Calling WORDs like today’s example “untranslatable” is an obvious misnomer, but there are many words in other languages that don’t have single-word or sometimes even single phrase equivalents. German, of course, has many…too many of which apply to me.

WORK

“Masks”

She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by—
And never knew.

—Shel Silverstein
—from Every Thing On It

WORD(S)

torschlusspanik. noun. Anxiety and angst that life’s opportunities are passing one by. Fear that time is running out. The OED goes further to note this sometimes specifically refers to “that manifested in an ageing woman who longs to (re)discover the (sexual) excitement of youth, and who fears being left ‘on the shelf’.” It could also refer to those last minutes of an intense Ebay auction.

From German, literally: shut door (or gate) panic…the feeling peasants had when the castle gates were closing in the face of an onslaught.

“There is a new word in Berlin: Torschlusspanik—‘gate-lock-panic.’ It haunts the faces of the refugees at Berlin’s Tempelhof airport anxiously waiting for the plane that will fly them to West Germany.” (Life, 1961)

“Torschlusspanik.
Of course
the Germans have
a word for it,
the shutting of
the door,
the bowels’ terror
that one will go
before
the other as
the clattering horse-
hooves near.”
(Maxine Kumin)

WEB

1. An Economist essay → The Future of the Book. AKA: “From Papyrus to Pixels: The Digital Transformation Has Only Just Begun”. More about the past and present than the future, but there’s some substance here…

2. A catalog of watermarks from 1850 to today. Yes, I have an obsession.

3. “Their Struggles: Bristol Palin & Malala Yousafzai’s Memoirs, Compared”

4. “18 Things Attorneys Actually Said to Witnesses in Court”. Probably apocryphal but I could picture them all being said in a courtroom.

5. Today in 1976, Red Dye #2 (AKA Amaranth) is banned in the United States after high doses were shown to cause cancer in rats. It continues to be used in Canada and the rest of the world to this day. Although Red Dye #2 was never proven harmful to humans, it’s never been shown to be safe, and with alternatives readily available it probably won’t be. The real importance of the ban is that the mild panic it induced caused people to start scrutinizing food labels and was a powerful force for the infant “natural food” movement. Trivia: Mars discontinued red M&M candies in response even though they never contained the dye. The popular successor, Red Dye #40, is, ironically, considered harmful and used minimally in most places except the United States. Also: carmine, the most popular red dye used in food and cosmetics, is almost too natural…it’s made from insects.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader B. inspires me (again): “This article is endlessly tasty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude … morose delectation! Compersion! ‘Oxytocin may be involved in the feeling of schadenfreude’!”

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