Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions | John Koenig

翻译人员: Yanyan Hong 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

Today I want to talk about the meaning of words,

今天我想和大家谈谈单词的含义，

how we define them

我们是如何定义它们的，

and how they, almost as revenge,

反过来它们又是如何，像复仇一般的

定义了我们。

define us.

The English language is a magnificent sponge.

英语语言就像是一块华丽的吸水海绵，

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

我喜爱英语，很高兴我会说英语。

但是，它依然有很多缺陷。

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

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

在希腊语中有一个词，“Lachesism"，

which is the hunger for disaster.

意思是对灾难的渴求，

You know, when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon

就像是当你看到远方地平线的雷雨，

and you just find yourself rooting for the storm.

发现自己已对风暴做好了一切准备。

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

在中文里，有一个词 叫“yù yī ” ——

I'm not pronouncing that correctly --

不好意思，我发音不准——

which means the longing to feel intensely again

意思是希望再次强烈体会到

the way you did when you were a kid.

当你还是个孩子时的感觉。

In Polish, they have a word "jouska"

在波兰语里，他们有一个词叫“Jouska",

which is the kind of hypothetical conversation

形容一种假想的对话，

that you compulsively play out in your head.

在自己的脑海里被迫上演。

And finally, in German, of course in German,

最后，在德语里，当然，是德语。

they have a word called "zielschmerz"

他们有一个词叫做“Zielschmerz”，

which is the dread of getting what you want.

意思是害怕得到你想要的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Finally fulfilling a lifelong dream.

虽然最后实现了你毕生的梦想。

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

我自己是个德国人， 所以很了解那是什么感觉。

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

在我的日常生活里，

as I go about my day,

不确定我会不会用这些词，

but I'm really glad they exist.

但是我对这些单词的存在感到高兴。

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

仅仅因为，我编造了它们。

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

我是《自造词典》的创始人， (The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)

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

这是我在过去七年里所编写的东西。

And the whole mission of the project

整个计划的目标，

is to find holes in the language of emotion

是为了找到语言情感里的漏洞，

and try to fill them

去填补它们，

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

如此我们就有了一种全新的方式 去讨论人类情感里的

and quirks of the human condition

种种小缺失，

that we all feel but may not think to talk about

那种我们常常能感受， 却无法去形容的概念，

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

因为我们没有适合的词去表达。

And about halfway through this project,

在我的计划进行了一半的时候，

I defined "sonder,"

我创造了一个词“Sonder”，

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

这个点子是关于我们 把自己想象成世间的主角，

and everyone else is just extras.

其他人都是临时演员。

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

但是在现实中， 你认为自己是主角，

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

可是你在其他人的故事中 却只是个配角罢了。

And so as soon as I published that,

当我发表了这一想法时，

I got a lot of response from people

很多人来告诉我，

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

“谢谢你，你为我一生都感觉到 却一直没能找到

but there was no word for that."

合适的词去表达的感觉下了定义。”

So it made them feel less alone.

这使得他们不再那么孤单。

That's the power of words,

这就是文字的魅力，

to make us feel less alone.

让我们不再孤独。

And it was not long after that

在那不久以后，

that I started to notice sonder

我开始注意到Sonder这个词，

being used earnestly in conversations online,

很多人真的已经开始在 网络交谈中使用了，

and not long after I actually noticed it,

就在我注意到这个没多久，

我就发现这个词已经用 在我身边人与人直接的交谈中了。

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

There is no stranger feeling than making up a word

没有什么感觉比 自己造了一个单词，

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

然后发现它被所有人 所接受更奇怪了。

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

现在还没有能形容这种感觉的词， 但我会造一个出来的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'm working on it.

我已经在想了。

I started to think about what makes words real,

我开始想，到底是什么 让一个单词具象化，

because a lot of people ask me,

因为很多人问过我，

the most common thing I got from people is,

我也最常听到的提问是，

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

“好吧，这些单词是造出来的？ 我真的不明白。”

And I didn't really know what to tell them

我也真的不知道该怎么解释，

because once sonder started to take off,

因为一旦sonder开始流行起来，

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

我又该跟谁说 哪些单词是真实的，哪些不是？

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

我有点感觉像是乔布斯在描述他的顿悟，

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

当他意识到，我们中的很多人在生活中，

we just try to avoid bouncing against the walls too much

都在为了避免给自己制造太多的麻烦，

and just sort of get on with things.

只是希望一切都顺利。

But once you realize that people --

但是一旦你了解到那些人——

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

了解到这个世界是由并不比 你聪明多少的人所建立的，

then you can reach out and touch those walls

那么你就会试着去跨越这些高墙，

甚至会用手去推翻它们，

and even put your hand through them

and realize that you have the power to change it.

你就会意识到，原来你也有 改变世界的力量。

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

当人们问我，“这些单词是真的吗？”

I had a variety of answers that I tried out.

我曾经准备了很多答案。

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

有些可以理解，有些却行不通。

But one of them I tried out was,

但是我的一个答案是，

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

“单词唯有你想要它是真的时候， 它才会变成真的。”

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

这条路之所以会存在， 是因为人们都想要它存在。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It happens on college campuses all the time.

这种路在大学校园里随处可见，

我叫它“渴望之路“。

It's called a "desire path."

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But then I decided, what people are really asking

但是之后，当他们问 这个单词是否是真的，

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

他们其实是在问，

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

“好吧，通过这个单词我 又能读懂几个人的内心呢？”

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

因为我觉得这就是我们怎么看待语言的。

A word is essentially a key

单词的本质就是一把钥匙，

that gets us into certain people's heads.

一把开启人们内心的钥匙。

And if it gets us into one brain,

如果这把钥匙只能走进你一个人心里，

it's not really worth it,

这真的不值得，

也没什么必要存在。

not really worth knowing.

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

如果能读懂两个人， 嗯，这要看另一个是谁。

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

如果能走进千千万万的内心，很好， 这就是我们现在对话的意义。

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

所以一个真实存在的单词， 能帮助你了解很多人。

That's what makes it worth knowing.

这就是一个单词的意义。

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

顺便一提，用这种方式 获得的最真实的一个词是：

[O.K.]

【O. K.】

That's it.

就是这个。

The realest word we have.

这是我们最真实的单词。

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

这就是我们最熟悉的单词。

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

同时也是这个世界上 被最多人所熟知的词，

无论你来自哪里，

no matter where you are.

The problem with that is,

问题是，

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

没人知道为什么要用这两个字母。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Which is kind of weird, right?

这是不是有点不可思议？

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

我猜它可能是 “All Correct”（都对）的错误拼写，

or "old kinderhook."

或者是“Old Kinderhook”的错误拼写。

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

似乎没人知道为什么， 但是这都无所谓了，

says something about how we add meaning to words.

这说明了我们是如何 给词语赋予含义的。

The meaning is not in the words themselves.

单词的含义不在于单词本身，

We're the ones that pour ourselves into it.

而是在于那些赋予单词意义的人们。

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

而且我觉得，我们都在 寻找我们生命中的意义，

and searching for the meaning of life,

寻找生活的意义时，

I think words have something to do with that.

我觉得单词和我们寻找的东西息息相关。

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

我觉得你在寻找某些东西的含义时，

the dictionary is a decent place to start.

字典是一个开始寻找的好地方。

It brings a sense of order

字典为混沌的宇宙

to a very chaotic universe.

带去了一丝秩序。

Our view of things is so limited

我们对事物的了解十分有限，

that we have to come up with patterns and shorthands

以至于我们不得不想出 一些规律或者速记的方法，

and try to figure out a way to interpret it

去尝试寻找该词的解释，

and be able to get on with our day.

让我们的生活得以继续。

We need words to contain us, to define ourselves.

我们需要单词来蕴含自己， 来定义我们自己。

I think a lot of us feel boxed in

我觉得我们中的很多人都感觉，

by how we use these words.

被我们所用的词汇所束缚了，

We forget that words are made up.

我们忘了所有的单词都是编造出来的，

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

不光光是我用的词， 所有的词都是编造出来的，

but not all of them mean something.

但不是所有的词都有含义。

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

我们只是有点 被困在自己的字典里，

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

而我们的字典和 其他人的字典并不全都一样，

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

所以我觉得每一年我们都在变得疏远，

the more seriously we take words.

我们对用词也越来越认真。

Because remember, words are not real.

但是请记住，单词不是真的。

They don't have meaning. We do.

它们本身没有任何意义， 是我们赋予了它们含义。

And I'd like to leave you with a reading

最后我想跟各位分享一段

from one of my favorite philosophers,

我最喜欢的一位哲学家，

Bill Watterson, who created "Calvin and Hobbes."

比尔·沃特森在《凯文的幻虎世界》中

He said,

说的，

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

“创造一个能反应你的价值 并充实你的灵魂的生活，

is a rare achievement.

是一件了不起的成就。

To invent your own life's meaning

去创造你自己生活的意义

is not easy,

不容易，

but it is still allowed,

但仍值得你去尝试，

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

并且我觉得你会 因自找麻烦变得更快乐。“

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）