just don’t have an English word – here are 20 great words from other languages that I think we should adopt.

1. Vedriti (Slovene)
To shelter from the rain, waiting for it to stop before you continue on your way

2. Kummerspeck (German)
This translates literally as ‘grief bacon’. Kummerspeck is the weight you gain from comfort eating. I think we’ve all succumbed to grief bacon at some point.

3. Dolilyts (Ukranian)
To lie with your face turned down to the ground.

4. Greng-jai (Thai)
That feeling you get when you don’t want someone to do something for you because you know it will be a pain for them.

5. Gigil (Filipino)
The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is impossibly cute.

6. Yakamoz (Turkish)
A light show on the sea surface, created by the bioluminescent light emitted from sea creatures.

7. Yuputka (Ulwa)
The phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.

8. Dor (Romanian)
The longing for someone you love very much, combined with sadness, and implies the need to sing sad songs.

9. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.

10. Ukiyo (Japanese)
Meaning ‘floating world’; a place of fleeting beauty where you find you are living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life.

11. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
To scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.

12. Badkruka (Swedish)
Someone who is reluctant to get into the water when swimming outdoors. (Definitely me).

13. Boketto (Japanese)
The act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking.

14. S’entendre (French)
To know someone so well that you understand how they think. It translates literally to mean ‘hearing (each other)’.

15. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian)
The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. It translates to ‘reheated cabbage’.

16. Litost (Czech)
Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, made the comment: ‘As for the meaning of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent, though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul without it.’

Litost is the state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.

17. Tartle (Scottish)
The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.

18. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
An impractical dreamer with no business sense.

19. Kombinować (Polish)
To work out an unusual solution to a complicated problem, somehow acquiring things that are not available in the process. Involves a breach of the law or social etiquette.

20. Jayus (Indonesian)
A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Like some more word lists? Here are the many ways you can kick the bucket or go mad, some idiom origins and 20 words you’ll want to say out loud.

The science of daydreaming (and why it is absolutely necessary)

There was an interview in New Scientist a couple of weeks ago with neuroscientist Daniel Levitin about how to negotiate an age where we are bombarded with information. The big take-away I got from his message is that it is essential that we allow ourselves time to daydream.

Why is it important to daydream?

Here’s the theory: Our brain essentially works to two modes, our ‘executive’ mode and our ‘daydreaming’ mode. When one is switched on the other is off.

Our executive mode helps us negotiate and engage in our everyday activities- from remembering to buckle the kids in the car, buy milk on the way home, to fulfilling our office and work tasks throughout the day. It’s our busy state, the ‘think on your feet’ state that is so important in every activity.

Our daydreaming mode is our default brain setting. It’s leaving our thoughts to float and not actively paying attention to one thing. Kind of like our ‘stand-by’ mode.

Because we are bombarded by so much to think about; home life, work issues, social media, social interaction, every day problem solving, it’s easy for our brain to get locked in executive mode. ‘Why is that bad?’ I hear you say. ‘I’m getting so much done!’

You may be juggling a huge weight of tasks but it doesn’t allow you to work out the BIG problems or ideas. We need our daydreaming time to work through issues that need more time than just a fleeting thought. Our daydreaming mode helps restore our mind and allows our thoughts to connect in ways other than the obvious.

Have you ever noticed that you get your best ideas when taking a shower, putting on your favourite album or going for a walk? Felt inspired when you’ve wandered though a beautiful garden? You can ‘turn on’ your daydreaming mode by listening to music, connecting with nature or just generally relaxing. Though you may not realise it, your brain is still busy in the background, beavering away, turning over possibilities and outcomes.

Give yourself time to daydream, it’s great for your creativity and your soul.

Links

• Here’s the article in New Scientist
• Daniel Levitin has written a book called The Organized Mind, which looks like great reading for anyone overwhelmed with too much to do. Let me just add that to my reading list.
• You may also like our post on how exercise can boost your creativity
• Or this one on the Six Thinking Hats creativity tool

 

Friday colour: the grass is greener

It’s finally feeling like Spring and green is the go – the limey citrus of new buds, the bright emerald of spring rain on lawn. Grow green grow!

Green Facts

Green is growth, freshness, nature, fertility, life, ecology, naivety, youth, inexperience, envy, jealous, sickness, money and prosperity.

It is also a verb: ‘to go green’, ‘greening the suburb’.

The modern English word green comes from the Middle English and Anglo-Saxon word grene, from the same Germanic root as the words ‘grass’ and ‘grow’

Without Chlorophyll (the essential component in photosynthesis), we wouldn’t have most of the green we see every day.

It is the colour of the Roman Goddess of love Venus. It is the traditional colour of Islam; and is also associated strongly with Catholicism.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, green was worn by merchants, bankers and the gentry and their families.

The most famously pictured woman in the world, The Mona Lisa, wears green.

Green is both lucky and unlucky: a green shamrock is lucky, green race cars are not. Green may symbolise bad news in Israel or infidelity in China, but is definitely lucky in Ireland.

Some famous characters associated with green

• Santa Claus was often traditionally depicted wearing green; it wasn’t until Coca-Cola dressed St Nic in its signature red that the current costuming stuck.
• Leprechauns
• Fairies and elves are traditionally green
• Peter Pan and Tinkerbell
• The Green Lantern
• The Hulk
• The Wizard of Oz (and all the inhabitants of Emerald City), as well as the Wicked Witch of the West
• Yoda
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Frankenstein
• The Green Goblin (Spiderman)
• Kermit the Frog
• Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc)
• Shrek (and Fiona)
• Gumby
• Oscar the Grouch
• The Grinch
• Robin Hood

Shades of green

Lime, forest, moss, British racing, emerald, peridot, malachite, summer, spring, jungle, grass, olive, khaki, fern, pine, shamrock, clover, mint, tea, teal, football field, laurel, army, celadon, Paris, sea, jade, harlequin, neon, Brunswick, bottle, apple, chartreuse, hunter, pistachio, French lime, electric, dollar bill, Dartmouth, Castleton, Carribean, cal poly, bud, avocado, asparagus, android, Amazon, acid, viridian, granny smith, guppie, India, Kelly, La Salle, lawn, limerick, Lincoln, mantis, May, aquamarine, myrtle, mountain meadow, pear, office, rifle.

Some green idioms

A green thumb – a good gardener.

The green-eyed monster – jealous and envy are lurking. Also green with envy.

The green room – the waiting and rest area for actors or TV guests, before they head on stage.

Green around the gills – someone who is looking sick.

Give the green light – it’s a go

Greenhorn – an inexperienced person

Green belt – an area of fields or trees around a town or city

Greenwashing – promoting positive environmental practices within an organisation in order to cover up the destructive environmental impact the said organisation has had.

Going green – becoming more environmentally conscious.

The grass is always greener on the other side – other people’s circumstances always look better when you’re looking in rather than living them.

 

How to name your villain – some name lists

Darth Vader. Lord Voldemort. Maleficent. Hannibal Lecter. They pretty much have evil stamped on them from their name alone. Then there are the ones that creep up on you – Mr Hyde doesn’t sound to bad. Neither does Tom Ripley. Mrs Coulter from His Dark Materials trilogy gives nothing away by her name.

So how do you name a villain? Call them as they are or hold back a little? It depends mostly on their entrance into your story. Sometimes by painting a villain as pure evil from the get go can give them a strength makes the job of your hero seem harder. Giving your villain a more complex back story on top of this can make a turning point even more powerful if you have lead your audience to believe they are irredeemable – just think; ‘Luke, I am your father.’

But bear in mind that the ‘pure evil’ name usually exists because the villain themselves has chosen it, a moniker to demonstrate their allegiance to the dark side. Tom Riddle renamed himself Lord Voldemort, Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker.

So here are some lists to spark an idea for your next baddie – may the force be with you!

Some synonyms for all things bad and villainous:

• nefarious
• malevolent
• pernicious
• wanton
• obstreperous
• fiendish
• wayward
• recalcitrant
• bawdy
• ghastly
• harrowing
• beastly
• odious
• brute
• libertine
• rapscallion

Some names of demons (across different cultures):

• Abraxas
• Alastor
• Barbatos
• Beelzebub
• Behemoth
• Charun
• Drekavac
• Focalor
• Jikininki
• Kasadya
• Lempo
• Mephistopheles
• Murmur
• Orcus
• Pazuzu
• Ravan
• Sabnock
• Succubus
• Valac
• Vepar
• Wendigo
• Xezbeth
• Ziminiar

Some animals frequently associated with evil:

• dragon
• wolf
• snake
• spider
• raven
• crow
• jackal
• cat
• bat
• hyena
• vulture

Black and white are colours associated with evil; here are some names that reference these colours.

Names meaning ‘black’:

• Ciaran
• Adham
• Cole
• Dargan
• Doyle
• Jet
• Raven
• Brenna
• Ciara
• Ebony
• Jetta
• Kali
• Odile

Names meaning ‘white’:

• Alba
• Bianca
• Branwen
• Ceinwen
• Casiphia
• Elva
• Fenella
• Finola
• Galatea
• Gwyneth
• Ivory
• Lewana
• Morwenna
• Nuala
• Olwen
• Albion
• Blake
• Elwyn
• Fingal
• Gavin
• Morgan
• Wycombe

I’m off to find a home for Cole Beastly and Harrow Wolfbane. I hope you’ve found a villain too!

Like this? Here’s another name list post, one on how to name your horse and here’s how to get over writer’s block.

Friday colour: the colour purple

Purple Symbolism

Often associated with royalty – mainly because of the difficulty and expense in acquiring a natural purple dye (the most famous being Tyrian purple, a dye extracted from sea snails). Though synthetic dyes make it possible to dye our clothes any colour we desire, we still link purple with royalty, and an image of wealth and luxury.

In many cultures purple is a colour of mourning; specifically in Thailand, widows wear purple while mourning their husband. Similarly in Europe in the 19th century, widows wore purple partway through their mourning period. It was the ‘inbetween’ once the appropriate time had been spent wearing black, before returning to normal clothing.

Purple is often thought of as a ‘mystical’ colour, the colour of spirituality and astral planes. There is a valid reason for this – purple is right of the edge of the visible colour spectrum, before it tips into ultraviolet, which is invisible to the naked eye. Because of this, purple is a difficult colour for our eyes to distinguish.

Purple is also a culturally important colour for feminists – the Suffragettes used purple, white and green as the distinguishing colours for the suffrage movement (purple for dignity, white for purity, green for hope). In the 1970s, purple resurfaced as the colour for the womens liberation movement in the USA, as a tribute to the suffragettes.

Shades of purple

Lavender, violet, Tyrian purple, lilac, mauve, aubergine, amethyst, Byzantium, magenta, wisteria, orchid, plum, indigo, fuchsia, heliotrope, fandango, thistle, mulberry, Han purple, royal purple, mauveine, red-violet, blue-violet, electric purple, palatinate, phlox, purple pizzazz, liseran purple, purpureus, pomp and power, eminence, pansy, vivid violet, dark violet, mallow, French violet, African violet, patriarch, purple heart, Rebecca purple, regalia, Russian violet, Japanese violet, Chinese violet, Spanish violet, twilight, Veronica, wine, ube.

“o purple finch
please tell me why
this summer world (and you and I
who love so much to live)
must die”

“if I
should tell you anything”
(that eagerly sweet carolling
self answers me)
“I could not sing”

e.e. cummings

Fancy a seaside trip? Top five sunken cities

Sirens and superstition. Voyages into the deep. Mythical or just undiscovered? Sunken cities are as fascinating if they are real or exist only in legend. Preserved in a watery shroud, they offer tantalising hints to historic events. Those yet to prove their existence become a beacon of unknown, a tempting treasure for explorers and storytellers alike. Here are my top five mythical sunken cities.

5. Atlantis: You can’t possibly have a list of sunken cities without including Atlantis. Such a huge myth that has lasted for eons that it’s no wonder it’s hard to let go of. Written about by Plato as a vision of a utopian island; and widely believed to have sprung to life from his imagination. But there is an argument that he was inspired by older texts and that it may well have existed many years before, wiped out by a volcano or earthquake/tsunami before Plato’s linage was conceived.

4. Vineta: A mythical city supposed to be submerged in the Baltic Sea, off the southern coast. As many of these legends go, it was the general naughtiness of the inhabitants that lead to the sea rising up and swallowing the city. It is said that it reappears at times to act as a warning for future revellers – misbehave at your peril!

3. Mu: Not quite a city, more a whole lost continent. Mu is the legendary Motherland of all society – believed to be written about by the ancient Mayans, referencing it as their homeland that was destroyed and sunk after a cataclysmic event. Augustus Le Plongeon (1825–1908), a traveller and writer, was the first to popularise the ‘Mu’ myth, claiming he had translated the ancient Mayan writings that told of this even more ancient continent. Where is it? Buried in either the deep blue of the sea or our collective imaginations.

2. Kitezh: A Russian sunken city, thought to be lying at the bottom of Lake Svetloyar. The legend goes that on the impending invasion of the Mongols in the 13th century, rather than fortifying their city, the citizens of Kitezh prayed instead for their redemption. The Mongols, seeing the city unguarded, moved to attack, only to be astounded by water shooting up around them. Before their eyes, the city was submerged into the lake and away from capture. It is said that only those who are ‘pure of heart and soul’ will find their way to Kitezh, and when the the lake is calm you can hear the bells chiming and people singing in the city below.

1. Ys: Another mythical city that succumbed to its own depravity. Ys is said to be of the coast of Brittany, built below sea level and surrounded by a dike to keep it from flooding. It was given by King Gradlon to his daughter Dahut, who then turned the city into the capital orgy destination in the land. She apparently enjoyed not just wild sex with many men, but also beheading them afterwards. The city wall had a great gate, with the only key held by the King.

The legend goes that one of Dahut’s lovers convinced her to steal the key from her father and give it to him. The lover was in fact the devil, and he opened the gate, flooding the city. Dahut was turned into a mermaid and the city was lost. It is said that when Paris falls, Ys will rise again.

So next time you’re thinking of jetting a character off into a mythical city, why not pack them a wetsuit and dive into a sunken city?

Looking for more lists? Here’s our top ten favourite fonts and our top five creative writing ideas.

Friday words and pictures

Here’s a little selection of pictures and words to brighten your Friday. Happy almost weekend!

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

Emily Dickinson

Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps’ nest.

Matsuo Basho

When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.

Robert Frost

Here’s some more poetry and pictures: a little about Haiku, some found poetry and inspired by vintage styling.