There are some things you just can’t express in one English word. These delightful illustrations, derived from Guy Deutscher’s brilliant book Through the Language Glass, show you 11 examples that express in one word what it takes us a whole sentence to describe.
These pictures are so cute, they make me feel gigil (the Filipino word for the urge to pinch something because it’s so doggone cute).
Ah, English. You’re so complicated yet so incomplete. Seeing us struggling with our own language must give speakers of other languages a sense of schadenfreude (German — feeling pleasure because of someone else’s pain).
Images: Maptia Blog, used with permission
It is really interesting to encounter these words in the wild. Granted, it’s a rare occurrence, but encountering them – even mishmashed into an English sentence – does happen. I think this is one example of how great the Internet can be, where in just a few words we can *see* exactly how other cultures *think* slightly.