The shit blog of Paul Chris Jones

Various foreign words (and their meanings)

25th March 2011 Paul Chris Jones

This post is for the meanings of various foreign words that are likely echoing in my head.

Bueno - 'good' in spanish. It conjures up images of hot beaches and good weather. 'Bueno vista' means 'good view'.

Coup de grĂ¢ce - 'blow of mercy'. A killing blow to alleviate the suffering of something/someone. E.g.:

Sometimes, coup de grace can simply be the thing that ends something, e.g. "The business had been failing for years but the coup de grace was the economic depression." For ages I thought its meaning was to end something in a cool and stylish way, like "The coup de grace was the little figurines on the cake." But it seems I was wrong.

Grundig - Another word that keeps popping up in my head. I don't know why, because it means 'thorough' in Norwegian. Its also a German electronics manufacturer, so probably I saw it on some German-made device instead.

Ich spreche Deutsch - I speak German. I'm only putting this here because I thought it was 'sprechen' and a German girl laughed at me. Hmm - google translate says either way is valid. Perhaps she was laughing at the way I said it instead.

Itame (It-tah-may) - A beautiful word that keeps appearing in my head. I must have got it from the Japanese restaurant Wagamama, because its main meaning in Japanese is 'fried' as in fried rice (not deep-friend though). Actually I just discovered the pronunication is it-tay-may and not it-tay-me like I had first thought. It's a shame because it-tay-me sounds much nicer.

Jai ho - Looks like it may be french for 'I have prostitute'. Which wouldn't surprise me because this is how the pussycat dolls dress (for which I thank God everyday). It's actually Hindi for 'be victorious' (jai = victorious, ho = let it be).

Jamais vu - it means 'never seen'. It's related to 'deja vu' (which means see again already seen). You know that feeling where you've said/wrote a word so much you doubt it's a real word? This is jamais vu.

Jawohl - Another word that keeps popping up in my head. Pronounced 'ya vol'. It kind of sounds like 'yes, well...'. I didn't know the meaning until I just looked it up. It means 'yes' in German, but is more submissive than a normal 'yes'. It's often used in the military where google translate says it means 'yes sir'. I must have heard it in films whenever Hitler gives out an order.

Naranja - spanish for 'orange'; both the fruit and the colour. 'Naranj' is pronounced the same as 'range' in the word orange, so presumably they have the same root. I prefer the word Naranja and will be asking for 'narangas' at my local bemused greengrocers from now on.

Poultergeist - obviously this is a type of ghost that is capable of moving things, but what do the words 'poulter' and 'geist' mean? I think geist means ghost, but does poulter mean chicken? Wikipedia has the answer: poltern means 'to make noise'.

See - German for a body of water, such as the sea or a lake. I saw an advert that said 'Was ist mein See?' - What is my sea? Still doesn't make sense.

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Paul Chris Jones is a writer and dad living in Girona, Spain. You can follow Paul on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.