“How can I live there permanently?” She asked the back of the embassy clerk’s head.
“You’re unhappy to return home?”
“Not exactly….” Her voice trailed off as she searched for words.
The clerk nodded patiently.
“Ever since the T9 let me off in Cardiff I just felt comfortable, as though I’d always lived there.”
“Ah, yes.” He peered at her over the half-lenses of his spectacles. “This is cynefin, my dear.”
Of course they had a word for how she was feeling. “How do you spell that?”
He wrote it out on an orange post-it note and passed it to her under the glass along with a work permit application form.
She stared at it, momentarily speechless.
He met her shining blue eyes and simply nodded.
.
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Beauty of the World: In this series I use an “untranslatable word” in a story. These wonderful words capture the beauty of languages around the world.
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Untranslatable Word:
Cynefin (Welsh, n.): A place where one feels one ought to live; the relationship one has to the place where one was born and/or feels at home.
_________
T9 Cardiff Airport Express Bus Service.
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For more wonderfully untranslatable words, see:
- Untranslatable Words, by Tim Lomas, PhD.
- Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words, by Ella Frances Sanders
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Living a Beautiful Life 
I always smile when I see a ‘beauty of the world’ title appear in my wordpress reader, right in the place where it ought to be, its ‘cynefin’ if you will, 🙂
wonderful series Danica!
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Thanks so much, Geoff! I’m very happy that you’re enjoying this series. I love these unique words, as well as coming up with the stories. 🙂
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I love these posts. And I guess I get cynefin strongest when I remember Montréal!
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I’m so glad you do! I can certainly understand that and many more probably share that sentiment.
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It’s a great town, for all its corruption and decay and general f-d-up-ness, I just love it like no other place.
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What a great word! I have cynefin for Edinburgh, having lived there as a student.
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It is, isn’t it? That must have been a great place for your student days.
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Pah, Wales! Who wants to read about that?!
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Lol… ah, you’re oblivious to your exotic appeal. 🙂
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Okay, okay .. I was just being coy. All I will say is that it is true what they say about Welshmen.
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Cynefin – a sense of belonging. Nice post, Danica!
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Thanks, Rob! I’m so glad you like it. 🙂
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