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**Disclaimer: the following is either directly or indirectly perjured from matadornetwork.com.**
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How Russian can you get? I mean, seriously.
1. Toska
Russian – Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
2. Mamihlapinatapei
Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” (Altalang.com)
3. Jayus
Indonesian – “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh” (Altalang.com)
5. Litost
Czech – The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
7. Tartle
Scottish – The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. (Altalang.com)
Of course it's German.
11. Schadenfreude
German – refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune.
15. Tingo
Pascuense (Easter Island) – “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.” (Altalang.com)
17. L’appel du vide
French – used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.
