Monday, October 10, 2011

What a Wonderful Word

I revisited the Johnny Depp movie Don Juan DeMarco on Netflix a few days ago. I saw it in the theatre when it first came out in 1994 when I was a newborn. Okay, fine, I wasn’t a newborn in 1994; I was a toddler. Okay, fine, I wasn’t a toddler either; I was nineteen. You do the math. On second thought…don’t.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Don Juan DeMarco. Have you seen it? Johnny Depp’s unbearably hot character believes he’s Don Juan DeMarco, the world’s best lover. Everyone else believes he’s delusional. One of the movie’s major themes is the question of whether or not it’s okay to live in a fantastical, delusional reality. In my opinion, the movie argues that it is, in fact, okay to create one’s own reality.

So I’m going to create my own reality. In my delusion of grandeur, I believe I owe everyone an apology. In this delusion, you have all been wondering why I didn’t post last week. You’ve been experiencing terrible grammar withdrawals. You’ve been contacting one another in a panic wondering if anyone has heard from me.

Well, you can relax now. I’m back. It’s been a crazy month because my two very best friends got married within a few weeks of each other. I have, consequently, been organizing wedding showers, bachelorette parties, strippers, and toasts.

Both weddings were beautiful, but I can’t help wishing that I could turn back time so that I could have read the article 14 More Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent before I gave my toast on Saturday. There are definitely some words I could have used that would have made me sound more worldly.

I could have, for example, said that my friend experienced koi no yokan when she first met her husband. That’s a Japanese word that means “upon first meeting a person you know that the two of you will fall in love.”

I might have been able to work in the Brazilian word cafune, which means “tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.” Although, that may have been a bit creepy.

I would have definitely said that my friend loves her husband so much that she often experiences gren-jai. That’s a Thai word that means “the feeling you get when you don’t want someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.” I have never personally experienced that feeling, but my friend is much nicer than I am.

However, as I said, the weddings were great, and the last one was especially crazy. I mean, you know it’s a good wedding when half the guests had to rhwe. That’s a Tsongan word that means “to sleep on the floor without a mat while drunk and naked.”

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tsongan ..... Although I wish I could say O learned something new today, I didn't. Been there. Done that.

Shelly said...

What is the word for the feeling you get when you want Johnny Depp to show up at your house, dressed as Don Juan?

Bethany Elizabeth said...

I saw that article earlier, I loved it! We really need to expand the English language a bit. I mean, I know we already have an obscene amount of words, but really... :)

Kelly Polark said...

Ha ha! Interesting non-English words. You should make up an English word for one of them (like in the book Frindle) and by the end of the year it could end up in the dictionary!

Beverly Diehl said...

Urban Dictionary, calling your name, lady. Drunksleep? You can do it!

JJ said...

1994 was a great year. I was 15 and into baggy jeans and bikes (bicycles) and a boy who drove a van.

Stephen T. McCarthy said...

Oi teke ma shmu, pret ieki lo drasmealda, y purty durtee, too!

~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Untergrount'

Crystal Pistol said...

Johnny Depp is still so pretty after all these years. I, for one, believe he IS Don Juan de Marco the world's greatest lover...

I was 18 in 1994. I loved that movie. Reality Bites came out that year too. Another fave of mine.

Janet Johnson said...

LOL that the Tsongan have a word for that! And great idea for a post. So many great words in other languages. We should start making equivalents in English. Really.

Jeff Beesler said...

A robot once wanted to cafune me. It kind of freaked me out, actually, because said robot was meant to be just a vacuum cleaning robot.

the late phoenix said...

is it okay to live in delusions of grandeur? something about that really hits home for me, too close to home

post more about the strippers...

Amie Kaufman said...

I'm with Shelly, what's the word for that?! (Oh yes, I did just use a question mark and an exclamation mark on this blog of all blogs... I just feel that strongly about Johnny Depp.)

Jessi LaRue (Jessi Haish) said...

How have I never seen a Johnny Depp movie?!

Elliot MacLeod-Michael said...

I recently saw What's Eating Gilbert Grape? It's weird when you watch movies that were made before you were born.

Dylan Fitzgerald said...

I love that movie. Deeply. When I'm feeling like a total cheeseball, I put on that Bryan Adams song from the end and waltz around my apartment. It's really, really sad.

Theresa Milstein said...

Is sleeping on a mat much better than sleeping directly on the floor, drunk, naked, or otherwise?

I haven't seen that movie. Got to add it to my queue.

Yarnlady said...

Although I can't find the quote, my delusional thoughts DO include Depp as he takes my hand and tells me that my hand is like a woman's body and then he takes my fingers and gently spreads them........and then, and THEN....that was some HOT movie~~ The hell with weddings and words!!