The recent discussion about excitement reminded me of this BBC article: Why the French don’t show excitement.
The author argues the French don’t have a word for the way we’ve been using excitement. The French word excité has wrong connotations, and the French are more restrained than we Americans, so they don’t need words expressing that much emotional energy.
Like the seniors in the video, I’m skeptical, I don’t know about that. (Here it is again for those of you who don’t remember it.)
So I looked up the English synonyms thrilled and elated in the Cambridge Dictionary.
thrilled:
feeling great excitement and happiness
enchanté/-ée, surexcité/-ée
The kids were thrilled to see the game.
Les enfants étaient enchantés de voir le match.
elated:
very cheerful
transporté de joie
She felt elated after winning.
Hurray for the French! Sometimes the word excited doesn’t quite have it. Then elated, transported by joy, nails the idea. Have you ever been transported by joy?
November 11, 2018
Hm, I thought the article pretty much omitted what you’ve just pointed out: transported by joy, e.g. So thanks.
Did you also see the one about Finns and small talk? I had that familiar instant gut reaction: those are my people!
You’re a lot better at small talk than I am! Mostly because I don’t get into social situations much — for me a smile and a wave conveys a lot.
I vaguely knew about the Finns so I looked it up. The line I like best is
Here’s a video to teach Finns how to do small talk — presumably in another country when they have to do it. The fellow is serious.
And apparently this year Finland was called the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report and they argued against it.
I had already wondered about that because the Scandinavians almost always come out on top in the report even though they tend to be a lot more restrained than Americans and Americans think extroverts are a lot happier than introverts. Fun stuff.
Oops! I should have said Nordic, not Scandinavian.
Transported where? Sorry ‘bout that!
When it happens you will know. LOL!
who is say some one is certain way…People tells me I’m cool as cucumber but I don’t always see my self that way.
Coffee is on
Amen to that!
I think many of us hide our feelings of elation/joy/excitement – call it what you will – for fear of the censoring of others.
I knew I was berated at the library once for showing joy in a child’s reading of a whole page for the first time. I was told to tone it down, I was “over-reacting” which seems a common put-down for people like me.
So we need to be cautious in our exuberance perhaps?
This seems a shame.
And PS I don’t “do” small talk. And have no wish to.
XO
WWW
Yes, there are a lot of wet blankets in this poor old world. But we have a lot of choices — we can learn to ignore putdowns or respect other people’s feelings and save our emoting to when we’re alone or with kindred spirits, or find a long-suffering friend who will put up with us. Poor Andy last night, he was on his way to bed when I shared an enthusiasm with him. He very sweetly tried to listen but was obviously tired. I laughed and told him the Finnish view: being silent is being polite, as you are not disturbing the other person. I added, “Unfortunately for you I am not a Finn!” He laughed and I wished him good night, sleep well.
He’s one of the treasures of my life.