The "No Word For X" trope is a favorite item in the inventory of pop-culture rhetorical moves — the Irish have no word for "sex", the Germans have no word for "mess", the Japanese have no word for "compliance", the Bulgarians have no word for "integrity", none of the Romance languages have a word for "accountability", and […]
Thomas Fuller, "Those Who Would Remake Myanmar Find That Words Fail Them", NYT 7/19/2015: It’s the dawn of democracy in Myanmar. If only the Burmese had their own word for it. As this former dictatorship opens to the world, language is a stumbling block. For half a century, Myanmar was so cut off from […]
Alissa Rubin, "Coping? Students in France just aren't", NYT 6/23/2015: There is no easy translation or even a firm concept of the word “coping” in French, so when it turned up last week in a question on the national exam to earn a high school degree, it set off a fracas among the 350,000 or […]
By Drew Dernavich, originally published August 20, 2007, a cartoon addition to our No Word for X archive: Or, to put it another way: "They have no words for anything, but they have no concept for 'fetch'." [h/t Joan M.]
Last week I read this article about the Mosuo people of southwest China: "The Ethnic Group in China That Doesn’t Have a Word for Father" (10/13/14). The Mosuo are indeed famous for having a matrilineal society, and I had long been aware of their unusual marriage customs, but I was innately suspicious of this sensationalist […]
An anonymous Op-Ed in The Guardian asserts that English has no word for politeness ("What's the worst thing about cycling? Other cyclists", 7/5/2014): Interestingly, while we're on the subject of Japan, it has a large cycling population and many cycling laws – all of which are completely ignored. Cyclists regularly ride on paths and, indeed, […]
Under the heading Freedom 2014, "Whether it’s freedom from surveillance or freedom to be single, this spring the BBC is investigating what freedom means in the modern world". One of the BBC's own contributions to #Freedom2014 is a lovely addition to our No Word For X archive: The Inuit language doesn't have a word for freedom, the closest […]
From Pat Robertson's 700 Club, 3/31/2014:
Following up on yesterday's "No word for rape" post, several readers have pointed me to another recent addition for the "No word for X" archive, namely Isagani R. Cruz, "Lingual misunderstanding to blame for refusal to apologize?", China Daily 11/12/2013: The refusal so far of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to issue a formal apology […]
Several people have sent me this entry for the "No word for X" files — "When is it rape?", The Economist 11/15/2013: In Urdu there is no word for rape. The closest direct translation is "looting my honour".
Ian Preston wrote to draw my attention to this new item for our No Word for X archive — Thomas Brewer, "Giving Childhood Diarrhea a Name", Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 7/20/2013: Over the course of my career I’ve spent over thirty years working in various developing countries trying to better understand and fight infectious diseases. […]
Philip Maughan, "Colum McCann: 'What could be worse that [sic] being called a historical novelist?'", The New Stateman 7/4/2013: Q: And, of course, there is a narrative element to any work of non-fiction. A: I’m interested in the idea that these categories don’t really exist. Aleksandar Hemon says that, in Bosnian, there is no word […]
Anthony Claden sent in a link to Wade Davis, "The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond – review", The Guardian 1/9/2013: In not one of the hundreds of Aboriginal dialects and languages was there a word for time. For some comments about time-reference in an Australian language, see "Journalistic dreamtime" (3/8/2007); for some generally relevant discussion, […]