Miracle Garden

I love parks! Went to Jumeirah Beach Park in the morning to celebrate Toni’s birthday.

Then went to Dubailand’s recently opened Miracle Garden, which “features more than 45million flowers”. It was nice, but I seriously find the 20 dirham entrance fee expensive.

Work it sister!
I’m really bothered that they’re using Walt Disney’s typeface.

Lots of flowers.

Kids will love it. And no, you can’t touch the flowers, guards are all over the place with whistles!

And yes, we’re in a desert, but obviously, UAE loves parks and flowers like me!

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- 22. February 2013 @ 11:22 pm
super nice!!

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Foreign Words We Could Use in English
nevver:
1. Kummerspeck (German)
  Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.
2. Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
  You know when you’re really full, but your meal is just so delicious, you can’t stop eating it?
3. Tartle (Scots)
  The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember.
4. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego)
  This word captures that special look shared between two people, when both are wishing that the other would do something that they both want, but neither want to do.
5. Backpfeifengesicht (German)
  A face badly in need of a fist.
6. Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
  You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet?
7. Pelinti (Buli, Ghana)
  Your friend bites into a piece of piping hot pizza, then opens his mouth and sort of tilts his head around while making an “aaaarrrahh” noise. The Ghanaians have a word for that. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”
8. Greng-jai (Thai)
  That feeling you get when you don’t want someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.
9. Mencolek (Indonesian)
  You know that old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them? The Indonesians have a word for it.
10. Faamiti (Samoan)
  To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child.
11. Gigil (Filipino)
  The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is irresistibly cute.
12. Yuputka (Ulwa)
  A word made for walking in the woods at night, it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.
13. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
  The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.
14. Vybafnout (Czech)
  A word tailor-made for annoying older brothers—it means to jump out and say boo.
15. Fremdschämen (German)
  ; Myötähäpeä (Finnish)
  The kindler, gentler cousins of Schadenfreude, both these words mean something akin to “vicarious embarrassment.”
16. Lagom (Swedish)
  Maybe Goldilocks was Swedish? This slippery little word is hard to define, but means something like, “Not too much, and not too little, but juuuuust right.”
17. Pålegg (Norweigian)
  Sandwich Artists unite! The Norwegians have a non-specific descriptor for anything – ham, cheese, jam, Nutella, mustard, herring, pickles, Doritos, you name it – you might consider putting into a sandwich.
18. Layogenic (Tagalog)
  Remember in Clueless when Cher describes someone as “a full-on Monet…from far away, it’s OK, but up close it’s a big old mess”? That’s exactly what this word means.
19. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
  Or there this Japanese slang term, which describes the experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.
20. Seigneur-terraces (French)
  Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time but spend little money.
21. Ya’arburnee (Arabic)
  This word is the hopeful declaration that you will die before someone you love deeply, because you cannot stand to live without them. Literally, may you bury me.
22. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
  “Hmm, now where did I leave those keys?” he said, pana po’oing. It means to scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.
23. Slampadato (Italian)
  Addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons? This word describes you.
24. Zeg (Georgian)
  It means “the day after tomorrow.” OK, we do have “overmorrow” in English, but when was the last time someone used that?
25. Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese)
  Leave it to the Brazilians to come up with a word for “tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.”
26. Koi No Yokan (Japanese)
  The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall in love.
27. Kaelling (Danish)
  You know that woman who stands on her doorstep (or in line at the supermarket, or at the park, or in a restaurant)
  cursing at her children? The Danes know her, too.
28. Boketto (Japanese)
  It’s nice to know that the Japanese think enough of the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking to give it a name.
29. L’esprit de l’escalier (French)
  Literally, stairwell wit—a too-late retort thought of only after departure.
30. Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish)
  A word that would aptly describe the prevailing fashion trend among American men under 40, it means one who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers.
31. Packesel (German)
  The packesel is the person who’s stuck carrying everyone else’s bags on a trip. Literally, a burro.
32. Hygge (Danish)
  Denmark’s mantra, hygge is the pleasant, genial, and intimate feeling associated with sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends.
33. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian)
  The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. Translates to “reheated cabbage.”
34. Bilita Mpash (Bantu)
  An amazing dream. Not just a “good” dream; the opposite of a nightmare.
35. Litost (Czech)
  Milan Kundera described the emotion as “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.”
36. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
  There are several Yiddish words to describe social misfits. This one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense.
05/21/13
What Our Words Tell Us
futurejournalismproject:

This is interesting.

David Brooks sifts through findings based on Google’s database of books published between 1500 and 2008 to see how frequently particular words were used at different epochs and then tells a story about how this reflects society’s cultural changes over time.

For example:

The first element in this story is rising individualism. A study by Jean M. Twenge, W. Keith Campbell and Brittany Gentile found that between 1960 and 2008 individualistic words and phrases increasingly overshadowed communal words and phrases.

That is to say, over those 48 years, words and phrases like “personalized,” “self,” “standout,” “unique,” “I come first” and “I can do it myself” were used more frequently. Communal words and phrases like “community,” “collective,” “tribe,” “share,” “united,” “band together” and “common good” receded.

And:

A study by Pelin Kesebir and Selin Kesebir found that general moral terms like “virtue,” “decency” and “conscience” were used less frequently over the course of the 20th century. Words associated with moral excellence, like “honesty,” “patience” and “compassion” were used much less frequently.

The Kesebirs identified 50 words associated with moral virtue and found that 74 percent were used less frequently as the century progressed. Certain types of virtues were especially hard hit. Usage of courage words like “bravery” and “fortitude” fell by 66 percent. Usage of gratitude words like “thankfulness” and “appreciation” dropped by 49 percent.

FJP: Granted the narrative he constructs based on these findings—that society has becoming more individualistic and less morally aware, for example—is prone to confirmation bias (which he admits), but it’s interesting to think about nonetheless.

Bonus: Explore the Google Books Ngram View here.
05/21/13
Wrote about things I love about my Android phone. Tell me what you love about Android. Android user?

05/20/13
Amazing #sandance Keane and Florence & the Machine

05/10/13
Florence & the Machine #sandance #dxb

05/10/13
Love this scent sooo much.

05/10/13
I love this album so much. I have to google what it means though since it’s in German.

04/29/13
04/17/13
With self-awareness you grow more intelligent. In awareness you learn, in self-awareness you learn about yourself. Of course, you can only learn what you are not. To know what you are, you must go beyond the mind. Awareness is the point at which the mind reaches out beyond itself into reality. In awareness you seek not what pleases, but what is true.
Nisargadatta Maharaj (via tobiji)
04/01/13
Love is not selective, desire is selective. In love there are no strangers. When the centre of selfishness is no longer, all desires for pleasure and fear of pain cease; one is no longer interested in being happy; beyond happiness there is pure intensity, inexhaustible energy, the ecstasy of giving from a perennial source.
Nisargadatta Maharaj (via underagroove)
04/01/13