There's a couple of dialect words that I find myself using because there's no real English equivalent. One is gabra, which is actually Malay, but got adopted into Singlish because of the need for such a word. It's used to describe someone being in a total state of confusion, hysteria, running aroung like a headless chicken - there's just no equivalent word in English.
The second is glaikit, which is a Scots word for a particular kind of fool - the nearest equivalent I can think of is the English word gormless, but it's not quite the same.
I've always thought that it would be good to know more languages just to expand on my vocabulary, but dialects are often good sources of the words I need. I wonder why they're always insults.
The second is glaikit, which is a Scots word for a particular kind of fool - the nearest equivalent I can think of is the English word gormless, but it's not quite the same.
I've always thought that it would be good to know more languages just to expand on my vocabulary, but dialects are often good sources of the words I need. I wonder why they're always insults.