h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Untranslatables - A784505
Author: Matthew - U196887

Trying to get more input for this idea. Anything you havewill be carefully considered and most likely use in the final product. I thank you all for what I am sure will be some wonderful word/phrases with even better meanings.
Thanks,
Matthew

zeitgeist - the spirit of the time (german)

the way most of these sort of words get dealt with is by being absorbed into english. This is why most languages have a few hundred thousand words, and english has more than 1.5 million words (and rising).

Thankyou. Yes I know, we have a knack for taking what we need from other languages and cultures and absorbing them. As an American I know we take the same approach with religion, economics, all manner of other things.

Chutzpah?

Hebrew (?) for charismatic nerve, front, cheek etc...

Otto

What a wonderful idea for a collaborative entry! I'm going to feature this on my home space

How about 'mu'? It's a chinese word meaning roughly 'nothing', and is sometimes translated as 'not two'. Some claim that once you have understood 'mu' you have understood all zen.

One famous zen koan illustrates 'mu':
>>> A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?" Joshu retorted, "Mu!"

that maybe mu's approximate translation, but that is not realy how it is used.

it is often used in situations where the existing choices don't realy fit your case, but you can't think of an answer that would fit.

for example...

question: have you stopped beating your wife?

answer: yes / no / mu

... of course the proper answer for that question would be something like "I never started, so how can I stop", but often you cannot think of that sort of solution on the fly, so you would use mu instead.

Excellent, thankyou for Chutzpah.
Is that Hebrew or Yiddish? It has a bit of a yiddish ring to it I think. I'll definitely use that one.

Matthew

Mu.
Excellent. I actually had a Greek word (teepota, phonetically of course) in mind that translates into roughly the same thing, but it is also used to meaning "nothing" in the literal sense.
I am familiar with the koan you mentioned, it is one of my favorites.
I am also in the middle of starting a collaborative entry on just that subject, Zen koans, or equivilent non-Zen sayings. I'll let you know when I start asking for input.
Thanks,
Matthew

xyroth,
Thankyou for the clarification. It is very helpful and entertaining.
Matthew

How about these then?

ersatz
angst
doppelganger
glockenspiel
rinderpest
kindergarten
dachshund
blitzkrieg
poltergeist
spiel
gestalt
rucksack
stein

(copied from F61180?thread=127500)

Some more examples can be found at http://www.germanenglishwords.com

Does 'Bossel' count?

I'm sorry, what does Bossel mean? And what language?
Matthew

Thankyou.
Most of those are good, but some have been totally assimilated into english. I guess what I'm looking for is something more obscure. I'll definitely use them in the entry as examples of what can be done w/untranslatables. Thankyou again.

Matthew

he does when he comments in the writing workshop, or in peer review

as to his facility with arithmatic, I couldn't realy comment.

'Bossel' itself doesn't mean anything particular and thus cannot be translated. As to my postings here or there, I *hope* they are

Ah, but to those of us with an ear for the 'jungle telegraph', the sounds and symbols "Bossel"
mean
"pay attention, the person who almost but not quite always knows has deigned to speak"
or, simply
"Bwana"...

Sauna

Ombudsman

Smorgasbord (originally spelt Smörgåsbord)

Gravlax

Que Gravlax?

Ok. I appreciate all the suggestions, but I need languges and approximate meanings if that's alright.
Thank you

> "That may be mu's approximate translation, but that is not really how it is used"

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/mu.html

You're wrong
-Martin