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It is the vice of a vulgar mind to be thrilled by bigness.

Grows anywhere. St Cuthberts Primary School, Lindisfarne. May 2012.

Sunday Top Five? How about these Top Five Words That We Need To Start Using In English!

  • Backpfeifengesicht, from the German, meaning a face badly in need of a fist.

  • Bakku-shan, from the Japanese, meaning a beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind.

  • L’esprit de l’escalier, from the French, which is generally translated as “staircase wit,” referring to the act of thinking of a clever comeback too far after the moment.

  • Nunchi, from the Korean, meaning the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In the West, nunchi is about knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially awkward individual can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, which means 'absent of nunchi'.

  • Tatemae and Honne, again from the Japanese, which refer to what you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively.

Comments

smudgeon said…
thanks Kris - those Japanese words will be particularly helpful, although i'm not sure i'll be game enough to use bakku shan as a come-on...

...i suspect i may be considerably backpfeifengesicht if i did.
Kris McCracken said…
The Japanese are a very unique people.

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