ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Koenig - Writer
John 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.

More profile about the speaker
John Koenig | Speaker | TED.com
TEDxBerkeley

John Koenig: Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions

John Koenig: Prelijepe nove riječi za opisivanje neznanih emocija

Filmed:
1,814,744 views

John Koenig voli pronalaziti riječi kojima izražavamo neizrecive svoje osjećaje -- poput "lachesisma", gladi za propašću, ili "sondera", uviđanja da su i životi svih drugih kompleksni i nespoznatljivi poput našega. Koenig promišlja značenja koja pridajemo riječima i kako nas ta značenja određuju.
- Writer
John Koenig is writing an original dictionary of made-up words. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
TodayDanas I want to talk
about the meaningznačenje of wordsriječi,
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Danas želim govoriti o značenju riječi,
00:16
how we definedefinirati them
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kako ih određujemo
00:17
and how they, almostskoro as revengeosveta,
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i kako one, gotovo osvetnički,
00:20
definedefinirati us.
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određuju nas.
00:21
The Englishengleski languagejezik
is a magnificentveličanstven spongespužva.
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Engleski je jezik veličanstvena spužva.
00:24
I love the Englishengleski languagejezik.
I'm gladradostan that I speakgovoriti it.
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Volim engleski jezik.
Drago mi je što njime govorim.
00:27
But for all that, it has a lot of holesrupe.
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Unatoč tome, on ima puno rupa.
00:30
In Greekgrčki, there's a wordriječ, "lachesismlachesism"
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U grčkome postoji riječ "lachesism"
00:32
whichkoji is the hungerglad for disasterkatastrofa.
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što znači "glad za propašću."
00:36
You know, when you see
a thunderstormDjelomična naoblaka on the horizonhorizont
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Kad ugledate grmljavinsko
nevrijeme na obzoru
00:40
and you just find yourselfsami
rootingzakorjenjivanje for the stormoluja.
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i jednostavno se nađete
kako prizivate oluju.
00:44
In MandarinMandarina, they have a wordriječ "yù yī" --
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U mandarinskome, postoji riječ "yù yī" --
00:46
I'm not pronouncingizricanja that correctlyispravno --
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ne izgovaram je ispravno --
00:48
whichkoji meanssredstva the longingčežnja
to feel intenselyintenzivno again
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što znači žudnju da ponovno
nešto osjetite onako intenzivno
00:51
the way you did when you were a kiddijete.
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kao što ste to osjećali kao dijete.
00:55
In Polishpoljski, they have a wordriječ "jouskajouska"
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U poljskome, postoji riječ "jouska"
00:58
whichkoji is the kindljubazan of
hypotheticalhipotetski conversationrazgovor
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što je svojevrstan
hipotetski razgovor
01:02
that you compulsivelykompulzivno
playigrati out in your headglava.
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koji se prisilno odvija u vašoj glavi.
01:06
And finallykonačno, in Germannjemački,
of coursenaravno in Germannjemački,
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I konačno, u njemačkome --
naravno u njemačkome --
01:09
they have a wordriječ calledzvao "zielschmerzzielschmerz"
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postoji i riječ "zielschmerz,"
01:12
whichkoji is the dreadstrah
of gettinguzimajući what you want.
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odnosno strepnja od
dobivanja onoga što želite.
01:15
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
01:20
FinallyKonačno fulfillingispunjenje a lifelongdoživotan dreamsan.
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U konačnici, ispunjenje životnog sna.
01:23
I'm Germannjemački myselfsebe,
so I know exactlytočno what that feelsosjeća like.
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I sam sam Nijemac pa točno
razumijem kakav je to osjećaj.
01:27
Now, I'm not sure
if I would use any of these wordsriječi
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Ne vjerujem da bih ijednu
od ovih riječi upotrijebio
01:29
as I go about my day,
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tijekom uobičajenog dana,
01:31
but I'm really gladradostan they existpostojati.
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ali doista mi je drago da postoje.
01:33
But the only reasonrazlog they existpostojati
is because I madenapravljen them up.
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Doduše, one postoje samo zato
što sam ih ja izmislio.
01:37
I am the authorAutor of "The DictionaryRječnik
of ObscureTaman SorrowsTuge,"
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Ja sam autor "Rječnika neznanih jada,"
01:41
whichkoji I've been writingpisanje
for the last sevensedam yearsgodina.
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kojeg pišem posljednjih sedam godina.
01:44
And the wholečitav missionmisija of the projectprojekt
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Svrha čitavoga projekta
01:46
is to find holesrupe
in the languagejezik of emotionemocija
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jest pronaći rupe u jeziku emocija
01:51
and try to fillispuniti them
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i nastojati ih popuniti
01:52
so that we have a way of talkingkoji govori
about all those humanljudski peccadilloessklonosti
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kako bismo mogli govoriti
o svim onim ljudskim manama
01:56
and quirksigra riječima of the humanljudski conditionstanje
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i osobitostima ljudskoga stanja,
01:58
that we all feel
but maysvibanj not think to talk about
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koja svi mi osjećamo, ali ni ne
pomišljamo o njima govoriti
02:02
because we don't have the wordsriječi to do it.
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jer nemamo riječi kojima bismo to učinili.
02:05
And about halfwayna pola puta throughkroz this projectprojekt,
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Negdje na pola puta tijekom projekta,
02:08
I defineddefiniran "sonderSonder,"
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definirao sam riječ "sonder,"
02:09
the ideaideja that we all think of ourselvessebe
as the mainglavni characterlik
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ideju da svi mi sebe smatramo
glavnim protagonistima,
02:13
and everyonesvatko elsedrugo is just extrasDodaci.
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a sve ostale tek statistima.
02:15
But in realitystvarnost,
we're all the mainglavni characterlik,
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No, u stvarnosti, svi smo
mi glavni protagonist,
02:18
and you yourselfsami are an extraekstra
in someonenetko else'sdrugo je storypriča.
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i svatko je od nas statist
u nečijoj tuđoj priči.
02:23
And so as soonuskoro as I publishedObjavljeno that,
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Čim sam to objavio,
02:26
I got a lot of responseodgovor from people
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brojni su mi ljudi odgovorili:
02:28
sayingizreka, "Thank you for givingdavanje voiceglas
to something I had feltosjećala all my life
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"Hvala vam što ste imenovali
ono što osjećam cijeloga života,
02:32
but there was no wordriječ for that."
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ali nije za to postojala riječ."
02:35
So it madenapravljen them feel lessmanje alonesam.
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To ih je učinilo manje usamljenima.
02:38
That's the powervlast of wordsriječi,
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U tome je moć riječi --
02:40
to make us feel lessmanje alonesam.
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one nas čine manje usamljenima.
02:44
And it was not long after that
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Nedugo nakon toga
02:46
that I startedpočeo to noticeobavijest sonderSonder
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počeo sam primjećivati
da ljudi "sonder"
02:47
beingbiće used earnestlyOzbiljno
in conversationsrazgovori onlinena liniji,
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sasvim ozbiljno koriste
u komunikaciji na internetu,
02:52
and not long after I actuallyzapravo noticedprimijetio it,
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a nedugo sam ga potom primijetio
02:55
I caughtzatečen it nextSljedeći to me
in an actualstvaran conversationrazgovor in personosoba.
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i osobno, u razgovoru uživo.
02:58
There is no strangerstranac feelingosjećaj
than makingizrađivanje up a wordriječ
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Nema neobičnijeg osjećaja
od toga kad izmislite riječ,
03:01
and then seeingvidim it
take on a mindum of its ownvlastiti.
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i potom je vidite kako
živi neki svoj život.
03:05
I don't have a wordriječ
for that yetjoš, but I will.
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Nemam za to još uvijek
riječ, ali naći ću je.
03:07
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
03:09
I'm workingrad on it.
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Radim na tome.
03:11
I startedpočeo to think
about what makesmarke wordsriječi realstvaran,
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Počeo sam razmišljati o tome
što riječi čini stvarnima.
03:15
because a lot of people askpitati me,
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Mnogo me ljudi pita i
03:17
the mostnajviše commonzajednička thing
I got from people is,
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najčešće od ljudi čujem:
03:19
"Well, are these wordsriječi madenapravljen up?
I don't really understandrazumjeti."
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"Jesu li te riječi izmišljene?
Stvarno ne razumijem."
03:22
And I didn't really know what to tell them
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Nisam znao što da im kažem,
03:24
because oncejednom sonderSonder startedpočeo to take off,
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jer kad je "sonder" zaživio,
03:26
who am I to say what wordsriječi
are realstvaran and what aren'tnisu.
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tko sam ja da govorim koje su
riječi stvarne i koje nisu?!
03:30
And so I sortvrsta of feltosjećala like SteveSteve JobsRadnih mjesta,
who describedopisan his epiphanyBogojavljenje
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Osjećao sam se poput Stevea Jobsa
koji je opisao svoje otkriće
03:34
as when he realizedshvatio that mostnajviše of us,
as we go throughkroz the day,
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uvidjevši da većina nas,
svakodnevno,
03:37
we just try to avoidIzbjegavajte
bouncingodskakanje againstprotiv the wallszidovi too much
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jednostavno nastoji ne
udarati previše u zidove,
03:40
and just sortvrsta of get on with things.
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nego se jednostavno nosimo sa svime.
03:43
But oncejednom you realizeostvariti that people --
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Ali, kad jednom shvatite
03:48
that this worldsvijet was builtizgrađen
by people no smarterpametnije than you,
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da su ovaj svijet izgradili
ljudi nimalo pametniji od vas,
03:52
then you can reachdohvatiti out
and touchdodir those wallszidovi
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tad možete ispružiti ruke
i dodirnuti te zidove,
03:54
and even put your handruka throughkroz them
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pa čak i pružiti ruke kroz njih
03:55
and realizeostvariti that you have
the powervlast to changepromijeniti it.
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te shvatiti da ih imate snage promijeniti.
03:59
And when people askpitati me,
"Are these wordsriječi realstvaran?"
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I kad me ljudi pitaju:
"Jesu li te riječi stvarne?",
04:02
I had a varietyraznolikost of answersodgovori
that I triedpokušala out.
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na različite im načine odgovaram.
04:04
Some of them madenapravljen senseosjećaj.
Some of them didn't.
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Neki od njih imaju smisla.
Neki i nemaju.
04:07
But one of them I triedpokušala out was,
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Jedan od onih koje sam iskušao je:
04:08
"Well, a wordriječ is realstvaran
if you want it to be realstvaran."
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"Dakle, svijet je stvaran ako
želite da stvaran bude."
04:12
The way that this pathstaza is realstvaran
because people wanted it to be there.
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Jednako kao što je ovaj prolaz
stvaran jer su ga ljudi željeli ovdje.
04:16
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
04:18
It happensdogađa se on collegekoledž
campuseskampusa all the time.
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U studenskim se kampusima
to događa sve vrijeme.
04:20
It's calledzvao a "desireželja pathstaza."
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Naziva se "putem želja."
04:21
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
04:22
But then I decidedodlučio,
what people are really askingtraži
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No, onda sam zaključio
da se ljudi uistinu pitaju,
04:25
when they're askingtraži if a wordriječ is realstvaran,
they're really askingtraži,
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kad pitaju je li riječ stvarna:
04:27
"Well, how manymnogi brainsmozak
will this give me accesspristup to?"
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"Kolikim će mi umovima
ovo omogućiti pristup?"
04:33
Because I think that's
a lot of how we look at languagejezik.
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Mislim da je to način na koji
mi nerijetko doživljavamo jezik.
04:35
A wordriječ is essentiallyu srži a keyključ
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U biti, riječ je ključ
04:38
that getsdobiva us into certainsiguran people'snarodno headsglave.
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kojim otključavamo glave drugih ljudi.
04:41
And if it getsdobiva us into one brainmozak,
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I ako njome otključavamo jedan mozak,
04:44
it's not really worthvrijedan it,
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ona nije osobito vrijedna,
04:46
not really worthvrijedan knowingpoznavanje.
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ne vrijedi je zapravo ni poznavati.
04:47
Two brainsmozak, ehha, it dependsovisi on who it is.
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E sad, dva mozga ...
ovisi čija su.
04:49
A millionmilijuna brainsmozak, OK, now we're talkingkoji govori.
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Milijun mozgova?
Može, to je prava stvar.
04:52
And so a realstvaran wordriječ is one that getsdobiva you
accesspristup to as manymnogi brainsmozak as you can.
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Prema tome, prava riječ je ona kojom
pristupate što većem broju mozgova.
04:59
That's what makesmarke it worthvrijedan knowingpoznavanje.
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Radi toga je vrijedi poznavati.
05:02
IncidentallyUsput, the realestrealest wordriječ of all
by this measuremjera is this.
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Uzgred, najstvarnija riječ od svih,
prema ovom kriteriju, je:
05:06
[O.K.]
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[O.K.]
05:08
That's it.
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To je to.
05:09
The realestrealest wordriječ we have.
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Najstvarnija riječ koju imamo.
05:11
That is the closestnajbliže thing we have
to a mastermajstorski keyključ.
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Najbliža ključu svih ključeva.
05:13
That's the mostnajviše commonlyobično
understoodrazumjeti wordriječ in the worldsvijet,
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To je najrazumljivija riječ u svijetu uopće,
05:16
no matterstvar where you are.
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gdje god se zatekli.
05:17
The problemproblem with that is,
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Problem je u tome
05:18
no one seemsčini se to know
what those two lettersslova standstajati for.
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što gotovo nitko ne zna
što predstavljaju ta dva slova.
05:21
(LaughterSmijeh)
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(Smijeh)
05:23
WhichKoji is kindljubazan of weirdčudan, right?
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Nekako neobično, zar ne?
05:26
I mean, it could be a misspellingpogrešno napisane riječi
of "all correctispravan," I guessnagađati,
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Moglo bi se raditi o pogrešnom
sricanju riječi "all correct,"
05:29
or "oldstar kinderhookKinderhook."
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ili "old kinderhook."
05:30
No one really seemsčini se to know,
but the factčinjenica that it doesn't matterstvar
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Nitko zapravo ne zna, ali
činjenica da nije ni važno
05:34
sayskaže something about
how we adddodati meaningznačenje to wordsriječi.
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govori o tome kako
pridajemo značenje riječima.
05:38
The meaningznačenje is not
in the wordsriječi themselvesse.
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Značenje nije u riječima samim.
05:41
We're the onesone
that poursipati ourselvessebe into it.
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Mi smo ti koji učitavamo sebe u njih.
05:45
And I think, when we're all searchingu potrazi
for meaningznačenje in our livesživot,
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Svi tražimo smisao u svojim životima,
05:50
and searchingu potrazi for the meaningznačenje of life,
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i u životu uopće,
05:51
I think wordsriječi have
something to do with that.
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i vjerujem da riječi s time
imaju neke veze.
05:56
And I think if you're looking
for the meaningznačenje of something,
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Tražite li značenje nečega,
05:58
the dictionaryrječnik is a decentpristojan placemjesto to startpočetak.
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sasvim je prikladno krenuti od rječnika.
06:01
It bringsdonosi a senseosjećaj of ordernarudžba
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On donosi osjećaj reda
06:04
to a very chaotichaotičan universesvemir.
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u vrlo kaotičan svemir.
06:06
Our viewpogled of things is so limitedograničen
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Naše je razumijevanje toliko ograničeno
06:09
that we have to come up
with patternsobrasci and shorthandsstenografiju
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da moramo osmisliti obrasce i skraćenice
06:12
and try to figurelik out
a way to interpretinterpretirati it
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te iznaći načine da ih interpretiramo
06:14
and be ableu stanju to get on with our day.
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i nastavimo živjeti.
06:17
We need wordsriječi to containsadržati us,
to definedefinirati ourselvessebe.
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Trebamo riječi da bismo se
uobličili, da bismo se definirali.
06:21
I think a lot of us feel boxedboksač in
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Mislim da se većina nas osjeća sputanima
06:24
by how we use these wordsriječi.
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onime kako koristimo riječi.
06:25
We forgetzaboraviti that wordsriječi are madenapravljen up.
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Zaboravljamo da su riječi izmišljene.
06:28
It's not just my wordsriječi.
All wordsriječi are madenapravljen up,
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Ne samo moje riječi.
Sve su riječi izmišljene,
06:31
but not all of them mean something.
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ali ne znače i sve nešto.
06:33
We're all just sortvrsta of
trappedzarobljena in our ownvlastiti lexiconsleksikoni
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Svi smo mi nekako
zarobljeni u vlastitim rječnicima
06:38
that don't necessarilyobavezno correlatekoreliraju
with people who aren'tnisu alreadyveć like us,
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koji nužno ne koreliraju
s ljudima koji već nisu poput nas,
06:42
and so I think I feel us driftingsplavarenja apartosim
a little more everysvaki yeargodina,
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pa mi se čini da osjećam kako se
svake godine sve više udaljavamo
06:47
the more seriouslyozbiljno we take wordsriječi.
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što ozbiljnije doživljavamo riječi.
06:51
Because rememberzapamtiti, wordsriječi are not realstvaran.
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Jer, upamtite, riječi nisu stvarne.
06:55
They don't have meaningznačenje. We do.
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One nemaju značenja. Mi ih imamo.
06:58
And I'd like to leavenapustiti you with a readingčitanje
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Prije no što vas napustim,
volio bih vam pročitati
07:01
from one of my favoriteljubimac philosophersfilozofi,
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jednog od mojih najdražih filozofa,
07:04
BillBill WattersonWatterson, who createdstvorio
"CalvinCalvin and HobbesHobbes."
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Billa Wattersona, autora
"Calvina i Hobbesa."
07:06
He said,
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On je rekao:
07:09
"CreatingStvaranje a life that reflectsodražava
your valuesvrijednosti and satisfieszadovoljava your soulduša
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"Stvoriti život koji odražava vaše
vrijednosti i udovoljava vašoj duši
07:12
is a rarerijedak achievementdostignuće.
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rijetko je postignuće.
07:14
To inventizumiti your ownvlastiti life'sživot je meaningznačenje
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Osmisliti vlastiti život
07:17
is not easylako,
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nije lako,
07:18
but it is still alloweddopušteno,
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ali još je uvijek dopušteno,
07:20
and I think you'llvi ćete be
happiersretniji for the troublenevolja."
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i mislim da ćete biti
sretniji potrudite li se."
07:23
Thank you.
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Hvala vam.
07:24
(ApplausePljesak)
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(Pljesak)
Translated by Mladen Barešić
Reviewed by Tilen Pigac

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John Koenig - Writer
John 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.

More profile about the speaker
John Koenig | Speaker | TED.com