Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions | John Koenig

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Today I want to talk about the meaning of words,

Danas želim govoriti o značenju riječi,

how we define them

kako ih određujemo

and how they, almost as revenge,

i kako one, gotovo osvetnički,

define us.

određuju nas.

The English language is a magnificent sponge.

Engleski je jezik veličanstvena spužva.

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

Volim engleski jezik. Drago mi je što njime govorim.

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

Unatoč tome, on ima puno rupa.

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

U grčkome postoji riječ "lachesism"

which is the hunger for disaster.

što znači "glad za propašću."

You know, when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon

Kad ugledate grmljavinsko nevrijeme na obzoru

and you just find yourself rooting for the storm.

i jednostavno se nađete kako prizivate oluju.

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

U mandarinskome, postoji riječ "yù yī" --

I'm not pronouncing that correctly --

ne izgovaram je ispravno --

which means the longing to feel intensely again

što znači žudnju da ponovno nešto osjetite onako intenzivno

the way you did when you were a kid.

kao što ste to osjećali kao dijete.

In Polish, they have a word "jouska"

U poljskome, postoji riječ "jouska"

which is the kind of hypothetical conversation

što je svojevrstan hipotetski razgovor

that you compulsively play out in your head.

koji se prisilno odvija u vašoj glavi.

And finally, in German, of course in German,

I konačno, u njemačkome -- naravno u njemačkome --

they have a word called "zielschmerz"

postoji i riječ "zielschmerz,"

which is the dread of getting what you want.

odnosno strepnja od dobivanja onoga što želite.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Finally fulfilling a lifelong dream.

U konačnici, ispunjenje životnog sna.

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

I sam sam Nijemac pa točno razumijem kakav je to osjećaj.

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

Ne vjerujem da bih ijednu od ovih riječi upotrijebio

as I go about my day,

tijekom uobičajenog dana,

but I'm really glad they exist.

ali doista mi je drago da postoje.

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

Doduše, one postoje samo zato što sam ih ja izmislio.

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

Ja sam autor "Rječnika neznanih jada,"

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

kojeg pišem posljednjih sedam godina.

And the whole mission of the project

Svrha čitavoga projekta

is to find holes in the language of emotion

jest pronaći rupe u jeziku emocija

and try to fill them

i nastojati ih popuniti

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

kako bismo mogli govoriti o svim onim ljudskim manama

and quirks of the human condition

i osobitostima ljudskoga stanja,

that we all feel but may not think to talk about

koja svi mi osjećamo, ali ni ne pomišljamo o njima govoriti

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

jer nemamo riječi kojima bismo to učinili.

And about halfway through this project,

Negdje na pola puta tijekom projekta,

I defined "sonder,"

definirao sam riječ "sonder,"

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

ideju da svi mi sebe smatramo glavnim protagonistima,

and everyone else is just extras.

a sve ostale tek statistima.

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

No, u stvarnosti, svi smo mi glavni protagonist,

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

i svatko je od nas statist u nečijoj tuđoj priči.

And so as soon as I published that,

Čim sam to objavio,

I got a lot of response from people

brojni su mi ljudi odgovorili:

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

"Hvala vam što ste imenovali ono što osjećam cijeloga života,

but there was no word for that."

ali nije za to postojala riječ."

So it made them feel less alone.

To ih je učinilo manje usamljenima.

That's the power of words,

U tome je moć riječi --

to make us feel less alone.

one nas čine manje usamljenima.

And it was not long after that

Nedugo nakon toga

that I started to notice sonder

počeo sam primjećivati da ljudi "sonder"

being used earnestly in conversations online,

sasvim ozbiljno koriste u komunikaciji na internetu,

and not long after I actually noticed it,

a nedugo sam ga potom primijetio

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

i osobno, u razgovoru uživo.

There is no stranger feeling than making up a word

Nema neobičnijeg osjećaja od toga kad izmislite riječ,

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

i potom je vidite kako živi neki svoj život.

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

Nemam za to još uvijek riječ, ali naći ću je.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I'm working on it.

Radim na tome.

I started to think about what makes words real,

Počeo sam razmišljati o tome što riječi čini stvarnima.

because a lot of people ask me,

Mnogo me ljudi pita i

the most common thing I got from people is,

najčešće od ljudi čujem:

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

"Jesu li te riječi izmišljene? Stvarno ne razumijem."

And I didn't really know what to tell them

Nisam znao što da im kažem,

because once sonder started to take off,

jer kad je "sonder" zaživio,

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

tko sam ja da govorim koje su riječi stvarne i koje nisu?!

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

Osjećao sam se poput Stevea Jobsa koji je opisao svoje otkriće

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

uvidjevši da većina nas, svakodnevno,

we just try to avoid bouncing against the walls too much

jednostavno nastoji ne udarati previše u zidove,

and just sort of get on with things.

nego se jednostavno nosimo sa svime.

But once you realize that people --

Ali, kad jednom shvatite

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

da su ovaj svijet izgradili ljudi nimalo pametniji od vas,

then you can reach out and touch those walls

tad možete ispružiti ruke i dodirnuti te zidove,

and even put your hand through them

pa čak i pružiti ruke kroz njih

and realize that you have the power to change it.

te shvatiti da ih imate snage promijeniti.

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

I kad me ljudi pitaju: "Jesu li te riječi stvarne?",

I had a variety of answers that I tried out.

na različite im načine odgovaram.

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

Neki od njih imaju smisla. Neki i nemaju.

But one of them I tried out was,

Jedan od onih koje sam iskušao je:

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

"Dakle, svijet je stvaran ako želite da stvaran bude."

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

Jednako kao što je ovaj prolaz stvaran jer su ga ljudi željeli ovdje.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

It happens on college campuses all the time.

U studenskim se kampusima to događa sve vrijeme.

It's called a "desire path."

Naziva se "putem želja."

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But then I decided, what people are really asking

No, onda sam zaključio da se ljudi uistinu pitaju,

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

kad pitaju je li riječ stvarna:

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

"Kolikim će mi umovima ovo omogućiti pristup?"

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

Mislim da je to način na koji mi nerijetko doživljavamo jezik.

A word is essentially a key

U biti, riječ je ključ

that gets us into certain people's heads.

kojim otključavamo glave drugih ljudi.

And if it gets us into one brain,

I ako njome otključavamo jedan mozak,

it's not really worth it,

ona nije osobito vrijedna,

not really worth knowing.

ne vrijedi je zapravo ni poznavati.

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

E sad, dva mozga ... ovisi čija su.

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

Milijun mozgova? Može, to je prava stvar.

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

Prema tome, prava riječ je ona kojom pristupate što većem broju mozgova.

That's what makes it worth knowing.

Radi toga je vrijedi poznavati.

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

Uzgred, najstvarnija riječ od svih, prema ovom kriteriju, je:

[O.K.]

[O.K.]

That's it.

To je to.

The realest word we have.

Najstvarnija riječ koju imamo.

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

Najbliža ključu svih ključeva.

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

To je najrazumljivija riječ u svijetu uopće,

no matter where you are.

gdje god se zatekli.

The problem with that is,

Problem je u tome

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

što gotovo nitko ne zna što predstavljaju ta dva slova.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Which is kind of weird, right?

Nekako neobično, zar ne?

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

Moglo bi se raditi o pogrešnom sricanju riječi "all correct,"

or "old kinderhook."

ili "old kinderhook."

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

Nitko zapravo ne zna, ali činjenica da nije ni važno

says something about how we add meaning to words.

govori o tome kako pridajemo značenje riječima.

The meaning is not in the words themselves.

Značenje nije u riječima samim.

We're the ones that pour ourselves into it.

Mi smo ti koji učitavamo sebe u njih.

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

Svi tražimo smisao u svojim životima,

and searching for the meaning of life,

i u životu uopće,

I think words have something to do with that.

i vjerujem da riječi s time imaju neke veze.

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

Tražite li značenje nečega,

the dictionary is a decent place to start.

sasvim je prikladno krenuti od rječnika.

It brings a sense of order

On donosi osjećaj reda

to a very chaotic universe.

u vrlo kaotičan svemir.

Our view of things is so limited

Naše je razumijevanje toliko ograničeno

that we have to come up with patterns and shorthands

da moramo osmisliti obrasce i skraćenice

and try to figure out a way to interpret it

te iznaći načine da ih interpretiramo

and be able to get on with our day.

i nastavimo živjeti.

We need words to contain us, to define ourselves.

Trebamo riječi da bismo se uobličili, da bismo se definirali.

I think a lot of us feel boxed in

Mislim da se većina nas osjeća sputanima

by how we use these words.

onime kako koristimo riječi.

We forget that words are made up.

Zaboravljamo da su riječi izmišljene.

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

Ne samo moje riječi. Sve su riječi izmišljene,

but not all of them mean something.

ali ne znače i sve nešto.

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

Svi smo mi nekako zarobljeni u vlastitim rječnicima

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

koji nužno ne koreliraju s ljudima koji već nisu poput nas,

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

pa mi se čini da osjećam kako se svake godine sve više udaljavamo

the more seriously we take words.

što ozbiljnije doživljavamo riječi.

Because remember, words are not real.

Jer, upamtite, riječi nisu stvarne.

They don't have meaning. We do.

One nemaju značenja. Mi ih imamo.

And I'd like to leave you with a reading

Prije no što vas napustim, volio bih vam pročitati

from one of my favorite philosophers,

jednog od mojih najdražih filozofa,

Bill Watterson, who created "Calvin and Hobbes."

Billa Wattersona, autora "Calvina i Hobbesa."

He said,

On je rekao:

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

"Stvoriti život koji odražava vaše vrijednosti i udovoljava vašoj duši

is a rare achievement.

rijetko je postignuće.

To invent your own life's meaning

Osmisliti vlastiti život

is not easy,

nije lako,

but it is still allowed,

ali još je uvijek dopušteno,

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

i mislim da ćete biti sretniji potrudite li se."

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)