Mamihlapinatapai. Now that’s a big word. But some words have to be big and mamihlapinatapai is one of those words. Actually it is a very small word – it means “A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start.” There is no one word in english that can say all that, I ‘spose we could connect all the words together and make one long word…

Germans have been doing this since time began and if you google “the longest word in german” you will get Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän the translation into english requires that you use 4 words: “Danube steamship company captain.”

But let’s get back to mamihlapinatapai, what a great word! Pity I can’t pronounce it, but more the pity that I can’t find it in any dictionary. But good old Wiki:  “Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan Language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the “most succinct word”, and is considered one of the hardest words to translate and yes it means “A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start.”

Not surprising then that Tierra del Fuego translates quite easily into The land of FIRE

I found the image on www.buzzfeed.com/

Mamihlapinatapais on www.goodmorningandgoodnight.com/

.