What is the most poetic word in your language and why?
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
Not poetic I reckon, but I like that effective has two Fs and defective only has one. That missing F makes something not work. So, in essence, sometimes, to give an F can help make something work.
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It may not be the most poetic, but I'm partial to the word holdfast, which is a biological structure that anchors organisms to surfaces. "Hold fast" was an order given to sailors of yore, telling them to grab tightly onto the ship to avoid being washed overboard in storms. The word suggests images of kelp, mussels, or sponges doing the same, determinedly holding fast against the waves, figurative and literal.
Good one. People do still say "hold fast"!
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in german, the uterus literally translates to birthmither
an actually poetic word in german is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
not because it is very romantic or sounds nice, but bcs you can basically fill 2 poems with it
uterus
Isn't that just a Russian girl called Ute?
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
Qapla': said to wish fortune on someone, as in "good luck", particularly fortune in some form of honourable battle.
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
Not my language, but I like the Dutch word "peperduur" for "very expensive." I like that the meaning has both historical and emotional aspects: pepper was once very expensive, and a high price can be considered spicy.
In English, "crestfallen" is a good one. When I read it I immediately imagine someone hanging their head in dismay.
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It’s probably not the most poetic, but I like it:
Luftschloss
It literally means „air castle“. It’s a castle made entirely out of air. It looks stunning and grand in your imagination or when you talk about it, but it’s not real.
It’s like having a dream or a vision that sounds great but is completely unrealistic or impossible to achieve.
In English, you might say „pipe dream“ or „castle in the air“, but „Luftschloss“ sounds way more poetic and fragile, evoking something beautiful yet intangible.
There’s another one which is similar, but not the same:
Hirngespinst
The literal transition would be a delicate web spun by your mind. In Englisch you’d probably also say „pipe dream“, but there’s a subtle difference between „Luftschloss“ and „Hirngespinst“.
„Hirngespinst“ is more like an absurd or even silly idea you came up with. By contrast, a „Luftschloss“ tends to describe a beautiful but unrealistic vision with a broader, often more hopeful scope.
We have the equivalent luftslott in Norwegian as well. Often used about the things politicians are trying to sell us during their campaigns. I feel like we have a word similar to the second one as well, but I cannot remember what it would be.
We have a lot of the same words as you in general though.
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In french: "Dépaysement".
It's the feeling a person gets when discovering a foreign country, a new culture. It's usually used in a very positive manner.
I'm a francophone and tried to explain that France is not "dépaysant" enough for a vacation and the closest word I came up with is "exotic", but it's not exactly what I want to convey.
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yeah, in Swedish it's livmoder. Which means the same thing
You got lagom. There are so many words we could import into danish, but instead we get all this stupid American stuff like rizz, prompt
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
Being from Vienna, my word is naturally an insult.
"Meine Allerwerterste/Mein Allerwerterster" (female and male version)
On the one hand, it's a formal and very polite address to someone (meaning something like "my dearest"), but at the same time the word means "my ass".
So with that word you can sound extremely polite and nice while at the same time calling them an ass.
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
I don't know of a singular word, but "cellar door" has been called the most poetic phrase in English by many authors and poets for sounding very pleasant.
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Flâner
To wander aimlessly, without haste and without a specific goal.
Basically taking a stroll
I like this one. It's similar to what I'd pick from English which is amble.
It means to walk at a slow, relaxed pace, often in a leisurely way.
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
English - paraprosdokian - it means a sentence that has a surprise twist. eg. Some people are like slinkies: not really good for much, but they bring a smile to your face when you see one tumble down a set of stairs. From the Greek, basically meaning beyond expectations.
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You got lagom. There are so many words we could import into danish, but instead we get all this stupid American stuff like rizz, prompt
Danish don't have lagom?
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Flâner
To wander aimlessly, without haste and without a specific goal.
Basically taking a stroll
I love that there was whole culture of people that they got whole wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flâneur
Wandering is one of my favorite activities to do.
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
There is "dzban" or "rzygacz" but my favorite one is "włóczykij" means "one that wanders with the staff"
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I'll start. Inn Norwegian the word for uterus is Livmor. It literally translates to life mother. I think it is such an expressive and beautiful word. Do you have words like that in your language?
No one has done English yet so I’ll go. My favorite is “flatulence” which roughly translates to “gas out of the butt”
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No one has done English yet so I’ll go. My favorite is “flatulence” which roughly translates to “gas out of the butt”
Haha! There are several English ones already. But nice entry either way!
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It’s probably not the most poetic, but I like it:
Luftschloss
It literally means „air castle“. It’s a castle made entirely out of air. It looks stunning and grand in your imagination or when you talk about it, but it’s not real.
It’s like having a dream or a vision that sounds great but is completely unrealistic or impossible to achieve.
In English, you might say „pipe dream“ or „castle in the air“, but „Luftschloss“ sounds way more poetic and fragile, evoking something beautiful yet intangible.
There’s another one which is similar, but not the same:
Hirngespinst
The literal transition would be a delicate web spun by your mind. In Englisch you’d probably also say „pipe dream“, but there’s a subtle difference between „Luftschloss“ and „Hirngespinst“.
„Hirngespinst“ is more like an absurd or even silly idea you came up with. By contrast, a „Luftschloss“ tends to describe a beautiful but unrealistic vision with a broader, often more hopeful scope.
In danish we have luftkastel with the same meaning.
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I don't know of a singular word, but "cellar door" has been called the most poetic phrase in English by many authors and poets for sounding very pleasant.
I learned this from Donnie Darko.
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Danish don't have lagom?
Vi har heller ikke fika
