For All You Logophiles Out There

As a new intern, I often find myself with odd pockets of time during the day in which I have no work to do. So, while snooping around the office this afternoon I found The New Book of Lists--and I was hooked. They have a whole section of lists about words. Here are some of my favorites.

Untranslatable Words

1. BILITA MPASH (Bantu) : a word for specifically blissful dreams
2. CAVOLI RISCALDATI (Italian) : literally "reheated cabbage," this phrase metaphorically links the messy and distasteful act of reheating cabbage with trying to revive a dead love affair
3. DOHADA (Sanskrit) : the unusual appetites and cravings of pregnant women
4. DRACHENFUTTER (German) : literally, "dragon fodder," a drachenfutter is a gift a husband brings to his wife after he stays out too late; may also be used by other couples trying to avoid guilt and retaliation ie employees to bosses, children to parents, and students to teachers
   
5. ESPRIT DE L'ESCALIER (French) : that brilliantly witty response to a public insult that comes into your mind only after you have left the party; literally "the spirit of the staircase"
6. KATZENJAMMER (German) : a monumentally severe hangover (leave it to the germans to quantify this)
7. TARTLE (Scottish) : to hesitate in recognizing a person or thing, such as forgetting an acquaintance's name; "Oh, hello Lisa!" "Hi... I seem to have forgotten your name. Pardon my sudden tartle!"
   

Obsure and Obsolete Words

1. BOANTHROPY : a type of insanity in which a man thinks he is an ox
2. CHANTEPLEURE : to sing and weep at the same time
3. GROAK : to watch people silently while they are eating, hoping they will ask you to join them
4. GYNOTIKOLOBOMASSOPHILE : one who likes to nibble on a woman's earlobes
5. PARNEL : a priest's mistress
6. PILGARLIC : a bald head that looks like a peeled garlic
7. RESISTENTIALISM : seemingly spiteful behavior manifested by inanimate objects

Favorite Yiddish Words or Phrases

1. TUMMLER : someone who stirs things up, a clown
2. FONFER : someone who talks through his or her nose; a gossip; unsuccessful optimist (I'm actually surprised this word exists in Yiddish because it implies that someone existed who wasn't a fonfer)
   
3. TSACHEL : good judment (high praise)
4. K'NOCKER : a big shot who shows off but has no real merit
5. FARTOOST : confused, befuddled