Things for which we have no word for

by phil on Tuesday Jan 26, 2010 12:00 AM

A few days ago, Guru sent met a heads up to writer Adam Jacot de Boinod, who is fascinated with words that exist in other languages but have no equivalent in ours.

Coincidentally, I just bumped into this list of international retitles for the film The Sound of Music. Hong Kong's is my favorite:

  • The Rebel Novice (Brazil)
  • The Melody of Happiness (France)
  • My Songs, My Dreams (Germany)
  • The Melody of Happiness (Greece)
  • Angelic Music Flies and Heard Everywhere (Hong Kong)
  • Tears and Smiles (Iran)
  • All Together with Passion (Italy)
  • The Rebel Novice (Latin America)
  • The Most Beautiful Music (Netherlands)
  • Music in the Heart (Portugal)
  • Smiles and Tears (Spain)
  • Truth, Kindness and Beauty (Taiwan)
  • Love Spell, Heavenly Songs (Thailand)

Comments

Zeb said on January 26, 2010 12:14 AM:

Love this! I've definitely wondered about this before - never heard it applied to our own language before!

Rusty said on January 26, 2010 1:26 AM:

Smiles and Tears (Spain)
>> Emo
The Rebel Novice (Brazil)
>> Wikipedia
The Melody of Happiness (France)
>> Pop
Angelic Music Flies and Heard Everywhere (Hong Kong)
>> Muzak

Zeb said on January 26, 2010 9:42 AM:

Oh. Nevermind. I'm not impressed anymore. Thanks Rusty. Next time do your research Phil!

Philip Dhingra said on January 26, 2010 11:55 AM:

Hah. I just found a new way to come up with hipster band names.


Creative Commons License