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We love "wabi", the Japanese word for the slightest of irregularities in a regular (artful) object that gives it its own tremulous beauty...

There are several Brazilian-Portuguese expressions, that I can't see an equivalent in English. All are "animal-related". I'll write them alongside a literal translation, and the general idea expressed...
- "A vaca foi para o brejo" - The cow went to the swamp, meaning something like we're ruined, all went down the drain
- "Estou com a pulga atras da orelha" - I'm with a flea behind my ear, meaning I'm suspicious about something, usually used when you're told a story, but don't quite believe it, there are parts on the story that left you wondering...
- "Matar a cobra e mostrar o pau" - Kill the snake and show the stick, meaning you've completely explained something, out of any doubt
- "Hora da onca beber agua" - Time for the jaguar to drink water, meaning now it's when everything will be explained, or something long-waited will happen; also showing that some long-lasting lie will be uncovered
- "Contar com o ovo no cu da galinha" - Count with the egg in the chicken's a**, meaning you are taking for granted something that didn't happen yet

This one has an english expression similar in meaning, but literally different. Even though we almost don't see rabbits here, the equivalent for the English "Kill two birds with one stone" would be translated as "Kill two rabbits with a single beat of stick" (don't know the single-word for beating with a stick...). In Portuguese it's written as "Matar dois coelhos com uma paulada so".

How about the English word "Whatever". I speak two other languages and my office mate speaks another and we agree there is no equivalent in the romance languages nor German.

There are two great expressions in Brazilian Portuguese that don't have perfect translations in English. One is "ficar a vontade," which people say when you enter their homes, a store, a restaurant, etc. It means welcome, but has a deeper meaning, suggesting that one should live as their will or desires tell them too in that particular place.

The other is the concept of "saudades," which is often translated as homesickness, but is really a nostalgia and sentimentality for the past, for people who are deeply missed as having been part of a happy time together.

Lebenskunstler is my favorite word, it means 'life artist' which we don't have in English or American. Gemutlichkeit means something about the warmth when a large group is around the table and fire and talking and eating and drinking into the night. We don't have this in American or English. Zeitgeist - spirit of the age. Angstfurzukunft - fear of the future. Incubus - a kind of being who overcomes you.

Another good Italian one:
"C’ho il dente avvelenato"

It literally means "I have a poisoned tooth," but it's used the way we say "Don't ask," or "Don't get me started." It means that whatever it is we're talking about is a sore point with me, and I would go on and on about it if given the opportunity.

How about Russian pirdunya, an old lady who farts alot. That's what the obscene dictionary says.

My brother was recently married, and my mother commented that in Yiddish, there is a word for the relationship between the parents of the two wedded individuals. I can't remember what the word was, but it is a shame to not have something to describe that relationship in English.

I also recall my friend's Russian mother using a phrase which translated (I was told) into "may you get pine needles in your eyes", presumably as a curse.

a beautiful chinese word: shebude, which has a connotation of reluctance to let something go because you will miss it, or you already miss it.

Growing up in NYC speaking Finnish, there was a common expression I heard regarding the disposition of Finland's expansive neighbor nation. "Russa on russa vailkka voissa paistaa". Russia is Russia even if fried in butter. Given the common history of those countries it points to Finland's inherent distrust of Russian policy. To fry with butter, rather than a lesser fat would be the greatest compliment to bestow upon a given food( or country), but it wouldn't change the the essential Russian character.

You were just speaking about French's utility for English. It also applies to a lot of words in Vietnamese, mostly for things which the Vietnamese didn't have until the French occupation. E.g., a large vehicle (for which the prefix is "xe") is a camyon (think of a French truck, or "camion"). The Vietnamese word for "cheese" is "fo-mat," roughly equivalent to "fromage." And a western shirt in Vietnamese is referred to as an "ao [prefix for clothing] che-mi," as in "chemise." Those French have planted their seeds far and wide.

Just heard someone talking about CHUTA (missed in which language) - this is the first time I have heard of an equivalent to the GOERGIAN word MEGOBARI - GOBI means a cooking pot, so MEGOBARI is a person who eats from the same pot with you, a closest friend.

Another phrase in Georgian - sheni chiri me - your troubles unto me - I will take on all your troubles - to denote love and affection for someone

And how about this one - Mama in Goergian means father and Deda means Mother, really!

In many ways Norwegians tend to be less polite these days than Americans, but after you have eaten a meal, at least if you eat at someone's house, you are always supposed to thank for the food by saying "takk for maten" (thanks for the food) and when you meet (or talk on the phone with) someone you have met (relatively recently) you usually thank the person for the last time you met by saying "takk for sist" (thanks for last).

Here are two words/phrases from Turkish that I enjoy:
1. üsenmek (there should be a comma-like line, like a cedilla, under the s that makes the s go "sh", but I can't find it on my computer): This is a verb that means, all in one word, "to have to but not wanna."

2. eating the flesh of my head: (I don't know how to say it in Turkish!) a phrase to describe the act of a person who persistently bugs you to the point where you begin to feel gnawed upon.

To Miss Little,

The tagalog word you referred to on today's show is actually "taglish" and it's LAYOGENIC not LUYOGENIC.

LAYO means distance and "GENIC" was taken from the word "photogenic"

We have a word "Kilig" that is also interesting.

It's that happy, giddy feeling you get when you see someone have a crush on, or idolize.

When I lived in Sweden, I thought my boyfriend's mother and grandmother had major respiratory issues, as they were always making these gaspy croaky noises at dinners.
Much much later I found out those little gasps were a way of showing support or agreeing with whatever had just been said.
Really odd. And they never thought to teach us that in any of my Swedish courses.

A great one is the Russian word "tochka," which is related to schadenfreude, but more masochistic. It is the feeling of reminiscing about something painful, and taking pleasure in this reminiscence. So, not really pain at the pleasure of others, but more like pleasure at your own pain. Not quite as spitefully as the German word, though, and it has a rather romantic connotation.

"Il a tous ce qu'il faut, la ou il faut." A French expression to say someone is good looking literally translates to: "he has all the right things, in all the right places."

Jiang Hu / Rivers & Lakes

in chinese, literally means river & lake but actually means the world, sometimes a precarious, perilous world.

The word "magari" in Italian means "it should only be" and has no counterpart in English.

George Mott
NYC

We do have a phrase in English similar to the one the guest just mentioned about someone's looks:

"Good from a far but far from good."

My father, born and raised in Germany until the age of 9, used to yell " Mensch Mayer!" when angry. As [far as i know this has absolutely no meaning in English, Mensch meaning man & mayer being a common last name. Even my German prof in college had no explanation.

I am really amused by a Castillian Spanish phrase (colloquial) "de puta madre" which literally means "of the whore mother" but translates to the English "fantastic" or "awesome"!

The word that always gets me is the French word "costaud", which means "strong man" but has all these additional connotations in my mind of a specific type of person. It just doesn't quite exist in English, where there's no one word to say "a strong, reasonably good-hearted but probably not super-intelligent guy".

Russian has a few great terms that English is missing, but I think the most useful is "онидно" (ah-BEED-no), which refers to what Alanis Morrisette calls ironic in her song that isn't exactly irony. It literally translates as "offensive," but it is also the term for the free ride when you've already paid or other things that are somehow cosmically unjust. Staying dry all the way to a job interview and having the receptionist spill coffee on you, etc. Once you know it, you find obidno things all the time!

I spoke Hebrew when I lived in Israel for 3 years as a child. I don't speak it now, but there are some words that stick. One of them is "broges" (bro-ges (with hard g)). In English, it would be that two people are in a state of being "angry with each other". It's easier to say they are broges.

To your caller on facciala camera. first, camera is understood by italians as the bedroom she should have used the word spazio=space, room so "fare spazio" is make room. She said "make (there) bedroom".

"Anh Moui" -- Mr. Rain --

in Hanoi (maybe elsewhere in VN) this can mean the man who comes around to be with a woman friend only during the torrential rain. (Describes a relationship...)

There is no way to translate Cheng(2) Yu(3) (four-character expressions originated from a legend or fairy tale) in Mandarin Chinese to English in the same poetic and economical way.

Elena, that is the polite version. There is also "In culo alla ballena" which means "Up the whale's a__". And the reply is "Che non scoreggi!" which means "I hope it doesn't fart".

A common good-luck phrase among students taking final exams.

How about the Italian phrase for Good Luck: "In Bocca al Lupo" which literally means "In the Mouth of the Wolf" and you're supposed to respond "Crepi" which means "may he (the wolf) die!" saying good luck (buona fortuna) brings bad luck!

French native speaker but I love English. It has so many more words and expressions... but, there's is one expression missing.

When you are swimming in a pool, depending on how shallow/deep it is, your feet may or may not touch the bottom. In French, you say that you "have foot" when it's shallow enough to touch the bottom.

English doesn't have any simple and short expression for it (to the best of my knowledge). I've asked around but nobody knows any expression in English.

I love the Japanese word for wisdom teeth: "oyashirazu" (OY ya shee RAH zoo). It translates to "parents don't know it" meaning wisdom teeth are the teeth your parents will never see because they come in when you are in your 20s when (back in the day when 40 was old) your parents are already dead.

trite?

Having just spent the weekend in Vermont, I was trying to find the American English equivalent of the Britishism "twee." The closest I could find was "precious," which doesn't satisfy. I'm trying to describe the Laura Ashley aesthetic: overly flowery, overly pastel colored, overly cutsie. Too many geraniums and awnings on Main St. Any ideas?