Word Fun

You probably know that I love random and obscure words, even though I don't have the most extensive vocabulary myself. Also, this recent spike in playing Literati (Yahoo Games' version of Scrabble) has yielded many bizarro words. So today I was looking up words online, and I found this fun NPR article about a book that I basically need to read Right Now, about words from world languages that elude simple translation. Here are three favorites:

meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective) - Greek
This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love -- when you put "something of yourself" into what you're doing, whatever it may be. Meraki is often used to describe cooking or preparing a meal, but it can also mean arranging a room, choosing decorations, or setting an elegant table.

This word started off my whole search. It came up yesterday and made me curious.

korinthenkacker [core-in-ten-cuck-er] (noun) - German
A "raisin pooper" -- that is, someone so taken up with life's trivial detail that they spend all day crapping raisins. You can spot these types a mile off -- it's that irritating pen pusher or filing fanatic whose favorite job is tidying up the stationery cupboard.

Raisin pooper! That's just fun to say. Raisin pooper.

ilunga (Tshiluba) [ee-Iun-ga] (noun) - African Languages
This word from the Tshiluba language of the Republic of Congo has topped a list drawn up with the help of one thousand translators as the most untranslatable word in the world. It describes a person who is ready to forgive any transgression a first time and then to tolerate it for a second time, but never for a third time.

I love how particular this word is.

But seriously, all of the words in that article are such goodies, check it out. Eee!