Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions | John Koenig

Translator: Andrea Garriga Martinez Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

Today I want to talk about the meaning of words,

Hoxe quero falar do significado das palabras,

how we define them

cómo as definimos

and how they, almost as revenge,

e cómo, case como en vinganza,

define us.

elas nos definen.

The English language is a magnificent sponge.

O idioma inglés é unha gran esponxa.

I love the English language. I'm glad that I speak it.

Amo o inglés e encántame falalo.

But for all that, it has a lot of holes.

Pero por todo iso, ten moitos baleiros.

In Greek, there's a word, "lachesism"

En grego, existe a palabra "lachesism"

which is the hunger for disaster.

que é "fame de desastre".

You know, when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon

Como cando vén unha tormenta no horizonte

and you just find yourself rooting for the storm.

e arelamos que chegue.

In Mandarin, they have a word "yù yī" --

En mandarín, teñen a palabra "yù yī"

I'm not pronouncing that correctly --

(Non a pronuncio ben)

which means the longing to feel intensely again

que significa a saudade de sentir de forma intensa

the way you did when you were a kid.

como cando eran nenos.

In Polish, they have a word "jouska"

En polaco, teñen a palabra "jouska"

which is the kind of hypothetical conversation

que é un tipo de conversación hipotética

that you compulsively play out in your head.

que compulsivamente tes na túa cabeza.

And finally, in German, of course in German,

E en alemán, por suposto,

they have a word called "zielschmerz"

teñen a palabra "zielschmerz"

which is the dread of getting what you want.

que é o medo a obter o que queres.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Finally fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Por fin, cumprindo un soño de toda a vida.

I'm German myself, so I know exactly what that feels like.

Son alemán e sei cómo se sente.

Now, I'm not sure if I would use any of these words

Non estou seguro de se usaría algunha destas palabras

as I go about my day,

no meu día a día,

but I'm really glad they exist.

pero alégrome de que existan.

But the only reason they exist is because I made them up.

Pero a única razón de que existan é que eu as inventei.

I am the author of "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,"

Son o autor do Dicionario de Coitas Escuras,

which I've been writing for the last seven years.

que estiven escribindo durante os últimos 7 anos.

And the whole mission of the project

E a meta toda do proxecto

is to find holes in the language of emotion

é atopar baleiros na linguaxe das emocións

and try to fill them

e procurar enchelos

so that we have a way of talking about all those human peccadilloes

para termos un xeito de falar sobre todos os pecadiños humanos

and quirks of the human condition

e as peculiaridades da condición humana

that we all feel but may not think to talk about

que todos sentimos, pero sobre as que non falamos

because we don't have the words to do it.

porque non temos as palabras axeitadas.

And about halfway through this project,

Á metade do proxecto,

I defined "sonder,"

definín "sonder",

the idea that we all think of ourselves as the main character

a idea na que todos nos consideramos protagonistas

and everyone else is just extras.

e os demais son extras.

But in reality, we're all the main character,

Pero en realidade, todos somos os protagonistas

and you yourself are an extra in someone else's story.

e ti mesmo es un extra na historia do outro.

And so as soon as I published that,

En canto o publiquei,

I got a lot of response from people

tiven moitas respostas da xente

saying, "Thank you for giving voice to something I had felt all my life

dicindo "Grazas por nomear algo que sentín toda a miña vida,

but there was no word for that."

pero ao que non sabía como chamarlle".

So it made them feel less alone.

Fíxoos menos solitarios.

That's the power of words,

Ese é o poder das palabras:

to make us feel less alone.

facérennos sentir menos sós.

And it was not long after that

Pouco tempo despois comecei a notar que "sonder"

that I started to notice sonder

being used earnestly in conversations online,

estába a usarse en conversacións en liña,

and not long after I actually noticed it,

e non moito despois de notalo,

I caught it next to me in an actual conversation in person.

escoiteino nunha conversa real.

There is no stranger feeling than making up a word

Non hai sentimento máis raro que inventar unha palabra

and then seeing it take on a mind of its own.

e logo vela adoptada por outra mente.

I don't have a word for that yet, but I will.

Non teño palabra para isto aínda, pero tereina.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

I'm working on it.

Estou niso.

I started to think about what makes words real,

Empecei a pensar sobre que fai reais as palabras

because a lot of people ask me,

porque moitos me preguntan,

the most common thing I got from people is,

o máis común que me din é:

"Well, are these words made up? I don't really understand."

"Mais, estas palabras son inventadas? Non acabo de entendelo".

And I didn't really know what to tell them

Non souben que dicirlles porque cando "sonder" despegou

because once sonder started to take off,

who am I to say what words are real and what aren't.

non podía dicir que palabras son ou non reais.

And so I sort of felt like Steve Jobs, who described his epiphany

Así sentinme como Steve Jobs describindo a súa epifanía,

as when he realized that most of us, as we go through the day,

cando viu que moitos de nos no noso día a día

we just try to avoid bouncing against the walls too much

tratamos de evitar golpearnos coas paredes a miúdo

and just sort of get on with things.

e completamos os nosos deberes.

But once you realize that people --

Mais cando te decatas de que a xente...

that this world was built by people no smarter than you,

que este mundo foi feito por persoas non máis intelixentes ca ti,

then you can reach out and touch those walls

podes estricar a man e tocar esas paredes

and even put your hand through them

a aínda atravesalas coas túas mans

and realize that you have the power to change it.

e ver que tes o poder de lograr cambios.

And when people ask me, "Are these words real?"

Cando me preguntan, "Son reais estas palabras?".

I had a variety of answers that I tried out.

Tiña varias respostas que ensaiei.

Some of them made sense. Some of them didn't.

Algunhas con sentido. Outras non.

But one of them I tried out was,

Pero unha que probei foi:

"Well, a word is real if you want it to be real."

"Ben, é real se queres que o sexa".

The way that this path is real because people wanted it to be there.

Como este camiño que é real porque a xente desexa que estea aí.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

It happens on college campuses all the time.

Sucede nas universidades seguido.

It's called a "desire path."

Chámase "camiño do desexo".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

But then I decided, what people are really asking

Pero decidín que o que preguntan en realidade

when they're asking if a word is real, they're really asking,

cando preguntan se a palabra é real, é:

"Well, how many brains will this give me access to?"

"A cantas mentes terei acceso con ela?".

Because I think that's a lot of how we look at language.

Porque creo que se parece moito a como vemos a linguaxe.

A word is essentially a key

Unha palabra é en esencia unha chave

that gets us into certain people's heads.

que nos dá acceso ás cabezas dos outros.

And if it gets us into one brain,

E se nos dá acceso a unha cabeza,

it's not really worth it,

non paga a pena,

not really worth knowing.

non serve sabela.

Two brains, eh, it depends on who it is.

Dous cerebros, depende de quen sexan.

A million brains, OK, now we're talking.

Un millón de cerebros, ben, está ben.

And so a real word is one that gets you access to as many brains as you can.

Unha palabra real é a que che dá acceso

a tantas mentes como poidas.

That's what makes it worth knowing.

Por iso paga a pena sabela.

Incidentally, the realest word of all by this measure is this.

Logo, a palabra máis real con esta medida é esta:

[O.K.]

O.K.

That's it.

Iso é.

The realest word we have.

Temos a máis real.

That is the closest thing we have to a master key.

É o máis preto a unha chave mestra.

That's the most commonly understood word in the world,

É a palabra máis comprendida no mundo,

no matter where you are.

sen importar onde esteas.

The problem with that is,

O problema é que

no one seems to know what those two letters stand for.

ninguén parece saber que significan esas dúas letras.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Which is kind of weird, right?

O que é algo raro, non si?

I mean, it could be a misspelling of "all correct," I guess,

Creo que podería ser un erro de "all correct"

or "old kinderhook."

ou "old kinderhook".

No one really seems to know, but the fact that it doesn't matter

Ninguén parece sabelo, pero o feito de que tanto nos dea

says something about how we add meaning to words.

di algo sobre como engadimos significado ás palabras.

The meaning is not in the words themselves.

O significado non está nas palabras.

We're the ones that pour ourselves into it.

Somos nós quen nos metemos nelas.

And I think, when we're all searching for meaning in our lives,

Penso que cando estamos buscando sentido nas nosas vidas

and searching for the meaning of life,

e buscando sentido á vida,

I think words have something to do with that.

penso que as palabras teñen que ver niso.

And I think if you're looking for the meaning of something,

Creo que se estás buscando o significado de algo,

the dictionary is a decent place to start.

o dicionario é o lugar para comezar.

It brings a sense of order

Dálle un sentido de orde

to a very chaotic universe.

a un universo moi caótico.

Our view of things is so limited

A nosa visión das cousas é tan limitada

that we have to come up with patterns and shorthands

que debemos inventar patróns e abreviaturas

and try to figure out a way to interpret it

e tratar de descubrir una forma de interpretala

and be able to get on with our day.

e poder seguir co teu día a día.

We need words to contain us, to define ourselves.

Necesitamos palabras que nos inclúan, que nos definan.

I think a lot of us feel boxed in

Creo que moitos nos sentimos limitados

by how we use these words.

por como usamos estas palabras.

We forget that words are made up.

Esquecemos que son inventadas.

It's not just my words. All words are made up,

Non só ás miñas palabras. Todas son inventadas,

but not all of them mean something.

pero non todas significan algo.

We're all just sort of trapped in our own lexicons

Estamos atrapados no noso léxico

that don't necessarily correlate with people who aren't already like us,

que non sempre coincide coa xente que xa non é coma nós

and so I think I feel us drifting apart a little more every year,

e penso que estamos a distanciarnos un pouco máis ano a ano,

the more seriously we take words.

canto máis en serio tomamos as palabras.

Because remember, words are not real.

Lembren, as palabras non son reais.

They don't have meaning. We do.

Non teñen significado. Nós si.

And I'd like to leave you with a reading

E quero deixalos cunha pasaxe

from one of my favorite philosophers,

dun dos meus filósofos favoritos,

Bill Watterson, who created "Calvin and Hobbes."

Bill Watterson, creador de Calvin e Hobbes.

He said,

El dixo:

"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul

"Crear unha vida que reflicta os teus valores e satisfaga a túa alma

is a rare achievement.

é un logro pouco común.

To invent your own life's meaning

Inventar o significado da túa propia vida

is not easy,

é un logro pouco frecuente,

but it is still allowed,

pero aínda está permitido

and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

e coido que serás máis feliz pola dificultade".

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)