My Creative(?) Outlet

Once again I was stumped over where to go with this week's post and I sent out an S.O.S. again.

This week's S.O.S.

My friend Jess and I talked about what exactly a creative outlet is. Does that necessarily mean it has to do with an art form in some way? Or can it be anything that is an outlet for you and in that way, it is unique or creative? Either way, I was clueless as to what my outlets were.

But then I realized what my main outlet is, although it may seem a bit odd. There is not an exact word to describe it that I can think of. I know a word often used is "fangirling", but I dislike that term for many reasons. I guess you could say my outlet is appreciating artists?

There are a few Korean artists that I absolutely adore. I appreciate their music and them as artists so I want to spread awareness of them. So, I translate their tweets, Instagram, and other social media posts they make so other fans who cannot understand Korean can enjoy them too. I also translate and sub videos from time to time (although subbing is the biggest pain in the butt no matter what program you try to use, rest in peace all my patience).

So in a way, that is my creative outlet. For several hours it is just me and my computer. Translating, posting and sharing with fellow fans.

A fairly familiar sight when I log in to Tumblr. Most likely all translation requests. 

Curse of a Libra

I am one of the most indecisive people you will probably ever have the pleasure of meeting, all because I am a Libra. Constantly weighing my choices on the scale, but never actually coming to a decision. Libras are known as peacekeepers because of this ability to maintain harmony and balance by taking into account all views and positions. However, it just means that when it comes to making decisions for ourselves, we are extortionately indecisive. So, when a Libra sees the word "open post", they will most likely cringe, staring at a blank post with the cursor blinking ominously at them and debate for days about what they should write.

In fact, some Libras might wait until the last moment and then ask their friend to make a decision for them, because they are still incapable of committing to one idea (ahem, thanks Jess).

In the end, I (read Jess) decided to write about a topic that I have found interesting in my language studies. I have studied several languages (Turkish, Spanish, German, and Korean, slightly dabbled in some Gaelic) and always find it interesting how there are words that do not translate into English well or we do not have an equivalent to it in the English language. These words always leave me wondering why we do not have these words in English? Is English an unimaginative language? Do we simply use English to get a point across and that is all we care about? Or is it something else?

For example, one I came across the other day is the Hawaiian word "akihi". The word means "the forgetfulness felt upon walking off after being given directions".  One word to describe a feeling we have all felt before. The word takes something that may seem mundane and beautifully captures it in one simple word.

Another example of these types of words that I love, especially in relation to books!

So, why do we not have words like this in English? As a future English teacher, I honestly do not know what the answer may be. I wish we had more words like this as I feel it would add another layer of depth and beauty to our writing. Perhaps in the future, there will be a shift in our language and we will start creating our own words that describe a feeling or scenario beautifully in one word.

If you find this topic interesting, I recommend browsing or following this Tumblr. They post these types of words from many different languages and you can even submit your own!