“Getting Drunk In Your Underwear”: 50 Concepts English Doesn’t Have Dedicated Words For

Kummerspeck ... Grief (or worry) bacon. It's the weight you gain from emotional eating.

I also like Backpfeifengesicht ... It's a face just asking to be slapped.

Irish. Beochaoineadh. Literally “alive crying”. It means a lament for those who still live but you know you may never see them again or is otherwise lost to you in a permanent, painful and irreversible way.

When you consider we’re a nation of people who have a history of leaving our loved ones behind in a desperate search for something better, it makes sense we have such a word.

“Alcahueta” - I learned that from my Colombian husband. It refers to an enabling mom who can see no wrong in their son, who is perfect in their eyes. I use it often when gossiping about relatives 🤣.

A beautiful expression we have in Italian is "arrangiati". There do exist turns of phrases in English that mean more or less the same thing, e.g. "do it yourself" or "you're on your own", but "arrangiati" is the imperative and reflexive of "arrangiare" (to organise, arrange, make do, manage) - basically "sort yourself". However, arrangiati has the same heft and directness, and general sentiment, of basically telling someone to go f**k themselves. No direct English translation leaves me satisfied as telling someone "arrangiati!" does.

Another one that comes to mind is "abbiocco", which is the drowsiness you get after a big meal. It is a tiredness and brain fog exclusively associated with a full belly. Very useful in Italy.

A Filipina lady said "I was talking to my..." and stopped and asked me what the English word is for a parent of the person your kid married--the parent of your son or daughter in law. It's a relationship that we have no word for.

Sobremesa, it's the period of time you stay seated at the table talking after you're done eating.

Tocayo/tocaya is a person who shares your first name. I like it because my name is not that common, so I can say “hola, tocaya!” when I notice another one of us :).

In French, calling someone a “fatigant” .. someone who sucks the energy out of you.

Finnish language is famous for "kalsarikännit" (getting drunk in your underwear), so I wasn't surprised it doesn't exist in English. But I was gobsmacked when I found out English has no casual word for "tuuletus/tuulettaminen" (a gesture for "yay!!!" or "wooo!!"). They just call it "goal celebration" or celebrating... Seems wild.

Swedish: Lek (unstructured play or game) and spel (structured play or game).

For example a tug or war with my dog is lek, while monopoly is spel.

I do game design and while i can talk about structured and unstructured play i cant do so effortlessly with people knowing exactly what I mean.

痛快 (tong kuai) is something you say when something hurts but it feels good in Mandarin, like a super deep massage. It means happy pain :).

A new Spanish word that has become popular in recent years is *"cuñadismo"* (brother-in-law-ism) that means the opinions given by a know-it-all, like your BIL, that knows a faster way, knows a cheapest and better product, knows how to solve the problems of the world in one day...

Certain president is very adept to say cuñadismos.

I got a reverse one; I speak french and we don’t have a word for “Cheap” isn’t that crazy? Such a simple word. We just say not expensive or affordable.

Lagom. It means "the right amount" so "how many cookies do you want?" "lagom."

Lithuanian has two distinct words for law as in laws of physics, and law as in codex. We don't need to clarify if breaking a law is illegal, or impossible. Feels like a given to have!

Vaska (Swedish) = it means pouring something down the "vask" (kitchen sink). usually something expensive, for bragging rights, to show you are rich. you can say vaska about anything you destroy to show you are too rich to care. like, "im gonna vaska this car. god im so rich.".

Considering my language predates all European languages every being spoken in America; In Lakota (Sioux Nation) there are many words and phrases that, while technically have translation to a point, dont embody the cultural or spiritual implications of them in English. So Šúŋkawakȟáŋ would roughly translate to "Spirit Dog" but is a phrase that describes horses in the context of their impact on our people and their spiritual significance. It doesn't just mean "a horse." There are also MANY different ways and accompanying words/phrases that can accompany it that would change the implication of the words.

Another example would be Makȟá. The direct translation would be the earth but also means the soil, nature, the spirit of the earth and the creator spirit. Variations of its use would be Makȟáta: to be on the Earth or in nature. Makhíthma: to be in or one with the Earth/nature/the spirit of the creator. Or Uŋčí Makȟá which is used more strictly for ceremonial purposes.

Spanish has caliente and piquante for hot food, meaning two different types of heat. I wish English had that.

In German there's the "Doch"It's a word that means "nuh-uh". But it carries such power when being used. You can totally shut down someone's argument with just that word.

Apapachar, to hug with all your soul.