When does foreign language influence become a part of our own vocabulary?

Did you spot this intriguing article this week?

The word gigil (ghee-gill), with its origins in the Phillipines, has become part of the list of words that cannot be translated into an English equivalent, but can be used to convey their own unique meaning.

So what does gigil mean?

According to the BBC news article, it comes from the Tagalog language and means a 'feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever we find so adorable'.

Any of these pics giving you gigil?

My vote goes to 3. Awwww.

It is wonderful that our language is so enriched by those of other cultures, however, from an ex teacher's perspective... man, it is tough to teach such a mixing pot of spellings and origins!

For example - brace yourself - we have these beauties that all sound exactly the same:

1. I

2. eye

3. igh (in light)

4. ie (in pie)

5. y (in sky)

6. aye (aye captain 🤭)

7. eigh (in height)

8. i_e (in slide)

...is your brain hurting? My poor little boy is at the age where he is swiftly learning that this language of ours is a pretty mad beast. It is cute when he spells my name Kait though 🥹

Surely this lot cannot all have come from our fair isle? What a crazy list!

Radical suggestion...

Shall we all just move to Finland where I hear that one letter makes one phonetic sound, so everything is easily read or written? Sounds tempting! Who's with me?

Did any of those pictures give you all the gigil feels?

If you've got a favourite foreign-English word, let me know! I will challenge myself to slip it into a conversation or blog post asap!