mamihlapinatapei

Hello and welcome to Word of the Week! I’m your host, Liz. This podcast is dedicated to words and phrases that are untranslatable into English. Let’s discover the nuance of the world’s languages, shall we? 

This week’s word is mamihlapinatapei. This is a Tierra del Fuegan word referring to a meaningful look shared by two people, that expresses mutual unstated feelings. This has been titled by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the most succinct word”. Its definition is also succinct for something so ephemereal: looking into each other’s eyes, each hoping that the other will initiate what both want to do but neither chooses to commence.

Not totally sure about this being THE most succinct word, but it certainly has a specific definition that we can all understand. But we may not all relate to! This is a relatively rare sensation, but we all experience it in our lifetime. Anyone who has ever fallen into love or out of love has probably shared this with their partner at the time. Ooh, tension. 

The eye is both the window to the soul and a primary erogenous zone. Humans have been exchanging meaningful glances long before we had a word for it. By the very nature of this kind of encounter, it would be silly to simply ask the other person - are you thinking what I’m thinking? But you could maybe ask - did we have a moment of mamihlpinatapei? 

This is an indirect way of addressing the moment. And in a world that understands what boundaries are in relationships - even if they’re not always respected - this word could be helpful in broaching topics that could trigger a trauma response in some. Or at least, that’s one takeaway. I’ll let you work out your own takeaway. 

Here’s to this week… May you all endeavor to adopt this Word of the Week and see the world a little bit differently. I’ll be back next week with a new word. Thank you for listening!