“Getting Drunk In Your Underwear”: 34 Concepts English Doesn’t Have Dedicated Words For

Kummerspeck ... Grief (or worry) bacon. It's the weight you gain from emotional eating.

I also like Backpfeifengesicht ... It's a face just asking to be slapped.

Irish. Beochaoineadh. Literally “alive crying”. It means a lament for those who still live but you know you may never see them again or is otherwise lost to you in a permanent, painful and irreversible way.

When you consider we’re a nation of people who have a history of leaving our loved ones behind in a desperate search for something better, it makes sense we have such a word.

“Alcahueta” - I learned that from my Colombian husband. It refers to an enabling mom who can see no wrong in their son, who is perfect in their eyes. I use it often when gossiping about relatives 🤣.

Sobremesa, it's the period of time you stay seated at the table talking after you're done eating.

Tocayo/tocaya is a person who shares your first name. I like it because my name is not that common, so I can say “hola, tocaya!” when I notice another one of us :).

Swedish: Lek (unstructured play or game) and spel (structured play or game).

For example a tug or war with my dog is lek, while monopoly is spel.

I do game design and while i can talk about structured and unstructured play i cant do so effortlessly with people knowing exactly what I mean.

痛快 (tong kuai) is something you say when something hurts but it feels good in Mandarin, like a super deep massage. It means happy pain :).

I got a reverse one; I speak french and we don’t have a word for “Cheap” isn’t that crazy? Such a simple word. We just say not expensive or affordable.

Lagom. It means "the right amount" so "how many cookies do you want?" "lagom."

Lithuanian has two distinct words for law as in laws of physics, and law as in codex. We don't need to clarify if breaking a law is illegal, or impossible. Feels like a given to have!

Vaska (Swedish) = it means pouring something down the "vask" (kitchen sink). usually something expensive, for bragging rights, to show you are rich. you can say vaska about anything you destroy to show you are too rich to care. like, "im gonna vaska this car. god im so rich.".

Considering my language predates all European languages every being spoken in America; In Lakota (Sioux Nation) there are many words and phrases that, while technically have translation to a point, dont embody the cultural or spiritual implications of them in English. So Šúŋkawakȟáŋ would roughly translate to "Spirit Dog" but is a phrase that describes horses in the context of their impact on our people and their spiritual significance. It doesn't just mean "a horse." There are also MANY different ways and accompanying words/phrases that can accompany it that would change the implication of the words.

Another example would be Makȟá. The direct translation would be the earth but also means the soil, nature, the spirit of the earth and the creator spirit. Variations of its use would be Makȟáta: to be on the Earth or in nature. Makhíthma: to be in or one with the Earth/nature/the spirit of the creator. Or Uŋčí Makȟá which is used more strictly for ceremonial purposes.

Spanish has caliente and piquante for hot food, meaning two different types of heat. I wish English had that.

In German there's the "Doch"It's a word that means "nuh-uh". But it carries such power when being used. You can totally shut down someone's argument with just that word.

Apapachar, to hug with all your soul.

口寂しい 'Kuchisabishii' - Lonely Mouth, it's stress or boredom eating. Eating out of habit? or chewing on something to have something to do.

On the other hand, Esperar. Means both to wait and to hope, in Spanish. I guess the context helps, but in English we definitely use them in very different circumstances.

Korean 눈치 (noon-chi)! it means the ability to notice other people’s subtle emotions or thoughts. for example, if someone kept talking about something that clearly bores the other person who is too polite to leave the conversation, you’d that that person doesn’t have noon-chi, or the ability to notice (that they want to talk about something else).

Schadenfreude..🇩🇪.. Rejoicing 😃 in someone else's misfortune 😔..

Otužovat se = getting your body used to cold temperatures in order to be healthy.