Untranslatable Words

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Have you told Xavier ?

oh, i think he knows.

[Taylor514ce]

:frantically checking the 'rose by another name' thread to see if I'm Xavier:

dang

[zelda_pinwheel]

maybe it's your superhero secret identity, in which case the last thing you want is to put it on a poll.

[Taylor514ce]

If I'm following along correctly, if I am Xavier, that would make me a PWB, living off small change, the whispered wishes of the broken-hearted, and tennis shoes, or, alternatively, a super squirrel strangely averse to poles. Polls. Poles?

No. I'm not Xavier.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i don't think we should call them PWBs. there are two many TLAs already.

as for your pol(l)(e) aversion, perhaps you could ask one of the PWBs for the address of its well.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

No. I'm not Xavier.

Phew - that gives someone else a chance to be ...

[IceHand]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

what ??? no more esszed ??? it's a travesty !! i hate spelling reforms.

Essentially after a short vowel most words are spelled with "ss" instead of "ß" now, but after a long vowel the "ß" remains, e.g.:
daß -> dass
Fluß -> Fluss
but:
Fuß -> Fuß
groß -> groß
If you want to know more about it: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa092898.htm
(There have been made some more changes, but that's the most obvious one ...)

However you can just use the old spelling, many Germans still do. I was in the funny position to learn both the old and the new spelling (I think I was in 6th grade when it was introduced to us – although it was not officially in use back then).

[pshrynk]

At least all the "R"s are facing the usual way. Tried learning Russian once and could never get the Cyrillic alphabet.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by IceHand

Essentially after a short vowel most words are spelled with "ss" instead of "ß" now, but after a long vowel the "ß" remains, e.g.:
daß -> dass
Fluß -> Fluss
but:
Fuß -> Fuß
groß -> groß
If you want to know more about it: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa092898.htm
(There have been made some more changes, but that's the most obvious one ...)

However you can just use the old spelling, many Germans still do. I was in the funny position to learn both the old and the new spelling (I think I was in 6th grade when it was introduced to us – although it was not officially in use back then).

well i suppose some esszeds are better than no esszeds. not that i know enough german for it make much difference to me.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

I usually call him George.

"Adrian"?

Cheers,
Marc (you can never have too many Adrians)

[sanders]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

not bad, although in french at least there is a connotation of psychological well-being as well as physical, i don't know if comfy is quite so versatile.

Exactly. I thought you'd use "comfy" in "a comfy chair" ("Oh no! Not the comfy chair!!") but would you say you were at a "comfy party"?

I think you'd use "gezellig" as somewhere in the middle between "boring" and "totally raving we-were-breaking-down-the-place", but on the good side of it. So if you were at a "gezellige" party, there would be enough to drink but people wouldn't get totally pissed; no nude dancers on the table but no awkward silences either :-)

Cheers,
Sander

[mores]

gesellig = sociable ?
Dictionary gave me "convivial" and "festive" and "folksy" (heh) too.
"chummy" and "chummily" were new to me.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by sanders

Exactly. I thought you'd use "comfy" in "a comfy chair" ("Oh no! Not the comfy chair!!") but would you say you were at a "comfy party"?...

I see from some googling that "cozy, ease, tranquility and well-being." is meant to be close (but no cigar) - I can see how that's not right either. I really like mores's extra words too, but I they're more just adding to the pile of words that sum a total.

Of course, being English, we can always just use "gezellig" enough that it eventually becomes an "English" word (that is, makes it into the OED ).

Cheers,
Marc (whose parties are definitely not "gezellig" - they're definitely a few steps past "gezellig")

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I see from some googling that "cozy, ease, tranquility and well-being." is meant to be close (but no cigar) - I can see how that's not right either. I really like mores's extra words too, but I they're more just adding to the pile of words that sum a total.

Of course, being English, we can always just use "gezellig" enough that it eventually becomes an "English" word (that is, makes it into the OED ).

Cheers,
Marc (whose parties are definitely not "gezellig" - they're definitely a few steps past "gezellig")

i also vote that we start using "gezellig" in english, it seems like a fine word, and i have in the past been somewhat at a loss for a good equivalent of "on est bien ici" so i'll be pleased to have it.

[Taylor514ce]

I have no clue how to pronounce German. If I'm going to adopt this word, I need a video of ZP showing me how to say it, with tight focus on her lips.