Six Bizarre Situations There’s Actually a Word for

J. D. Louie

语言的起源与发展很大程度上都是为了描述我们的生活。据说爱斯基摩人就有成百上千的词汇来描述冰雪。世界之大，无奇不有，因此就存在着无数词汇，反映了每个语言背后的历史文化背景和思维见解。让我们来看看这些网罗而来的异域奇词吧。

There are billions of words in the world, but there are an in finite1. in finite: 无数的。number of situations and experiences to be had. Some experiences are so rare, we never think to name them. Others are similar to things we already have a name for, so we file them away2. file away: 归档。under that category. However, each culture is unique, and other countries have words for things we’d never think of.

1. Backpfeifengesicht（一张非常欠揍的脸）

From the people who brought you schadenfreude(happiness at the misfortune of others) and gluckschmerz(unhappiness at the good fortune of others), we have backpfeifengesicht. This is a German word that roughly translates to “a face badly in need of a fist.” The exact circumstances surrounding the creation of such a word are unknown. However, before we decide to run off and call our bosses backpfeifengesichts, it is interesting to note that it is the face that is said to be in need of punching and not necessarily the person it’s attached to.3. punching: 拳打，揍；be attached to:附属于。

That is to say, this need not be just another synonym4. synonym: 同义词。for people we really don’t like.

The idea that some faces are just more punchable5. punchable: 抗揍的。than others is not unheard of and has even been supported by science. Scientists believe that in the early days of humanity,when the main weapon of war was a strong right hook,humans evolved faces that could take a punch.6. 科学家认为，在人类发展的早期，当战争中主要的武器是一记强有力的右勾拳时，人类就把脸长成能抗揍的样子。hook: 勾拳。This applied mostly to males, since they tended to fight over women. The nose, jaw, cheekbones, and eye sockets evolved to be stronger,since these are a fist’s main targets.7. jaw: 下颌，下巴；cheekbone: 颧骨；eye socket: 眼窝。Over the years, our faces have become more delicate, but some faces have retained more “punchable traits” than others. So a backpfeifengesicht may just be a 125-kilogram (250 lb) guy with an iron chin jutting out, daring whoever’s brave enough to take their best shot.8. lb: 磅；jut out: 突出；take one’s best shot: 尽力为之，尽量尝试。

2. Pisan Zapra（两分钟就到！）

The Malaysian word for the time it takes to eat a banana is pisan zapra. Before clocks became widespread, this word was used as a way to give a rough estimate of time. To say that someone would arrive in pisan zapra meant that they could be expected to show up in about two minutes. The Finnish word poronkusema(the distance equal to how far a reindeer can travel without taking a comfort break) works in a similar vein.9. Finnish: 芬兰的；reindeer: 驯鹿；in a similar vein: 同样地，相似地。

Pisan zapra is comparable to doing something in a jiffy10. jiffy: 一会儿，瞬间。or a moment. It sounds like an odd way to measure time, but that’s pretty much how all measurements started. Also, a “moment” is not just a vague11. vague: 模糊的，不明确的。measurement. In the medieval ages12. medieval ages: 中世纪。, it was de fined as being 90 seconds. A “jiffy” is actually a real unit of time as well. Scientist Gilbert Newton Lewis coined13. coin: v. 编造，杜撰（新词语）。the phrase in the early 1900s. The amount of time it takes light to travel one centimeter (0.4 inch) is a jiffy (which is about one-hundredth of a second). Just something to think about the next time we take a moment to eat a jiffy peanut butter and banana sandwich.

3. Pesamenteiro（带着吃货的心去哀悼）

Pesamenteiro is a Portuguese word for “one who habitually joins groups of mourners at the home of a deceased person, ostensibly to offer condolences but in reality to partake of the refreshments which he expects will be served.”14. pesamenteiro是葡萄牙语中形容那些习惯性地去逝者家中加入哀悼者中间，表面上以示慰问，实则是期待会有点心可以享用的人。mourner: 哀悼者，送葬者；ostensibly: 表面上；condolence: 哀悼，慰问；partake: 享用；refreshment: 点心，茶点。After two weeks straight of eating nothing but ramen noodles,15. straight: 规矩的生活方式；ramen noodle: 拉面。any college student can understand why someone would do such a thing. Even so, a little more explanation wouldn’t hurt.

Hunger is a fast-growing problem in Portugal. Schools have even been known to keep their cafeterias16. cafeteria:（工厂、学校中的）自助餐厅。open during vacations to provide meals for students who would otherwise go hungry.Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. In the 1900s, their policy for economic development focused on cheap labor costs. This unfortunately led to Portugal being unprepared for the competition coming from developing countries. Since 2000, the country’s economic growth per year has only averaged about one percent. While a pesamenteiro may at first sound like a cheapskate or a freeloader,17. cheapskate: 小气鬼，吝啬鬼；freeloader: 不速之客，揩油的人。such behavior is possibly the result of Portugal’s financial crisis.

4. Pu’ukaula（拿老婆当赌注）

Gambling18. gambling: 赌博。can lead to the loss of many things. One can lose their car or house. It’s no secret that losing the deed19. deed: 契据。to his house in Las Vegas can result in a husband losing his wife. However,there is a much more direct way a man can lose his wife at a poker table. The de finition of the Hawaiian word pu’ukaula is “to set one’s husband or wife up as a stake20. stake: 赌注。in gambling.” It may sound like the plot of a movie or perhaps a practice only found in the back rooms of the highest rollers21. high roller: 豪赌者，肆意挥霍的人。. Unfortunately,however, this is an all-too-common occurrence—and not just in Hawaii. At least two incidents have been reported in India. In both cases, the wife escaped when her husband tried to hand her over to the winner. In one case, villagers had to guard the house where the wife was seeking shelter when the winner went so far as to raid the village to retrieve her.22. raid: 攻击，突袭；retrieve: 追讨，取回。

5. Prozvonit（在对方接听前就挂掉电话）

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia,23. Czech Republic: 捷克共和国；Slovakia: 斯洛伐克。prozvonit is to call someone’s cell phone and hang up before they answer. There are two possible reasons for doing this. The first is to prompt24. prompt: 促使。the person to call back. This, depending on the cell phone plan,will cost the caller minutes but will not cost the person who prozvonit-ed anything.

The second reason someone may do this is similar but simpler: The person may call and hang up as a way to send a message without wasting any minutes. In the days of carnivals25. carnival: 嘉年华，狂欢节。, way before cell phones, workers did this all the time. A worker would call his mother collect and tell the operator that his name was “Kay Fabian.”26. call sb. collect: 给某人打对方付费的电话；operator:（电话）接线员。When the operator would ask the mother if she would accept the charge for a call from Kay Fabian, she would say “no” and save money.However, because of the code name, she would know that the call had been her son’s way of saying he was doing fine.

6. Tsujigiri（辻 斩——十字路口的平民试刀）

It’s only human nature to want to try out something new when we first get it. For most of us, that just means taking a spin around the block in a new car or taking “sel fies”with a new phone.27. take a spin: 兜风；selfie: 自拍。Samurai28. samurai: 武士。took it a step further, it would seem. Tsujigiri is a Japanese word that translates to“crossroads killing.” While unfortunate, that may not sound too bad. However,that was actually the nickname for when a samurai got a new sword and tested it out on whoever happened to be walking down the street. That’s right: The victim didn’t have to be an enemy or otherwise offensive, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. These attacks were representative of how unchecked the power of the samurai was when they were at their most popular.29. 这些攻击说明，在武士最流行的时期，他们的权力是多么不受制约。unchecked: 不受约束的。Such actions were eventually outlawed in the Tokugawa period.30. outlaw: 宣布……为不合法的； the Tokugawa period:德川时代（1603—1867），又称江户时代，是指日本历史中在江户幕府（德川幕府）统治下的时期。From then on, those caught testing their swords out in that way were treated as killers, arrested, and usually put to death.