Logomania

logomania: an obsession with words
This is tangential, but I like words. Here’s some nice ones I’ve run across. The collection is a mixture of words shamelessly copied out of compilations & discovered in various exotic locales.

books:
In Other Words by Christopher J. Moore
The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams & John Lloyd

torschlusspanik: (German) the anxiety sometimes felt by unmarried females when they see the shelf and themselves on it. With today’s career focused women deciding to delay childbirth, Torschlusspanik now referes more commonly to the race against the biological clock

saudade (Portuguese): a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or twoards the future, not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness

drachenfutter: (German) meaning “dragon fodder”, this is the offering German husbands make ot their wives- breathing raging fire at the cave entrance- when theyv’e stayed out late or have otherwise engaged in some kind of inappropriate behavior

uitwaaien: (Dutch) to walk in the wind for fun

jolie-laide: (French) litterally, “pretty and ugly”, describing the type of feminine beauty that is human, and not manufactured by plastic surgeons. it’s a kind of facinating quirkiness implying charisma, a face you want to keep looking at, even if you can’t decide whether it is beautiful or not

esprit de l’escalier: (French) a witty remark tha toccurs to you too late, literally on the way down the stairs

razliubit (Russian): this melancholic, bittersweet word is used to describe falling out of love. specifically, it’s losing a feeling for someone one once loved but no longer feels the same way about

kvetchtz: (Yiddish) a kvetch is the deepest of sighs for all the burdens and troubles of the entire world, past, present, and future

denize girse kurutur (Turkish idiom): litterally, “he gets dry if he enters the sea”, meaning “he can’t do anything right”

pochemuchka (Russian): a person, often a child, who asks a lot of questions. The word was inspired by a well-known Russian children’s book titled Alesha Pochemuchka, which tells the story of a highly inquisitive five- or six-year-old boy. The name, in turn, comes from the Russian pochemu, meaning “why.”

mamihlanatapai (Fuegian): looking at each other hoping that the other will do something that both want, but neither is willing to do

apres vu: The psychological tactic of waiting for the other guy to admit seeing it first

sprachgefuhl (German): The intuitive feeling of a speaker for the essential character of a language; linguistic instinct. Also loosely, the character or genius of a language

cearth: the feeling that comes of an urge to create frustrated by the inability to act it out, particularly artistically. also, the feeling of frustration at being incapable of adequately expressing one’s thoughts or feelings in words

aware (Japanese): an awareness and appreciation of the ephemeral beauty of the world. the seasons change, the cherry blossom gently falls, the crops are planted, grow, and die. aware is that poignant sensation one has of time passing, of the inevitable cycle fo life

shibui (Japanese): an aesthetic that only time can reveal. as we become older and more marked by the riches of life’s experience, we radiate with a beauty that stems from becoming fully ourselves. the term can be applied to almost anything- a landscape, a house, or even a piece of aged wood can be deemed fine art

groak: to stare silently at a person who is eating in the hope of being given some of the food

shuggleftulation: That peculiar encounter with an oncoming stroller characterized by dance-like and indecisive movements from side to side, as each participant helplessly fences with the other in an effort to avoid a head-on collision.

petrichor: The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell

aporia (Greek): derived from a-poros, “no way through”, this term refers to the feeling you get in almost any situation where you are at a loss, unable to work through a problem, cross a place, or reach a person. Indeed, this rather despairing state of mind has been described in its extreme form as “being radically at a loss before the world we inhabit”

thambos (Greek): faced with nature in all its various aspects and moods, from its exquisite calmness to its most terrible extremes fo violence, from its spectacular to its tiniest and most detailed beauty, what are we to feel? Fear? Or joy? a sense of homage, awe, or respect? Thambos summarizes all those mingled emotions that go with being struck dumb, litterally “immobilized” by something way beyond one’s understanding

meraki (greek): describes doing something with soul, creativity, or love- when you put “something of yourself” into what you’re doing, whatever ti 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

mokita (Kiriwina, New Guinea): the truth that everyone knows but no one wants ot talk about openly. This unspoken truth is usually something unpleasant or unwelcome tha twill disrupt the social pieace or bring percieved family embarrassment if brought out into the open

lethologica: the inability to recall the precise word for something

loganamnosis: obsession with trying to recall a forgotten word

agnuopia: a salacious and submissive stare, the notorious come-hither look

dysania: state of having a rough time waking up and dragging yoruself out of bed in the morning

dysphagia: difficulty swallowing, a word that could readily be applied to intellectual ingestion