Tagged: Word
Word of the Week #8 – maliënkolder – Dutch
This week’s WOTW is maliënkolder – and means chain mail in Dutch. I realise this might not immediately strike you as the most useful word in the world, but if you ever find yourself in the middle of a battle-ground in medieval Holland, you’ll be glad you knew it.
Word of the Week #6 – Güle güle kullan – Turkish
I can’t think of any phrase in the English language equivalent to ‘güle güle kullan’.
Word of the Week #5 – presdigitation – French
This is such a fantabulous word because all it means is magic. I will pretentiously be trying to drop this into as many convos as possible this week.
Word of the Week #4 – dia ghuit – Gaelic
Just under half the population of Ireland speak Irish Gaelic to an extent – it’s a compulsory subject in schools. However, only a very small percentage of people there speak Gaelic fluently as a first language (it’s estimated to be 3% of the population).
Pronounced dee-a gwit, this Irish greeting means literally ‘God be with you’. When someone says it to you, the reply is, interestingly, ‘Mary be with you’.
– Aine
Word of the Week #3 – Nilovka – Russian
So nilovka doesn’t just mean awkward, it also means slightly impolite. Which could get a bit nilovka when you don’t know if someone is talking about an awkward situation or a slightly impolite situation. Somehow, the Russians seem to deal with it…
Word of the Week #2 – Existenzangst – German
Existenzangst is a German word meaning literally a fear of existence
“Viele menschen leiden unter Existenzangst” – many people are deeply worried about their future (for example GCSE results next week ha ha)
Guess I’ll be using this word a lot over the next 7 days…….
– Olivia
Word of the Week #1 – Guapísimo – Spanish
This is used either for
something that’s really awesome
or to describe someone who’s
smoking hot
Plus it sounds nice
– José