This episode of my podcast looks at foreign words which encapsulate collective experience of nuanced emotions. And invents an English one!
This episode of my podcast looks at foreign words which encapsulate collective experience of nuanced emotions. And invents an English one!
Well, that was quite fascinating, Ant. I do love languages, and wish I could speak more of them, but alas, not in this life, anyway.
Of course, English is a Germanic language, which has evolved over the centuries, and indeed, continues to evolve. I wonder how many ‘foreign’ words have become obsolete and been forgotten, or simply assimilated into the English language itself. Many, I would guess.
A nice trek through our neighbours’ languages Ant. Thanks. I like your account of how the Finns realized Sisu needed to be balanced by reason and compassion. Balance and
nuance seems to be disappearing from public debate nowadays – just look over the Pond! So my (sort of) neologism is SEESAW – seeing things from two extreme angles, and every one in between.
PS. We must remember that the poor old Finns were sandwiched between two ruthless tyrants, Stalin and Hitler. Having tried valiantly, against overwhelming odds, to fight off the former, they ended up siding with the latter. Would we have done any better?