Human experience is shared, even if words aren鈥檛
Just because you don鈥檛 speak Danish doesn鈥檛 mean that you can鈥檛 experience the particular sense of coziness that the famous "hygge" denotes.
Staff
Last time we talked, we looked at the German word , a combination of 鈥渇ingertip鈥� and 鈥渟ense鈥� or 鈥渇eeling,鈥� which connotes a kind of sixth-sense awareness of the right move in a difficult situation.聽
What about the notion that if a language has a word for a particular idea, users of that language have a kind of exclusive or privileged access to that concept? This is a widespread belief: Languages can contain untranslatable words and if you don鈥檛 know the language, you鈥檙e barred from that experience. This is not true.
There鈥檚 definitely something fascinating about supposedly untranslatable words. I own several enjoyable books about such words. But not knowing the word 贵颈苍驳别谤蝉辫颈迟锄别苍驳别蹿眉丑濒 doesn鈥檛 mean that you can鈥檛 grok the idea of the subtle skills it refers to. And just because you don鈥檛 speak Danish doesn鈥檛 mean that you can鈥檛 experience the particular sense of coziness that the famous hygge denotes.
It is true that cultures develop worldviews, ways of perceiving and thinking about the world, that are often reflected in their vocabulary. It takes effort to put oneself in their intellectual and emotional shoes. But it鈥檚 possible. You can acquire a sense of hygge as a speaker of English, even if it takes reading a magazine article or a book. People recognize feelings such as hygge as part of human experience. We are not total strangers to each other.
There are aspects of our reality that are still waiting for words. Douglas Adams (of 鈥淗itchhiker鈥檚 Guide to the Galaxy鈥� fame) and John Lloyd once wrote a delightful little book, 鈥淭he Meaning of Liff.鈥� The premise was to put 鈥渦seless鈥� place names, from Wales and other places, to work by assigning them concepts for which hitherto we have not had a word. One of my favorite entries:
鈥淐ORRIEARKLET (n.) The moment at which two people approaching from opposite ends of a long passageway, recognise each other and immediately pretend they haven鈥檛. This is to avoid the ghastly embarrassment of having to continue recognising each other the whole length of the corridor.鈥�
If like me, you work at a place with long corridors (one of ours at MIT is actually called 鈥淭he Infinite Corridor鈥�), you know this phenomenon well and now you have a word for it.聽
For additional concepts that may deserve a word, pay attention to the internet meme TFW (鈥渢hat feeling when鈥�), which consists of succinct descriptions of all-too-recognizable situations. TFW the word count has been reached.
Guest columnist Kai von Fintel is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.聽In a Word columnist Melissa聽Mohr is on sabbatical.