The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I like it when there are words or phrases in other languages that don't have an English counterpart, but are still good words, nonetheless.  I know of two good ones, but I'm interested to learn more, should you guys know any.

schadenfreude - German.  It basically means taking pleasure in the discomfort of others.  It's like when you watch a sleazy politician squirm at the podium while explaining why he got caught with hookers, while he was simultaneously attacking the competition for their lack of values -- and you really enjoy watching them sweat.  Good word.

L'esprit de l'escalier - French.  This translates to "staircase wit".  It's when you're in an argument or you're insulted by something someone says to you, but you can't think of the proper come-back.  That is, you can't think of it until you've left and are halfway down the staircase.  Then, of course, you think of the perfect thing that you should've said, but the moment is gone. 

shlelp -Yiddish.  It often gets translated as "to carry" but really means that doing so is a royal pain in the ass.  Such as I shleped this this lunch for you all day and now you don't want it.  Or I am tired of shleping this book home from school every day.

^ I love that one.

Schlep is a great one.

My family often uses the word "julepe" (pronounced "hoo-leh-peh") which is Spanish.  Its used to mean a big hassle, usually physical.  Like Its a bunch of "julepe" to go get something done - like a lot of hoops to jump through.

I've never heard it used elsewhere, but it is a real word (I looked it up).

Je ne sais quou (sp?) - French.  Meaning something, or someone, has that certain something that you can't put into words.  Literal translation would be "I don't know what it is?"

^^^ I think you actually used the English equivalent right there... "certain something." ;)

Considering the prevalence of loan words in English, the line between "words in other languages" and "English" is quite blurry at times. When is a word considered an integral part of English and when is it still "foreign"? Does caveat fit the criteria? Blasé? Touché? Or the completely common ballet?


How about "drag" or "haul"?

Dave's "schadenfreude" is great. Not to rub salt in a wound, Merriam-Webster's site has "schadenfreude" on its front page right now under "Trend Watch". Lookups spiked spiked June 13...

The more I think about this topic, the more confused I become ;).

In an attempt NOT to think about it too much, I'll just suggest a couple words:

Zeitgeist. German, literally "time spirit". I guess you could say "spirit of the time (or period or age)", but I've never actually heard anyone say that.

Realpolitik. German again. Rewording slightly, "politics of reality". It doesn't seem to be used as much today as when I was a child. Hey, there was a time when Sports Illustrated could use it: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094249/index.htm.

schadenfreude makes me think of Avenue Q

They aren't the same as schlep.  Schlep has the "pain in the ass" part of it built into the meaning of the word.

You can haul bricks or drag something as a verb where it's not a pain in the ass.  Schlep means those same words + inconvenience.

This is true.  One thing that separates ballet and touché, é is not a letter in the English language.  When the word is used so commonly that everyone starts spelling it touche and adding the extra mark is consider not just optional but incorrect, it can be considered an english word. 

I don't think ballet counts, since it's a noun that represents an actual thing.  ...like taco.

How about déjà vu? That's almost always used with the accents, so by Hoodie's "accent rule", it fits.

In a slightly different context, I read a comment from someone who had the following rule: If a kid asks you "what does ... mean?" and you would explain it by saying "oh, well, that's French (or whatever) and means ...", then it's foreign.

Croissant?

Croissant would fall to Dave's "just a thing" rule ;).

There are a lot of these "specific things" words, e.g. fleur-de-lis.

The American product Segway, for example.  It's probably called a Segway in France, too.  But that's an item, like a croissant or taco.  I think Deju Vu fits, except it's become so common, that the English language has basically absorbed it.

Segway is a brand name. Doesn't share much with croissant or taco, IMHO.

Agree with this.  Its a proper name of a product.  Like iPhone.  Even though there is a spanish word for "phone," its not called a iTelefono in Spain.

Or as my 3rd grade teacher like to call them...nouns.  There is a difference schadenfreude which is an entire concept and simply using the local word to describe a type of food like taco or a boat type like canoe. 

Nouns can be ideas, too.  Which is why I didn't use that word. 

In the case of Segway, yes it's a brand, but I think it's one of those brands that becomes a noun, like Band-Aid or Kleenex.  By the way, did you know that band-aid changed its song to "stuck on band aid BRAND, 'cause band aid's stuck on me", so that they didn't lose the rights to the copyright?

Schadenfreude is a noun...