What a word!

Once in a while you come across a word in a foreign language that is simply untranslatable.  It is so apt, and captures a situation perfectly but somehow, it is also quite specific to the cultural milieu of the foreign language.

"Schadenfreude", for example.   Who hasn't exulted in other people's misfortunes?  But it took the Germans to come up with a word for it.

I ran into another such word recently:  "okoge".  It's Japanese for a single woman who spends a lot of time with gay men.  Most cultures don't even recognize the presence of gay men, let alone the phenomenon of a certain type of woman who prefers to stay in their non-threatening company.

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