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Joined: Jul 2000
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 5 |
Friends, who can help me to give expression (better a phrase) to a feeling about your very favorite and cherished thing when you are losing it? Thank you!
Jessie Xu
Jessie
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200 |
windflower, this is a very deep question.
i don't know why, but i can't help thinking of "e lucevan le stelle" from "tosca" where Cavadarossi is just about to be killed by firing squad. at the end he sings "io non ho amato mai tanto la vita": "i have never before loved life so much" (i think). this is not actually english, i just realised.
how about shakespeare from "cymbeline" "fear no more the heat o' th' sun, nor the furious winters' rages; thou thy earthly task hast done, home art gone, and ta'en thy wages."
this is more of a farewell, but it's a beautiful way to say goodbye. not really helping am i!
when you lose something you cherish, there are so many things you can feel. what's that pop song "don't wanna lose you now..."?
i don't even know if it's a person or a thing; i think that makes a difference. there is a beautiful word for remembering something after it's gone: nostalgia.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Windflower--
Welcome to you. The word bittersweet comes to mind--the bitterness of the losing, combined with the sweetness of the memories. This works for people and objects.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
william, lovely post - loved the references.
Jackie, bittersweet is good.... I'm reminded of a word in Portuguese "saudade"... sort of a combination of william's 'nostalgia' and Jackie's 'bittersweet.'
Windflower, is there such a word in Chinese?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
when I discovered the word "saudade", the example given for usage was the feeling a father gets at his daughter's wedding -- I don't know if the Portuguese would use it this way, but it certainly fills a gap that nostalgia doesn't cover.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 200 |
would love to know a meaning of suadade!
any of these munificent links on offer?
william
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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here's my citation:
"The Portugese have a word saudade that means
yearning or longing but, more than that, describes
the mixture of feelings that swim in the heart...
best described through example, what a man feels
at his daughter's wedding."
- Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Evening Sun
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 |
I like the word melancholy. Even though it does not have the aspect of yearning needed in the context. The word seems to to denote sweet sadness.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Melancholy: wonderful, Avy!
Nice to have you back.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Hi Jessie,
Since you definitely speak of a THING (not a person), I should suggest that you feel "robbed" in the case of loss.
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