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Words for how we feel

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By *dam1971 OP   Man
over a year ago

Bedford

Have you ever felt an emotion that you wish you could express in words, but couldn't figure out quite how? Have no fear, here’s a handy list, do you recognise any of these?

Amae (Japanese): The urge to crumple into the arms of a loved one to be coddled and comforted.

Ambiguphobia (coined by American novelist David Foster Wallace): To feel uncomfortable about leaving things open to interpretation.

Awumbuk (from the Baining people, Papua New Guinea): The feeling of heaviness and sorrow you feel after your guests have departed. A feeling of inertia, exhaustion and flatness that descends when a loved guest leaves the house).

Basorexia: The sudden urge to kiss someone.

Broodiness: Of a woman, feeling a maternal desire to have a(nother) baby (Oxford English Dictionary).

Cheesed off: A combination of boredom and anger, with the former leading to the latter.

The collywobbles: A feeling of anxiety and unease in the pit of the stomach, giving an oily, lurching sensation.

Cyberchondria: Anxiety about "symptoms" of an "illness" fueled by Internet "research".

Depaysement (French): The feeling of being an outsider.

Dolce far niente (Italian): The pleasure of doing nothing.

Fago (Ifaluk): A unique emotional concept that blurs the boundaries between compassion, sadness, and love. It is the pity felt for someone in need, which compels us to care for them, but it is also haunted by a strong sense that one day we will lose them.

Gezelligheid (Dutch): A particular feeling of coziness. Gezelligheid describes "both physical circumstances--being snug in a warm and homely place surrounded by good friends ... and an emotional state of feeling 'held' and comforted."

Greng Jai (Thai): The feeling of being reluctant to accept another's offer of help because of the bother it would cause them.

Han (Korean): Frequently translated as sorrow, spite, rancor, regret, resentment, or grief, among many other attempts to explain a concept that has no English equivalent. It seems to be a combination of hope and despair at the same time; a kind of yearning for things to change, but combined with the very grim determination to see things through, even to the very bitter end.

Hiraeth (Welsh): A deeply felt connection to one's homeland.

Hwyl (Welsh): A feeling of exuberance; full of joy and excitement.

Ijirashii (Japanese): The sensation of being touched or moved on seeing the little guy overcome an obstacle or do something praiseworthy.

Iktsuarpok (Inuit): The fidgety feeling that arises when visitors are due to arrive.

Kaukokaipuu (Finnish): The craving for a distant land. (Imagine the desperate yearning to be somewhere you've never even visited, or the desire to be anywhere but where you are right now.)

L'appel du vide (French: lit., "the call of the void"): The instinctive urge to jump from high places. When you're walking on the edge of a cliff and you get a sudden urge to jump ... it is a very peculiar sensation. Most people have had this experience because it means a sudden sense that you cannot trust your own instincts.

Litost (Czech): Notoriously difficult to translate, this term describes the feeling of shame, resentment, and fury that lifts us off our feet when we realize another has made us feel wretched.

Malu (Dusun Baguk people of Indonesia): The feeling of being flustered in the presence of someone we hold in high esteem.

Matutolypea: When one wakes up overcome with misery and bad temper.

Ringxiety (coined in the late 1990s by psychologist David Laramie): The phantom feeling of a phone call in one's pocket. Any moment of ringxiety is immediately followed by a sort of minor shame and embarrassment as you put your phone back in your pocket.

Torschlusspanik (German): The agitated, fretful feeling we get when we notice time is running out.

Umpty: A feeling of everything's being "too much" and all in the wrong way.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Nice words!

Tittynope is one of ny new ones

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By *a LunaWoman
over a year ago

South Wales

I have felt Awumbuk and Amae and wondered if there was a name to it. Some beautiful words there Adam. Thank you for sharing.

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By *dam1971 OP   Man
over a year ago

Bedford


"Nice words!

Tittynope is one of ny new ones"

Dare I ask what that means?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Han describes my career!

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By *ea monkeyMan
over a year ago

Manchester (he/him)

Those are great!

We often don’t know how to explain our feelings and emotions, even more so when our language fails us and as language defines thought, it’s even harder to articulate.

Any greater way to express ourselves is a positive

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I always feel umpty and I just love to say it

Umpty

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By *dam1971 OP   Man
over a year ago

Bedford

Amae is great, but even better when someone feels it about you

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By *ack688Man
over a year ago

abruzzo Italy (and UK)

A few to add in to this excellent list

Sonder: the realisation that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own

Manochopsis: the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place

Velichor: the strange wistfulness of used bookshops

Mauerbauertraurigkeit: the inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends that you really like

Jouska: a hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head

Exulansis: the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it

Nodus tollens : the realisation that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore

Onism: the frustration of being stuck in one body, that inhabits only one place at a time

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"A few to add in to this excellent list

Sonder: the realisation that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own

Manochopsis: the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place

Velichor: the strange wistfulness of used bookshops

Mauerbauertraurigkeit: the inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends that you really like

Jouska: a hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head

Exulansis: the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it

Nodus tollens : the realisation that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore

Onism: the frustration of being stuck in one body, that inhabits only one place at a time"

I love velichor. I love there is a name for that.

I can very much relate to manochopsis and nodus tollens

I'm still umpty

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

A wonderful thread

I have the collywobbles today

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By *dam1971 OP   Man
over a year ago

Bedford


"A few to add in to this excellent list…"

Christ, you can see inside my head

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By *iBBWLondonWoman
over a year ago

London

Greng Jai and Litost.

Every single day.

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By *dam1971 OP   Man
over a year ago

Bedford


"Greng Jai and Litost.

Every single day."

That’s not good

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By *iBBWLondonWoman
over a year ago

London


"Greng Jai and Litost.

Every single day.

That’s not good "

Ikr?

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By *iBBWLondonWoman
over a year ago

London

And I’m currently feeling Torschlusspanik

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