Arigata-meiwaku





Arigata-meiwaku jap.

"An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favour, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude."

I collect untranslatable words. The japanese language has very many of these words, partly because  of their tradition of haiku poems, where complex matters have to fit into a fixed number of syllables. Many are about nature, life and existential experiences. Others, like this one, are about sociocultural phenomena. And since there is a word for it, I can just assume that more than one have been through this situation, feeling pressured to express gratitude for something they not only didn't wish for, but also actively tried to stop the other one from doing. So, I suggest you to avoid this situation the very best you can, since it seems rather unpleasant. However, if you end up there, it could be tremendously helpful knowing there is a word for your experience.


Kommentarer

Instagram @starfishdesign