Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Wonderful words

Okay, I have been delinquent of not having done my part of the duty to propagate this meme. Sorry, Urmea. I was too busy with something, nothing or other things. So here are a few words that I like, culled from different languages.

  • mot juste: The French expression for that slippery thing called “just the right expression”
  • coinage: The idea that words and expressions are circulating coins that carry thoughts across space and time somehow seems beautiful to me.
  • amor: This Latin word is almost the same as eros, but I love it for the sentimental dimension it adds
  • litost: I thank Kundera for giving the world this Czech word, which he defines as a “state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery”. It is a sad, sudden, free-falling, gut-wrenching self-discovery. Read the relevant passage from Kundera here. I request, if you have read my blog this far, please go to the previous sentence, click on the link and read it.
  • charaibeti: Move on, march on, there are no limits. The word symbolises the enchanting, almost seductive, call of the infinite. Can someone quote to me the original Sanskrit hymn from which this we got word?
  • mon: Mon, the very common Bangla word, is often very loosely translated as mind. But mind is too coarse, too intellectual, too utilitarian. Mon is much more delicate. On the other hand, the heart is only a repository of feelings and emotions. Mon tells us that how the thought, the emotion and the imagination go hand in hand, how inseparable they are. Try translating monkharap into any other language, and the beauty, the delicateness of the word mon will come through to you.

I don't know whether this tag is still alive, but I would still do my bit in tagging some who I know have not been tagged:

Tiny Tim, Priya, Runglee and memorykeeper.

3 Comments:

Blogger Urmea said...

So how was it?? The proposal I mean.

12:18 PM  
Blogger Sourav said...

Actually better than I expected. btw, do you NEVER pick up your cellphone?

1:44 PM  
Blogger Sourav said...

Urmea: So this is what it takes to finally make you take a call. Okay, henceforth the protocol should be adhered to.

Memory: Just write out five words you like, and explain why. Follow my link to Urmea's site and you can see another example.

2:05 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home