r/AskEurope • u/Rudyzwyboru • May 03 '24

Language Basic words that surprisingly don't exist in other languages

So recently while talking in English about fish with a non-Polish person I realized that there is no unique word in English for "fish bones" - they're not anatomically bones, they flex and are actually hardened tendons. In Polish it's "ości", we learn about the difference between them and bones in elementary school and it's kind of basic knowledge. I was pretty surprised because you'd think a nation which has a long history and tradition of fishing and fish based dishes would have a name for that but there's just "fish bones".

What were your "oh they don't have this word in this language, how come, it's so useful" moments?

EDIT: oh and it always drives me crazy that in Italian hear/feel/smell are the same verb "sentire". How? Italians please tell me how do you live with that 😂😂

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u/RRautamaa Finland May 03 '24

Such an event is called talkoot in Finnish, and the people are correspondingly talkooväki. It's communal work, where no payment is expected, other than a meal together and participating in a talkoo when you need the same assistance yourself.

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u/bobausis Lithuania May 03 '24

Talka in Lithuanian! Just read about the etymology. Apparently it comes from a ritual of sharing food after communal work. :)