The Germans

seem to have words for all sorts of subtle emotions, such as “Schadenfraude” (the pleasure one feels at the discomfiture of a friend) or “Gestalt” (the sense of the entirety of a situation, more or less — harder to translate).

Spanish, too; witness “duende.” And Portuguese: “saudade.” They both represent a sense of life enriched by the awareness of death and sorrow — the Spanish word is darker and more passionate, while the Portuguese is sweeter and more melancholy.

Is there a word somewhere for the intense desire for someone, anyone, to call you unexpectedly just to say they think you’ll be ok?

(No, that’s not a solicitation. Really.)

I love the idea that there are words uninvented in our language that have been invented elsewhere. Why in those languages and not ours?

What emotions do we need words for?

PS: You do realize LJ is the only thing keeping me going right now, right?