Backpfeifengesicht

in hive-185836 •  4 years ago 

Sometimes there are... things... situations... places... people... Steemit users... which words are inadequate for. The evoking of feelings that are near impossible to express.

It could be the sun setting on a Maldivian beach where "wow" is totally inadequate.

IMG_4182.jpg
image source - my camera

It could be your child spilling their juice on the carpet, having not quite gripped the cup tightly enough. Your knowing that it was an accident and so desperately trying to stifle the scream of frustration.

image.png
image source - https://www.homestratosphere.com/how-to-get-juice-out-of-carpet/

Or it could simply be a face.

image.png
image source - https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/piers-morgan-launches-fresh-attack-5376465

I am conscious that in my final example, it is not simply a face that evokes a feeling inside that is difficult to explain - being an angry man, one of these feelings is obviously anger but there is much more.

Fortunately, another language has thought of a word for us. In this instance, German. And the word they have for this phenomenon is "Backpfeifengesicht". The Urban Dictionary eloquently translates it as

'face that should be slapped'

Having spent a lot of time commuting in and out of London's Canary Wharf, I find it remarkable that there is not an English word for this. We have certainly shared more than our quota of Backpfeifengesicht with the world so why have we not created a word for it? After all, we have a word for this...

image.png
image source - https://giphy.com/gifs/twerking-wogY22wDR3XUI/links

🤔

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Sometimes, you just have to grin and bear it. That's life!

True dat!

Let me try put it in a sentence.
"Some of us all might have a friend that make a lame joke at bad time in a worst situation but can't take a joke back at him so we need to Backpefeifeisshsjjxnses (I can pronounce it) him to sanity"

Is it a "friendly" term in that case? My interpretation is of a word that you save for people you really do not like.