There is one clear difference, though: Iyer has not invented them. The definitions she illustrates – 60 so far, from 30 different languages – match The Meaning of Liff for absurdity, but all of them are real. There is komorebi, Japanese for ‘the sort of scattered dappled light effect that happens when sunlight shines in through trees’; or rire dans sa barbe, a French expression meaning ‘to laugh in your beard quietly while thinking about something that happened in the past’.
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The Secret History of Knock-Knock Jokes - 3 views
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Knock. Knock. Who's there? Joe King. Joe King who? Joking like this used to be considered a sickness by some people. The knock-knock joke has been a staple of American humor since the early 20th century. With its repetitive set-up and wordplay punchline, the form has been invoked - and understood - by people of all ages and sensibilities.
BBC - Culture - Eleven untranslatable words - 1 views
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Iyer’s Found in Translation project will be published as a book later in 2014. She has been a polyglot since childhood. “My parents come from different parts of India, so I grew up learning five languages,” she says. “I’d always loved the word Fernweh, which is German for ‘longing for a place you’ve never been to’, and then one day I started collecting more.”Some are humorous, while others have definitions that read like poetry. “I love the German word Waldeinsamkeit, ‘the feeling of being alone in the woods’. “It captures a sense of solitude and at the same time that feeling of oneness with nature.” Her favourite is the Inuit word Iktsuarpok, which means ‘the frustration of waiting for someone to turn up’, because “it holds so much meaning. It’s waiting, whether you are waiting for the bus to show up or for the love of your life. It perfectly describes that inner anguish associated with waiting.”
How 'The Good Place' Goes Beyond 'The Trolley Problem' - The Atlantic - 0 views
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How The Good Place Goes Beyond ‘The Trolley Problem’ In Season 2, the terrific NBC sitcom continues to explore ethics without sacrificing complexity or humor.
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