Sometimes you just can’t find the right words. Often times, you can describe something with a long-winded explanation, but wouldn’t it be great if you could just spit it out with one eloquent phrase or word?
Just because there isn’t an English word for some bizarre occurrence or item doesn’t mean another language doesn’t have one. Take a look at how detailed other languages are in describing certain things – now I know what to call someone who seriously needs a slap in the face!
1. Pesamenteiro
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This is Portuguese for someone who shows up at wakes or funerals to pretend to mourn with the family…but really just wants the free food.
2. Prozvonit
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This is the word for when you hang up on someone before they can answer the phone in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
3. Pisan Zapra
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This is a Malaysian word for the time it takes to eat a banana. Before watches, it was used to describe a brief period of time.
4. Pikikiwepogosi
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This Ojibwe (a Native American tribe) word means the taste of an animal that had been chased and tired out before it was finally caught.
5. Pu’ukaula
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This is Hawaiian for when you put your husband or wife in the pot while gambling.
6. Rire dans sa barbe
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A french term for laughing quietly behind your beard while remembering good times from the past.
7. Tsujigiri
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This Japanese term means “crossroad killing” for back when samurai would get new swords and test their sharpness on unsuspecting travelers.
8. Pochemuchka
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A Russian word for someone who asks too many questions.
9. Tingo
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Pascuense, an Eastern Polynesian language, for when one slowly steals all of a neighbors possessions by borrowing and never returning them.
10. Shlimazl
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A Yiddish word for someone who is chronically unlucky.
11. Papakata – this Maori word is for when one of somebody’s legs is shorter than the other.
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12. Gattara
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An older woman who lives alone and commits herself to taking in and caring for stray cats.
13. Nakhur
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In Persian, this is what a camel is called when it won’t give milk until its nostrils are tickled.
14. Gintawan
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This Manobo word (a language spoken in the Philippines) translates roughly to “the energy and industry of the first wife.” It’s in reference to the feeling of having to work extra hard for attention when someone new is brought into the mix.
15. Backpfeifengesicht
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This is a German word for a face that “is badly in need of a fist.”
(via Listverse, Huffington Post)
As terrible as it sounds, I totally have a friend who goes to wakes for the free food – or a Pesamenteiro. Do you know someone who is characterized by one of these words? Share it with them!
