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Words that should exist but do not

I'm a bit too lazy to sort through all of our group's discussions to see whether this exists already, but it's an interesting topic (to me, anyway). I'd like people to suggest, in whatever language they wish, words that do not exist but ought to. I'll start with an example: I think that English should include a word "malefit" that is an antonym for "benefit". I realize we have "drawback", but it just ain't the same.

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Permalink Reply by Jaume on January 11, 2010 at 4:49am

The adjective sounds even better than the noun. And the adverb? "Ignoranally enough, that does make even less sense than expected."

Permalink Reply by Glenn Sogge on January 11, 2010 at 10:02am

As the world turns ... (from the Wiki):

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S. values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class and entirely Protestant membership fragmented over the issue of slavery. Most ended up joining the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election.

The movement originated in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party. It spread to other states as the Native American Party and became a national party in 1845. In 1855 it renamed itself the American Party. The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing."

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on January 22, 2010 at 7:35pm

Are there any languages that have a gender-neutral word for a person, instead of "he" or "she"? This would make things easier when describing a person when you don't know their gender, they are in between genders, or you don't want to reveal their gender. ("The person I am in a relationship with"!)

I've heard some hippies call it "co" and some other words.

There is overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but there isn't just "whelmed". I've started using "whelmed" in cases where I'm chilled, relaxed, just dealing with a situation with the a balanced level of emotion--not too much, not too little! As in "OK, so you have a new girlfriend. I'm whelmed."

Permalink Reply by Bill E on January 22, 2010 at 11:38pm

Lots of languages have gender-neutral pronouns for people, because lots of languages lack gender as a category. Finnish, for example. I believe Mandarin Chinese is another and Persian / Farsi is another. Correct me if I'm wrong on the latter two, somebody who knows. Those are just three that spring to mind.

Permalink Reply by Joseph Stephen Reilly on April 18, 2010 at 8:15pm

In the past, the 19th century, American English had a pronoun meaning he or she. The word was thon. For some reason it dropped out of common usage. I feel, that, today, with the emphasis on being nonsexist, this could and probably should make a comeback.

Permalink Reply by Ian Andreas Miller on February 8, 2010 at 2:16am

Wow, I love the word "malefit"!

Permalink Reply by Joseph Stephen Reilly on April 18, 2010 at 8:11pm

I believe I have just coined a word describing a person who is enamored of and pursues the odd, the weird,
the off the wall. The word is bizarrophiliac.

Permalink Reply by Dallas (on hiatus) on April 19, 2010 at 3:21pm