Words that are missing from the English Language

thoughts

Interestingly there are some words in the German language that don’t have a one to one correspondence in English. When using them in a translation, these words leave you unsatisfied, longing for better phrases to describe the feeling.

Here are two examples of German words that I struggle with to translate:

  • Geborgenheit – the feeling of belonging, safety and protection
  • Gemuetlichkeit – the state that occurs when hanging out with friends or family and having a good time – but not in a loud way.  Also includes a feeling of warmth. (I made these definitions up, there might be better definitions out there).

Of course there are also cases, where the English language has adopted a German word. Examples include Zeitgeit, and Waldsterben (less used these days – hey, we Texans still struggle with the concept of climate change 😉 – I digress. ). But more often the opposite is taking place – the German language integrating English words into the common usage.

On a philosophical level it is interesting to explore what “thought space” a language is able to describe. If you think of language as manifestation of thoughts (which I believe is not the only way thoughts can exist) then there are things or concepts that people speaking a certain language cannot sufficiently describe. I know people have studied tribe languages to determine how far along they where developed. I’m not convinced that there’s a true hierarchy of languages – maybe just sets of languages with varying degree of overlap. For example the native Indian tribes of america had many many ways to describe phenomena’s of nature. Our western world languages seem to have rubbed off of each other enough that the overlap is almost 100%. But traveling to Africa or East Asia will open a language space that is unknown to the western world. (Unfortunately I don’t know enough about that yet to write about it in an intelligent way – but maybe in the future …).

Back to the thought that German has words for “Gemuetlichkeit” and “Geborgenheit” while the English language has not, strikes me as one of the German oddities. After all the German’s aren’t known for their warmth but for their efficiency and bluntness. But having grown up in Germany I’ve come to know and experience that the private side of being German actually does include these cozy warm fuzzy feelings as well. They are usually just well hidden from the public eye. Germans are private people.

 

Car Lust

car

Every so often I find myself lusting after a new set of wheels. This is such a time. The first step of fighting this expensive lust is to stop the subscription of the car magazine that shows off the latest and greatest sports cars. Check.

But as they say, “talking about it” also helps with the problem, so here it goes:

What I’m going to describe are cars that make me smile when I see them on the road. Not all of them are exactly feasible as a daily driver, but many of them would be up to the task. Since I’m not going to buy new, all these cars that are at least 2 years old and available on the used market. Some of them are nevertheless quite expensive – especially in maintenance.

Let’s start with a list:

  • Mercedes S500 AMG V8 Kompressor
  • BMW 335d
  • BMW 135i
  • Mini Cooper S convertible (oh, I already got one of those)
  • Audi Q5 3.2
  • Audi S5
  • Porsche Cayman S
  • Porsche 911 S4 – 997 model (2007+)
  • Volvo C70 hardtop convertible with the T5 enginge
  • BMW GT 550 – Twin Turbo V8
  • Subaru WRX stationwagon
  • Audi R8
  • Audi Allroad 2.7T (for snow) 2008
  • Caddillac CTS-V wagon (supercharged 6.2l V8 – 556hp)
  • Toyota Prius (yes, I’m serious)
  • Mercedes CLS (2008)
  • VW Corrado G60 (1993)
  • BMW 635 CSI
  • Porsche 928 GTS
  • Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
  • Volvo C30 T5
  • Lotus Elise
  • Audi A8L 4.2 (until 2001)

Oh, the list is so long! Well, there is a theme here: I like cars either for their powerful and hopefully super/turbo-charged engines, their large size, their looks or their technology. Sometimes it’s a combination of it. There would be more Diesel powered vehicles on the list if they were only sold in the US. We only got the wimpy small displacement TDIs from VW and Audi in the past. If we had the 2.5 and 3.0l TDIs in the US, they would all be on my list. But they’re made of “unobtainium” in the US. And the general public doesn’t know what they’re missing. Last year I drove a BMW GT 530d in Germany and couldn’t believe the power of the vehicle! What a blast to drive!