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bananas

(27,509 posts)

17. #12: ineffable

Reply to dipsydoodle (Original post)

Sun Aug 25, 2013, 06:44 AM

Aug 2013

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ineffable

Adjective

ineffable (not comparable)

1. Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.

1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 39

Stroeve was trying to express a feeling which he had never known before, and he did not know how to put it into common terms. He was like the mystic seeking to describe the ineffable.

Gay Watson, Stephen Batchelor, Guy Claxton, The Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, science, and our day-to-day lives (2000) p. 100:

As Alan Watts (1961) wrote, it involves trying to speak the unspeakable, scrute the inscrutable and eff the ineffable.

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Highlight:

11 Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures [View all] dipsydoodle Aug 2013 OP

Awwww shenmue Aug 2013 #1

My wife was admiring an impressive mangata just last night... Bay Boy Aug 2013 #2

I grok that. n/t boomer55 Aug 2013 #3

#9 is my word for the day Warpy Aug 2013 #4

Do you feel like "A Stranger In A Strange Land"? bananas Aug 2013 #19

We felt the same way marybourg Jan 2014 #28

There is a translation for #5. Rozlee Aug 2013 #5

I don't get it. kristopher Aug 2013 #6

Descriptions - not translations. dipsydoodle Aug 2013 #7

That's what translation is. kristopher Aug 2013 #8

Yes but these are single words. dipsydoodle Aug 2013 #9

I don't think it's simple at all - I've done it (Japanese-English) for pay kristopher Aug 2013 #10

Where did they claim that there were only 11? Thor_MN Aug 2013 #13

Some concepts don't exist in other cultures. bananas Aug 2013 #18

That doesn't mean it can't be translated kristopher Aug 2013 #22

"some translators simply leave this word untranslated due to its complex overtones" bananas Aug 2013 #21

There you have it. kristopher Aug 2013 #23

Pana po'o is not a single word - it might be a multiword expression (MWE).... xocet Aug 2013 #11

I missed that one. dipsydoodle Aug 2013 #12

No problem - I would not have known of that neat Hawaiian dictionary had I not read your post. n/t xocet Aug 2013 #14

Defining "word" can be tricky. Igel Aug 2013 #16

Interesting post. I did not see this until today. xocet Jan 2014 #24

There are words in Korean that are difficult to translate into English davidpdx Aug 2013 #15

#12: ineffable bananas Aug 2013 #17

English should adopt #4 and #11. So poetic! nt raccoon Aug 2013 #20

Dutch: gezellig RainDog Jan 2014 #25

Sisu -- Finnish word longship Jan 2014 #26

There are other massively useful words out there Warpy Jan 2014 #27