John Koenig: Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions
John Koenig: De beaux nouveaux mots pour décrire des émotions obscures
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
about the meaning of words,
du sens des mots,
is a magnificent sponge.
est une superbe éponge.
I'm glad that I speak it.
Je suis heureux de la parler.
a thunderstorm on the horizon
rooting for the storm.
to feel intensely again
quelque chose d'intense à nouveau,
hypothetical conversation
de conversation hypothétique
play out in your head.
of course in German,
bien sûr en allemand,
of getting what you want.
ce que vous voulez.
so I know exactly what that feels like.
je sais exactement ce que l'on ressent.
if I would use any of these words
que j'utiliserais un de ces mots
is because I made them up.
est car je les ai inventés.
of Obscure Sorrows,"
des Peines Obscures »
for the last seven years.
in the language of emotion
dans le langage des émotions
about all those human peccadilloes
de toutes ces peccadilles humaines
de la condition humaine
but may not think to talk about
mais dont nous ne pensons pas à parler
de mots pour le faire.
as the main character
comme le personnage principal
des personnages secondaires.
we're all the main character,
le personnage principal
in someone else's story.
dans l'histoire de quelqu'un d'autre.
to something I had felt all my life
une chose que j'ai toujours ressentie
il n'y avait pas de mot. »
in conversations online,
dans des conversations en ligne
in an actual conversation in person.
juste à côté de moi.
than making up a word
que d'inventer un mot
take on a mind of its own.
for that yet, but I will.
pour cela, mais ça viendra.
about what makes words real,
à ce qui rend les mots réels,
I got from people is,
I don't really understand."
Je ne comprends pas. »
are real and what aren't.
quels mots sont réels ou non ?
who described his epiphany
décrivant son épiphanie
as we go through the day,
durant la journée,
bouncing against the walls too much
de se prendre trop de murs
by people no smarter than you,
pas plus intelligents que vous,
and touch those walls
toucher ces murs
the power to change it.
le pouvoir de les changer.
"Are these words real?"
« Ces mots sont-ils réels ? »,
that I tried out.
Some of them didn't.
if you want it to be real."
si vous voulez qu'il le soit. »
car les gens voulaient qu'il le soit.
because people wanted it to be there.
campuses all the time.
sur les campus universitaires :
que ce que les gens demandaient
what people are really asking
ils demandaient vraiment :
they're really asking,
will this give me access to?"
cela me donnera-t-il accès ? »
a lot of how we look at language.
dans notre vision d'un langage.
c'est principalement une clé
dans la tête de certaines personnes.
tout dépend de qui ;
là, c'est intéressant.
access to as many brains as you can.
à autant de cerveaux que possible.
by this measure is this.
le mot le plus réel de tous :
to a master key.
d'un passe-partout.
understood word in the world,
savoir ce que signifient ces deux lettres.
what those two letters stand for.
of "all correct," I guess,
ou « tout est correct », mal orthographié.
but the fact that it doesn't matter
que cela importe peu est significatif
how we add meaning to words.
d'ajouter du sens aux mots.
in the words themselves.
that pour ourselves into it.
for meaning in our lives,
du sens dans nos vies
something to do with that.
for the meaning of something,
le sens de quelque chose,
un bon point de départ.
with patterns and shorthands
des motifs et des abréviations,
a way to interpret it
comment les interpréter
to define ourselves.
pour nous contenir et nous définir.
se sentent pris au piège
dont nous utilisons ces mots.
tous les mots sont inventés
All words are made up,
trapped in our own lexicons
dans notre lexique
with people who aren't already like us,
avec les gens qui ne nous ressemblent pas
a little more every year,
un peu plus chaque année,
avec une citation
"Calvin and Hobbes."
« Calvin and Hobbes ».
your values and satisfies your soul
et satisfait votre âme
vous rendront plus heureux. »
happier for the trouble."
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Koenig - WriterJohn Koenig is writing an original dictionary of made-up words.
Why you should listen
John Koenig has spent the last seven years writing an original dictionary of made-up words, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which fills gaps in the language with hundreds of new terms for emotions. This project seeks to restore sadness to its original meaning (from Latin satis, "fullness") by defining moments of melancholy that we may all feel, but never think to mention -- deepening our understanding of each other by broadening the emotional palette, from avenoir, "the desire to see memories in advance," to zenosyne, "the sense that time keeps going faster."
Each entry is a collage of word roots borrowed from languages all around the world. Some entries are even beginning to enter the language outright:
sonder n. The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own -- populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness -- an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you'll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
His original YouTube series, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which he writes, edits and narrates himself, has drawn acclaim from John Green and Beyoncé to Michael from Vsauce. "Each episode is a soothing meditation on its subject, fortified by a hypnotic soundtrack and Koenig’s twistingly intelligent narration," writes The Daily Dot.
He currently works as a freelance video editor, voice actor, graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, director and writer. His writing has been published in countless tattoos, stories, song titles and band names, but never on paper -- though he is currently working on publishing a book adaptation. Originally from Minnesota and Geneva, Switzerland, John lives in Budapest with his wife.
John Koenig | Speaker | TED.com