Friday, 5 September 2008

Words that are missing from the English language part III

Okay, it's not really a word that's missing from English. I've been thinking about idioms, and I have come to what will probably seem to you quite an unusual conclusion: German is a really beautiful language. Not because it sounds nice, not because Germans have a particularly nice accent when they speak English and not because the grammatical structure is beautiful (though it is regular, I'll give them that). But the way in which they can create compound words that mean exactly what you think they should mean is a wonderful thing.

I bet you're all wondering where this is going. I'll cut to the chase - I think we need to introduce the German word "Handschuhschneeballwerfer" as a borrowed word in English. It literally translates as "One who wears gloves to throw snowballs", and is used to describe a coward. I think it's the best idiom I've ever come across in any language.