Thursday, June 28, 2012

Words


Ohh look, stripes! Sadly, it's not a feature I've designed, it's just one I can't get rid of due to the fact I'm a Luddite when it comes to cut and paste. 
But hey, I'm just going to embrace it. Do you like my redecoration?
I came across this list the other day - you may well have seen it as it's been doing the rounds on the interweb but it's just too good not to cut and paste repeat. 
In a nutshell it's a list of 25 words that don't exist in the English language: okay, we're kicking off with :
1 Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut. Isn't that a great word. I wonder if there's one that's 'To look like a poodle after a blow dry'. I've been there. I needed that word. 
2 Arigata-meiwaku (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude. Oh, that's getting way too complicated for my simple brain, but I can almost get it.
3 Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist. I love that word. I work with people who work with people who need that word. 
4 Bakku-shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind. Is that better or worse than 'A beautiful person...until they open their mouth'?
5 Desenrascanço (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation (To MacGyver it). I'm okay with 'MacGyver' as a verb. 
6 Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc. I've never needed this word, but I can understand it would be very helpful for some. 
7 Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love. I can't believe we need ten words to describe this, when one would do.
8 Gigil (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute. I'm hearing ya. 
9 is a bit boring. 
10 Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.  A third time? Really? It's sad that this word exists. 
11 L’esprit de l’escalier (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it. This word is me. 
12 started to lose me and 13 as well. Oh and, add 14. 
15 Meraki (pronounced may-rah-kee; Greek): Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. It’s when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing. I'm loving meraki. 
16 Nunchi (Korean): the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In Western culture, nunchi could be described as the concept of emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially clumsy person can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, meaning “absent of nunchi” And I'm loving nunchi as well. 
17 Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation. Does 'cringe and die a little bit inside' also work? 
18 Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions. Hmmm, some of my nearest and dearest would argue that we have a word for that in English: 'Kate'.
19 Schadenfreude (German): the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain. I think that's done the jump to English. 
20 Sgriob (Gaelic): The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky. Don't get that. 
21 Taarradhin (Arabic): implies a happy solution for everyone, or “I win. You win.” It’s a way of reconciling without anyone losing face. Arabic has no word for “compromise,” in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement.I like this word. 
22 Tatemae and Honne (Japanese): What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively. Graham Capill, anyone?
23 Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor’s house until there is nothing left. Don't think I need that word. 
24 Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods.Does this apply to bears?
25 Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways,’ referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language. I get this !
Anyhou, feel free to expand your vocab. I shall endeavour to (but can safely safe, will fail miserably. But I'm okay with that). 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Where the Hell is Matt?


See if you can watch this without a smile on your dial. 

I do believe it's impossible.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Kitten Mayhem

Check this out.

Brilliant isn't it? Even when you hardly understand a word.

But watch it again and check out the attention to detail. Milk out of the water cooler. Fish out of the vending machine, little bowls of milks on the table at the board room meeting, 'meow, meow, meow' as subtitles on the television. And my personal favourite - le chastronaute.

But what a casting nightmare.

Monday, June 18, 2012

@#$%& Printer!

A friend sent me this.....

....genius!

I hear where that pussy cat is coming from. Those printers never learn. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

I'm a filthy Robber.

I swiped this from Brother-in-law's Facebook. 


But it made me laugh so I have no shame. 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Ratings Winner

This, I have cut and paste straight from Facebook.

Saudis have created their own version of the "Arabs Got Talent" TV reality show, but with no music and women banned from taking part. Instead, competitors (male only) will be permitted to perform religious chants, recite poems and engage in sports events.

A quick Google search backs it all up.  This obvious ratings knock out is called 'Buraydah's Got Talent' and, Simon Cowell, eat your heart out cause these judges consist of a poet,  television presenters and a television producer.

Sensational. I have got to get to see a bit of that.

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Taking the Piss

There’s a woman who sits on the footpath near my workplace and asks for spare change from all and sundry who walk by.

Recently I stopped feeling guilty about not giving her any coins after I spotted her smoking when she was on a break.

I didn’t realise quite how experienced she was at parking up and requesting money until the other day when I spotted her on the ground outside bakery. I heard the end of a conversation she was having with a stranger who had stopped. He was telling her he would buy her a cheesy roll.

‘Could ya get them to heat it up?’ She yelled after him as he headed into the bakery.

And in one small sentence she reiterated why I give my spare change to kids who busk. 

Friday, June 01, 2012

Joke Time

What are the first three letters of the Greek alphabet?

I.O.U.

Thank you Popbitch.