Pronoia - belief that everything in life works out (opposite of paranoia)
Vorfreude = the pleasure of anticipation
surreptitiously = in a way that attempts to avoid notice or attention; secretively
forthwith = (especially in official use) immediately; without delay.
ultracrepidarian = expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one's knowledge or expertise
Atelophobia = fear of not achieving one’s potential
Solvitur ambulando = Latin phrase which means “it is solved by walking”
Genericization = when company names become the word (e.g., Kleenex, Tazer, Elevator)
Chinoiserie = fanciful imitation and interpretation of decorative motifs from Asian art
fait accompli = a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it.
Moxie - contagious spirit / courage
인연 (Ee-Nyun): fate that something was meant to be between two people
Unrequited love - not returned love
Jantelagan - Nordic word discouraging the celebration of one’s possessions
Eustress = Good Stress. Experiences that lead to eustress are usually perceived as challenging but still within our coping abilities, leading to heightened focus and motivation. That delicate balance is where lies the secret to eustress.
Sprezzatura = “Studied carelessness” - conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it
Kayfabe - making a staged performance as genuine or authentic
Malipropism: using words wrongly
Portmanteau = words blended together (Brangelina, Fintech, Insurtech, brunch)
Tsundoku - buying books and letting them pile up
Schadenfreude = pleasure at someone else’s misfortune
Sonder = realization that each passerby is living a life as complicated as their own
Solipsism - philosophy that you only know that you exist
Palindrome - words that are the same backward and forward
Kairos - critical moment
Mellifluous - beautiful sounding
Kintsugi - golden repair (“beauty in the broken”) for pottery repair
Confabulation - fabricate reasons to explain our behavior
Ananym - real name written backwards
Caveat Emptor - the buyer is responsible for the quality of product he/she purchases
Ennui - lack of satisfaction from boredom
Jamai Vu - opposite of deja vu
Jootsing - going “out of the box” creatively
Miser - someone who secretly hoards wealth
Sophrosyne - moderation, call, self-control
Ad Nauseum - repeated until it’s annoying to
Poka-Yoke - mistake-proofing or avoiding an unthinkably bad move (e.g., microwave doesn’t start until door is closed)
Eudaimonia - complete happiness
Lindy Effect - the longer something has been around, the more likely it will stick around
Parasocial interaction - when you feel like a personality on TV/internet is your friend
'Sonder' is a word that describes the feeling of realizing that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries
Umami - name for a flavor that’s hearty or meaty or savory
Sophistry = using fallacious argument to deceive someone else
Pareidolia = pictures that look like other objects (cloud shapes)
Eponymous = being the person or thing for whom or which something is named after
Non Sequiter = a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement
Anhedonia - inability to feel pleasure
Memetic Desire - wanting something because others want it
눈치 - common sense
Zoo-onotic - disease that comes from animals
A scissor label is a word or phrase that, for the first time, establishes a widely embraced name for a trend without simultaneously establishing a canonical definition. It is a vague term masquerading as a specific one, where the missing definition is still up for grabs.
Genchi Genbutsu - (“real location, real thing”) the only way to understand and solve a problem is to go and see it in person
Mono no aware - "the suffering of things" (the awareness of impermanence or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life)
Kuchisabishii - when you’re not hungry but you feel the need to eat
Productivity dysmorphia - feeling like you haven’t accomplished enough even when you’ve done a lot
Superalo - you can get over it (in Spanish / encouragement)
Cherophobia - feeling that something bad is going to happen when things are good
Veusejaunte - how very kind of you (French receive compliment)
Mea Culpa - one’s own fault
Shokunin - extremely attentive service
Individuate - break off on one’s own
Rasputitsa - is a Russian term for two seasons of the year, spring and autumn, when travel on unpaved roads or across country becomes difficult, owing to muddy conditions from rain or melting snow
Skeuomorphism: graphical user interface design to describe interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts in how they appear and/or how the user can interact with them
Ti Voglio bene (I love you in Italian) - I want you to be well
Epicurean - someone who appreciates food and taste
Metonymy - where related terms stand in for the literal term (stop wiping with trees vs stop wiping with toilet paper)
Spresatora (Italian) - the key ingredient / difference between great and the best
Vetocracy - inability for governments to make a decision because one entity can’t take control
Iatrogenic - harm that comes as a byproduct of surgery/go
Apophenia is the propensity to mistakenly detect patterns or connections between unrelated events
Perspicacious - having keen mental perception and understanding
Sapir-Worf Hypothesis - Immersing yourself into a new language can rewire your Brian because it changes how you think
Exonyms - name given to people from a country (Chinese, Indian, Brazilian)
Goodhard’s Law: when measure becomes the target
Hygge (Nordic word): cozy / wholesome special moments in life (feeling)
Shibboleths - (kind of like jargon but deeper) passwords or phrases that are simple ways of self-identification, signaling loyalty and affinity, maintaining traditional segregation, or protecting from real or perceived threats.
Saudade: Emotional state of nostalgic longing for something that one loves despite it not necessarily being real.
"Occupational disease" or the things that ppl just can't escape doing, because they do them so much at work (marketer dissecting every ad they see)
🇫🇷 deformation professionnelle
🇺🇦 професійна деформація
🇵🇱 zboczenie zawodowe
🇩🇪 berufskrankheit
🇨🇳 職業病
apparatchik - lower level member (of Communist Party) and synonymous with drone/NPC
Wenn schon, denn schon = if you’re going to do it, do it. (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Vulkentstein = being alone on the woods (in a good way) - German
Adelante - Always Moving Forward (Spanish)
eudaimonia - the good life.” It means that life isn’t about fleeting pleasures or grand gestures; it is about having a reason to live
Natsukashi (Japanese) or saudashe (Brazilian Portuguese) = positive memories
Hypergraphia - a “behavioral condition characterized by the intense desire to write or draw“
Enoument - bittersweet feeling that a chapter of your life is coming to an end
Adronitis - the desire to get to know people on a deeper level - even if it takes time
Scotoma - a blind spot
Being good enough to trick a beginner as experienced
Switching front letters of 2 words (good and bad is bood and gad)
Reverse cameo - actors who had appearances in movies before they become the main characters (Tom Cruise in Outsiders)
Making up a character in a book that’s quoted in a book
In Where the Crawdads Sing, the author quotes a poet that she made up under a pen name (”Amanda Hamilton”)