Thank you for sending me your personal word of the year for 2018. Some are completely new. Some have been used in some ways but offer great concepts for the future. Since mostl of these words came without explanation I tried to imagine (and research) what they could mean. You are welcome to add other interpretations.
Palitroche (Guadelupe)
beautiful nonsense word from a story in a mexican schoolbook from the 1980s. The girl Pita finds the word „palitroche“. What could it be? Noone seems to know. In the end she attributes the word to an insect.
I suppose the story is an spanish adaption of an episode of Astrid Lindgrens childrens book classic „Pippi Longstockings“ or „Pippi Calzaslargas“.
In Swedish and German versions Pippi finds the word „spunk“. In english versions it´s a „spink“. „Palitroche“ sounds undoubtly a lot nicer than „spunk“ & it still seems to have some popular live in Mexico as a funny name for products, online accounts, artist names etc.
German film adaption: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4sp2ob
Gnumpf (Hanne)
Probably a spontaneous uttering after a mishap or when something doesn´t work out. After mumbling „Gnumpf“ you go on and try again.
I would have never guessed that it really is name of a simple model airplane type.
See it fly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cpKVGX59FI
Teali (Dirk F.)
shortened variation of my own word „Lubbstuppelangsling“, leaving out the alliterations. Nice word. Sounds positive. Something like: how are you? I suggest to use it at breakfast time.
Maybe also an exclamation of amazement or respect. You really did this? Wow. Teali.
Toccata Palabra (Gerda)
Since J.S. Bach composed his famous „Toccata and fugue in D Minor“ we know Toccata is not a special kind of pasta, but an italian word for instrumental (organ) music.
In combination with the spanish word “Palabra” for “word” it could stand for instrumental word music or just instrumental words. But why do we have to make a difference anyway? Is the mouth not an instrument? Is the word not music? In the future mouth and music will be ONE!
Hannebambelmuse (Axel)
Germans love to create compound word. Hanne is a womens name. In Frankfurt dialect a Hannebambel is a male fool. When Hanne meets her Hannebambel they create a Bambelmuse, kind of a squashed grapefruit, sour as the famous Frankfurt “Apfelwein”, source of all inspiration.
Erfolgsotto (Andi)
The German word “Erfolg” means “success. Here it is combined with the name Otto that could stand for the “Otto Normalverbraucher” = the average consumer. When poverty grows it´s probably still a success to be an average consumer. Otto will show off his average success by getting a Mops (pug dog). Concrete Poet Ernst Jandl wrote a funny & very successful poem about Ottos Mops. If you don´t believe that Germans can be successfully funny watch OTTO – our most successful Otto so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mP2nzphSnc
Lacherkrachermacher (Esther)
Controlled explosion of laughs, firecrackers of good humor in the hands of the Laughingmanager. Should be part of our new government.
Vazuthucudu (Anush)
South Indian princess with supernatural power. Maybe Vazuthucudu is the sister of prince Vazuthananga, the most tasty vegetarian boy in all the eastern hemisphere of the world. http://mariasmenu.com/vegetarian/vazhuthananga-theeyal-kerala-recipe/2
But Vazuthucudu is not easy to win. I am sure we can get some hints about her taste watching Tamil Vazhthukkal movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwiDwrX24uM
Otsukaresama お疲れ様。(Vladimir)
Helpfully Vladimir delivered his own interpretation:
a common Japanese phrase expressing respect for coming back (home), tired from work. A really nice phrase that should be introduced into other languages too. Being tired should always be respected.
Morphology (after Vladimir)
お (o) a prefix expressing respect
疲れ (tsukare) = being tired
様 (sama), highly respectful form of address used for kings or for the tired person.
Maybe the Otsukaresama Song helps to explain the concept (with english subtitles)
Bloschedd (Cliff)
Sounds like a Vienna style special coffee with just a drip of blood in it.
But maybe the same word could be used to end all discussions, especially on facebook. No more comments – bloschedd!
Kässimrang (Cliff)
Word of motivation. Come on, we survived all these years. We survived blood-coffee. We will survive 2018 as well.
Politricks (Mark)
Tricks with no end, multiple tricks. The word sounds like it has been around forever. Aren´t we all politricks? The best of us become politricians. Great entertainment. Things are happening so fast, you don´t notice what is going on. I am sure that the German Merkel Government could use some good politricks to keep the ghosts of the far right away.
Kalsarikännit
I have to add this unique finnish word. It describes the feeling when you are going to get drunk home alone in your underwear – with no intention of going out. Since the world is getting nastier and more dangerous, it is probably a good idea to stay safe at home and get drunk. Progressive people like us don´t want to get judged by our outer appearance. Staying in your underwear is just fine for 2018
