Words of the Year of the World
January 17, 2015 1:15 PM Subscribe
Were you dismayed at the lameness of "vape" and "culture" being named by Oxford and Merrian-Webster (respectively) as the 2014 words of the year? Are you wondering what words English should steal from other languages? Mental Floss has you covered with its roundup of 13(ish) words of the year from other countries.
Some are prosaic -- selfi (selfie) from Spain, corrupção (corruption) from Portugal, 乱 (luan, chaos) from Singapore -- but some are awesome, including shirtfront (a term from Australian football for running into an opponent head-on in order to knock them down) and dagobertducktaks, a tax on the super-rich, which transliterates to "Scrooge McDuck tax".
Some are prosaic -- selfi (selfie) from Spain, corrupção (corruption) from Portugal, 乱 (luan, chaos) from Singapore -- but some are awesome, including shirtfront (a term from Australian football for running into an opponent head-on in order to knock them down) and dagobertducktaks, a tax on the super-rich, which transliterates to "Scrooge McDuck tax".
The Danish one (aanmodderfakker) sounds like is translates to 'muddlefucker'. I'm going to start using that.
posted by Ned G at 1:38 PM on January 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Ned G at 1:38 PM on January 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
I am predicting an uptick in Scrooge McDuck references on the blue.
Vape (previously) is not nearly as fun to say as dagobertducktaks.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:45 PM on January 17, 2015
Vape (previously) is not nearly as fun to say as dagobertducktaks.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:45 PM on January 17, 2015
Hungary's rather unexciting phrase for 2014 was "nekirugaszkodó vállalkozás" which saves everyone the trouble of saying "startup".
posted by Wolfdog at 1:56 PM on January 17, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 1:56 PM on January 17, 2015 [7 favorites]
'aanmodderfakker' is Dutch, not Danish.
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:08 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:08 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Some of the Putin-juusto in question.
A kilogram for four Euros.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:26 PM on January 17, 2015
A kilogram for four Euros.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:26 PM on January 17, 2015
I always enjoy watching the annual ceremony of buddhist priests writing the Kanji of the Year.
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:34 PM on January 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:34 PM on January 17, 2015 [3 favorites]
Meh. The Swedish "Attefallshus" (a supplemental building up to 25 m² that doesn't require a full building permit, as long as you have one for the main building) is a rather pedestrian riff on the earlier "Friggebod" (similar, for buildings up to 15 m²), which was an imho more entertaining portmanteau of the Minister of Housing's partially aptonymic surname "Friggebo" ("bo" means live, reside) and the word "bod" (shed).
And "en" instead of "man" isn't a new meaning at all, it's been used in that sense since like forever (the earliest references listed in SAOB predates the Swedish independence), but admittedly mostly in dialects in recent times.
(And quite a few of the "new words" in the longer list are just straightforward compounds; it's not like someone realized that you could write "blue-brown" for the first time in 2014. I'm disappoint.)
posted by effbot at 3:06 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
And "en" instead of "man" isn't a new meaning at all, it's been used in that sense since like forever (the earliest references listed in SAOB predates the Swedish independence), but admittedly mostly in dialects in recent times.
(And quite a few of the "new words" in the longer list are just straightforward compounds; it's not like someone realized that you could write "blue-brown" for the first time in 2014. I'm disappoint.)
posted by effbot at 3:06 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Danish mobilpay continues our proud tradition of making up words that sound English but are not. Other such words include cottoncoat (which is Danish for trenchcoat (my uncle pronounced it kot-TON-ko-at)), cowboytoast (Danish for grilled sandwich with minched-meat) and six-pence (Danish for a flat cap).
posted by kariebookish at 3:11 PM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by kariebookish at 3:11 PM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Are you wondering what words English should steal from other languages?
All of them! (Of course!)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:45 PM on January 17, 2015
All of them! (Of course!)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:45 PM on January 17, 2015
Is there a verb form for kardashian yet? Erghh, need something for next year...
posted by sammyo at 4:01 PM on January 17, 2015
posted by sammyo at 4:01 PM on January 17, 2015
Enkardash.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:09 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:09 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Finnish word of the year 2014 was Putin-juusto, 'Putin cheese', which meant cheese that could not be exported to Russia because of the counter economic sanctions against dairy products. It was then sold at a discount in Finland with the Cyrillic writing still on the packaging. (Probably not a word with longevity.)
It doesn't seem like a fairly ephemeral Finnish dig at the Russians would have much longevity, but then again, Molotovin koktaili has stuck around pretty well.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:36 PM on January 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
It doesn't seem like a fairly ephemeral Finnish dig at the Russians would have much longevity, but then again, Molotovin koktaili has stuck around pretty well.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:36 PM on January 17, 2015 [6 favorites]
Is there a verb form for kardashian yet?
Kardashyin'
posted by Sys Rq at 4:40 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Kardashyin'
posted by Sys Rq at 4:40 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Were you dismayed at the lameness
I was dismayed by 'lameness' being used.
I always enjoy watching the annual ceremony of buddhist priests writing the Kanji of the Year.
If you contextualize this and make an FPP out of it I will favourite it. I suspect there's a whole lot of background there that is fascinating.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:54 PM on January 17, 2015
I was dismayed by 'lameness' being used.
I always enjoy watching the annual ceremony of buddhist priests writing the Kanji of the Year.
If you contextualize this and make an FPP out of it I will favourite it. I suspect there's a whole lot of background there that is fascinating.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:54 PM on January 17, 2015
Hverdagssexisme...this has potential foe irony, since the "sexisme" part of that word is sexism in Danish. With the right head angle that could be righteous.
posted by Oyéah at 5:35 PM on January 17, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 5:35 PM on January 17, 2015
I see we've infected at least one other language with the -gate means scandal meme.
posted by ckape at 6:34 PM on January 17, 2015
posted by ckape at 6:34 PM on January 17, 2015
It doesn't seem like a fairly ephemeral Finnish dig at the Russians would have much longevity, but then again, Molotovin koktaili has stuck around pretty well.
Yep. Previously.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:09 PM on January 17, 2015
Yep. Previously.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:09 PM on January 17, 2015
If you contextualize this and make an FPP out of it I will favourite it. I suspect there's a whole lot of background there that is fascinating.
I don't think there is much more behind the Kanji of the Year writing ceremony. There is a little bit more about it in this link inside the first FPP link. It's not like some big religious ritual, the kanji is selected by a company that makes kanji study books and provides kanji proficiency testing. I think it's just a media stunt to advertise the kanji proficiency publishing company, and for Kyomizudera priests to get on TV. I just like the ceremony because I like seeing big calligraphy presented like a performance.
There is a long tradition of calligraphy in Japanese buddhism, that is probably worth a full FPP although I am probably not the best person to write it. And it is probably of limited interest except to specialists.. maybe of limited interest even to specialists.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:15 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
I don't think there is much more behind the Kanji of the Year writing ceremony. There is a little bit more about it in this link inside the first FPP link. It's not like some big religious ritual, the kanji is selected by a company that makes kanji study books and provides kanji proficiency testing. I think it's just a media stunt to advertise the kanji proficiency publishing company, and for Kyomizudera priests to get on TV. I just like the ceremony because I like seeing big calligraphy presented like a performance.
There is a long tradition of calligraphy in Japanese buddhism, that is probably worth a full FPP although I am probably not the best person to write it. And it is probably of limited interest except to specialists.. maybe of limited interest even to specialists.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:15 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
I saw "Culture" and was very, very excited.
At least I can fall back on sci-fi smoking to cheer up.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:49 PM on January 17, 2015
At least I can fall back on sci-fi smoking to cheer up.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:49 PM on January 17, 2015
Having 税 (tax) as the kanji of the year was a pretty interesting choice. For the most part, it's seemed like the kanji of the year is usually as positive as possible, though there have been negative connotation kanji. On the other hand, it really does sum up the year, and all of the shittiness that come from raising the consumption tax here. 2014 was a pretty lousy year in Japan.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:13 PM on January 17, 2015
posted by Ghidorah at 11:13 PM on January 17, 2015
I see we've infected at least one other language with the -gate means scandal meme.
Oh indeed you have!
Chile has a bunch, the latest of which is our very own Pentagate.
posted by ipsative at 4:45 AM on January 18, 2015
Oh indeed you have!
Chile has a bunch, the latest of which is our very own Pentagate.
posted by ipsative at 4:45 AM on January 18, 2015
And there was the big Greek palindrome scandal last year, Etagate.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:48 AM on January 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:48 AM on January 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Germany was really into "Shitstorm" this year as a term for a rapidly messy media scandal. As usual, the English term has spaces and previously conventional context removed to create a new pop cultural beast. See "Handy", "Basecap" and "Fotoshooting".
posted by mr.ersatz at 12:34 PM on January 18, 2015
posted by mr.ersatz at 12:34 PM on January 18, 2015
Germany was really into "Shitstorm" this year as a term for a rapidly messy media scandal.
Earlier this year, both French- and German-speaking Switzerland filled up with signs about "Public Viewing," in the specific meaning "watch the world cup on a screen" (rather than this other meaning). At least they kept the space, even if hyphens occasionally crept in.
posted by effbot at 1:35 PM on January 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Earlier this year, both French- and German-speaking Switzerland filled up with signs about "Public Viewing," in the specific meaning "watch the world cup on a screen" (rather than this other meaning). At least they kept the space, even if hyphens occasionally crept in.
posted by effbot at 1:35 PM on January 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
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