Feelings We Need Words For

I also think English needs to create a word to describe this piece. But since there isn’t, ‘wow’ would suffice.

The word you’re looking for is “sad.”

You’re welcome.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/new-words-for-complex-feelings/

Excellent. 

 So articulate and well written. Seriously. This is just so very apt.

so what? this article is brilliant, poignant and relatable. the one you linked is a snotty piece of trash by some a-hole who doesn’t have the balls to write about his real feelings. same broad concept that anyone could have thought of, WAY different executions. and this one’s way better. go away.

Thanks for this.

So good!!!!

“Sad”? That’s so heart-breakingly reductive. The second paragraph needs a word immediately.

Great article. I also think there needs to be a word for the feeling of sadness, and loss, when you finally give up on a hope that you had held on to for the longest time. 

When someone finds these words, even if they’re in the languages you mention, please pass them on.  Because I am feeling all of them right now.

Beautifully stated, with only the words we have to use.  I wish I wrote it.  <3

Тоска (Russian, pronounced tos-ka)

“No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its
deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish,
often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull
ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a
vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may
be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia,
love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
-Vladimir Nabokov

first Babel now this? dammit, Jesus

Can we all agree these words MUST come from languages other than English? English words are so ugly… Unless it’s a word describing how terrible something/someone is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz
Just another word to drop. I really enjoyed this article conceptually. While at times stylistically it got a little bit off beat to me, overall I think this is a beautiful piece of expression. 

“Emotions, in my experience, aren’t
covered by single words. I’d like to have at my disposal complicated
hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, “the
happiness that attends disaster.” Or: “the disappointment of sleeping
with one’s fantasy.” I’d like to show how “intimations of mortality
brought on by aging family members” connects with “the hatred of mirrors
that begins in middle age.” I’d like to have a word for “the sadness
inspired by failing restaurants” as well as for “the excitement of
getting a room with a minibar”" – Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

I highly recommend “Sehnsucht” if we’re talking complicated mental states expressed by the German language – literally means a kind of deep longing for something, but in a grander sense.

To C.S. Lewis, Sehnsucht represents the “inconsolable longing” in the human heart for “we know not what.” It is, he writes, “that unnameable something, desire for which pierces us like a rapier at the smell of bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World’s End, the opening lines of “Kubla Khan,” the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves.”

First paragraph: Closest is 
Sehnsucht (german) – a longing—never fulfilled— which is itself sweeter than the fulfillment of any other human desire mixed with Weltschmerz (also german) – the general pain caused by an imperfect state of being or state of the world

Second paragraph: Acedia (latin/english) – not caring or not being concerned with one’s position or condition in the world mixed with Dysphoria (greek) – intense feelings of depression, discontent and indifference to the world around them

Third: разочарование (said razocharovanie) (russian) – a destruction of expectations caused by the disappointment of someone else’s actions similar to English’s disillusionment

Fourth: Anguish (english) – the experience of an utterly free being in a world with zero absolutes as experienced in Existential despair – a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of his or her life: whether his or her life has any meaning, purpose or value 

I hope that helps some!

Razbliuto, from Russian? The sentimental feeling for someone you once loved but no longer do.

Also good for you might be: Limerence (english) – an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction to another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one’s feelings reciprocated.

hmhmh, sehnsucht comes close, but it isnt very specific. people always assume german to be this specific, technical language, but i don’t feel that it is. i am german, and to me “Sehnsucht” just denotes longing for someone, but not in that specific heart broken, desparate way. sehnsucht can be a very positive emotion, something you feel for someone you love, even your mother, but it doesnt necessarily include a broken heart….

but my pedantic criticism aside, i dont think actually finding words to describe these feelings was the point of the wonderful article…

This is so heartbreakingly perfect and relevant and just askjdfas;dkla. (see? I don’t have words!) So much love for this piece.

Now that’s a good one.

I need a word to describe the feeling that I made a wrong turn somewhere in life recently and need to find a way back on track…what am I doing?  Where am I going?  Why am I stuck with adolescent high school kids who only seemed concerned about the latest update broadcast on their cell phones?

When someone writes a piece like this, I think the single-word options are better left unknown.

Thank you for understanding. 

Oh, how beautiful. 

i am so scared

this is how i’ve felt for 7 long months. thank you for putting it into words.

My favorite word in Portuguese fits the bill for all these emotions: Saudades.

Come now, everyone knows all the good existentialism comes from the Danes and Germans; Kierkegaard Nietzsche and Heidegger make Sartre/Camus look like a pair of dilettantes… which they were, after all

but I don’t feel sentimental, I feel embarrassed and miserable. ‘heavy boots’

A beautiful piece.

My favorite word as well! I was looking through the comments to see if someone had mentioned it already!

I would like a word to describe how I feel after reading this piece.  

Major depressive disorder is the closes thing I can think of, but thats like three words.

I would rather read a paragraph long description of a complex feeling than have it truncated into a single word. That just wouldn’t do it that kind of justice it deserves.

phlpn.es/7x9vmd

:’(

My god, this is stunning.

it makes me uncomfortable how accurately you always summarize my feelings. stop it (please don’t.)

Wow.  I’m saving this for when I get so tired of feeling sad and lonely that I want to embrace it. 

Awesome. I’d really like that German word

Oh my god, why is this so accurate? Did I somehow write this? I dont think i’ve read an article that compares.

the 2nd paragraph is so agonizingly relatable it literally knocked the wind out of me. this is beautiful.

I was in tears even before I finished reading the piece. It’s like the writer went inside my head and spun out *exactly* how I feel right now, giving words to thoughts I can never coherently write about.

Thank you for this; except for the French section (I find Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You” covers that part comprehensively) this is in words all the complicated, messy hamsters flailing around in my head. It hurt to read, but it helps. Thank you. 

This is absolutely incredible. 

Adding to the debate rather than knocking what others have said and fully acknowledging this is a matter of opinion/interpretation but my personal views as someone who studies literature & linguistics, specialising in German/Russian:

I personally agree with those who say ‘Sehnsucht’ is too general for the first. The first thing that came to mind when I read it was “Sturm und Drang” and I imagine anyone who’s read Die Leiden des jungen Werther will see where I’m coming from. I suppose it’s a literary concept rather than a ‘word’ but I think it’s quite close to the idea, if I’ve caught you right.

Разочарование is no where near strong enough for the third, though, in my opinion. Maybe тоска, but that’s also very vague and would take a real romantic like Nabokov to see it as being as strong as all that. Actually, I’m not sure English is as lacking as all that: isn’t this ‘desolation’ or ‘devastation’ we’re talking about here? Betrayed, pathetic desolation might be how I’d describe that.

And (emotional) ‘isolation’ for the second, even just ‘despair’ for the last are the best I can do. Not a great effort, maybe.

“heavy boots” — EXACTLY.

“But the hurt over the good things, the things you still miss so much, is a dull twist in your stomach now…”
I think we all know this feeling. 

i’m so glad i’m not alone in feeling like this…all 4 words could describe me, unbelievably good piece

what a beautiful post … it brought me to tears. :’)

This IS my life.

After five and a half years of devotion, this IS my life.

exactly, exactly this. there should be a word for how accurately this describes everything I’m feeling.

Was about to #baww, until I remembered the English language has Rihanna. Dear All, Take Care.

awesome words and really a touching feeling…