Ask Lemmy

It’s probably not the most poetic, but I like it:

Luftschloss

It literally means „air castle“. It’s a castle made entirely out of air. It looks stunning and grand in your imagination or when you talk about it, but it’s not real.

It’s like having a dream or a vision that sounds great but is completely unrealistic or impossible to achieve.

In English, you might say „pipe dream“ or „castle in the air“, but „Luftschloss“ sounds way more poetic and fragile, evoking something beautiful yet intangible.

There’s another one which is similar, but not the same:

Hirngespinst

The literal transition would be a delicate web spun by your mind. In Englisch you’d probably also say „pipe dream“, but there’s a subtle difference between „Luftschloss“ and „Hirngespinst“.

„Hirngespinst“ is more like an absurd or even silly idea you came up with. By contrast, a „Luftschloss“ tends to describe a beautiful but unrealistic vision with a broader, often more hopeful scope.

In french: "Dépaysement".

It's the feeling a person gets when discovering a foreign country, a new culture. It's usually used in a very positive manner.

Tabarnak

Considered a very strong profanity. It takes the place of "Oh shit!" but with the sting of saying something like the C word in public. Poetic because it's not a bad word at all. It references the tabernacle of a church where communion is kept. It's only hardcore because Quebec is very Catholic, more than half, and it's considered blasphemous. Especially by older folks.

in german, the uterus literally translates to birthmither

an actually poetic word in german is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

not because it is very romantic or sounds nice, but bcs you can basically fill 2 poems with it

English - paraprosdokian - it means a sentence that has a surprise twist. eg. Some people are like slinkies: not really good for much, but they bring a smile to your face when you see one tumble down a set of stairs. From the Greek, basically meaning beyond expectations.

Not my language, but I like the Dutch word "peperduur" for "very expensive." I like that the meaning has both historical and emotional aspects: pepper was once very expensive, and a high price can be considered spicy.

In English, "crestfallen" is a good one. When I read it I immediately imagine someone hanging their head in dismay.

It may not be the most poetic, but I'm partial to the word holdfast, which is a biological structure that anchors organisms to surfaces. "Hold fast" was an order given to sailors of yore, telling them to grab tightly onto the ship to avoid being washed overboard in storms. The word suggests images of kelp, mussels, or sponges doing the same, determinedly holding fast against the waves, figurative and literal.

Not poetic I reckon, but I like that effective has two Fs and defective only has one. That missing F makes something not work. So, in essence, sometimes, to give an F can help make something work.

I like widdershins, which just means counter-clockwise, or circling something while keeping to the left.

Qapla': said to wish fortune on someone, as in "good luck", particularly fortune in some form of honourable battle.

And placenta is mother cake

Being from Vienna, my word is naturally an insult.

"Meine Allerwerterste/Mein Allerwerterster" (female and male version)

On the one hand, it's a formal and very polite address to someone (meaning something like "my dearest"), but at the same time the word means "my ass".

So with that word you can sound extremely polite and nice while at the same time calling them an ass.

No one has done English yet so I’ll go. My favorite is “flatulence” which roughly translates to “gas out of the butt”

Flâner

To wander aimlessly, without haste and without a specific goal.

Basically taking a stroll

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/fl%C3%A2ner

There is "dzban" or "rzygacz" but my favorite one is "włóczykij" means "one that wanders with the staff"

Same language, also poetic, but far from beautiful: Rævsnerk. I'll leave the translation and interpretation as an exercise to the reader.

Hint: Hot and humid day.

yeah, in Swedish it's livmoder. Which means the same thing

I don't know of a singular word, but "cellar door" has been called the most poetic phrase in English by many authors and poets for sounding very pleasant.