Ever had a "feeling" that boiled you over in an instant with your mind still grappling to put that sensation into a word, so you can describe that moment later, as you think it will help you to deal with that situation,if not,at least, have a place for it in your mind so your heart can move on ?
This is where your mother tongue usually comes to rescue. For all the greatness of English language,there are many situations, where it is just plain inadequate. But when it comes to certain situations involving technology,even your mother tongue can't help you as they hardly grew in vocabulary relative to English.
Can you remember how you felt when someone lashed at you for pointing out something they did wrong ? Perhaps you were trying to help them.Perhaps you wanted to change them for better. Maybe you told them something as it was going to cause problem to someone else. Yet, they sprang at you with vile vociferous curses.Your immediate instinct is legitimate anger,justified rage and righteous retribution! As you see, there is no one word to accurately describe that. However, the Japanese, have a term for it. It's called "Gyaku Gire"! If you show your anger/drama at someone because they told you the truth or caught you redhanded, then you are using the technique of Gyaku Gire.
Simple. Authentic. Straight forward. Even though I don't know Japanese, I can see myself saying,"Stop your Gyaku Gire!" and move on. It really helps you to put that situation in perspective instead of being confused and angry and stuck. That is the power of "situational description" words. They bring joy, calm, ecstasy, anger, hurt, love, our entire world in perspective, if we just knew how to articulate it to ourselves and others.
This made me think of other situations where i would love to have a word than be glib about it.
When you are listening to your CD collection or iPod, there comes a pause between songs and your mind races instinctively humming the prelude of next song. What do you call that ? "A Great recall?"
"Meandering" and "Wandering" sounds insufficient to explain how you actually hyperlink words and stories when someone is talking while you are on a different website,different world, inside your mind!I really wish I had a word to encapsulate that.
What do you call a tune that pops up unannounced, torturing your whole morning,before you give up and suddenly reveals itself exactly when you realize that you have been wearing your new t-shirt with tag for almost a week ?
How about the earthy smell that swarms you before rain or the tiny fingers of a baby or that dreamy perfect kiss in an empty beach during sunset at 4am in your deep slumber that feels very real ? These situations deserve their own words than some phrase to explain in lengthy fashion.
What about those you fondly recall sharing your umbrella before they turned into jerks and screwed you over ? We need a word for all those wonderful people whom you liked at one point and never want to see them again!
The summarization of entire periods and moments like Nostalgia, childhood, happy, therapy time, just doesn't do justice to the gamut of feelings we go through and experience in that situation.We need more "Gyaku Gire"s and "Mamihlapinatapai"s.
What the world needs is words that succinctly, instinctively,exactly describes certain feelings and situations, so we can spend less time analyzing,wondering,creating what-if's and spend more time, living!
If only i had a perfect word for it!
