Backpfeifengesicht

Meaning: A face that is just begging to be slapped — someone so smug you can't help the urge.

Language: German

Literally: slap-face

Category: Social

Origin: German Backpfeife ('a slap') + Gesicht ('face'); said with exasperated humor.

More untranslatable words — Social

Tartle — That panicky pause when you go to introduce someone and realize you've forgotten their na…
Tutear — To switch to the informal tú with someone — a small, deliberate act of closing social dis…
Sprezzatura — The art of making something difficult look wholly effortless, hiding every trace of the w…
Dietrologia — The conviction that the official account is never the real one — that some hidden motive…
Attaccabottoni — The person who corners you and holds you in an endless, tedious story you cannot politely…
Menefreghista — Someone who has made not caring into an entire stance — indifference as a way of life.

Schadenfreude — The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
Fernweh — An aching longing for far-off places you've never been — the opposite of homesickness.
Weltschmerz — The weariness and sadness you feel when the world as it is falls painfully short of the w…
Torschlusspanik — The anxious fear that time is running out — that the gates of opportunity, youth, or life…
Kummerspeck — The weight you gain from emotional eating — the extra pounds that accumulate during heart…
Fremdschämen — The vicarious embarrassment you feel for someone who is doing something cringeworthy — ev…

Zehn zahme Ziegen ziehen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo. — A sustained 'z' / 'ts' drill — every word starts with the same affricate.
Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach. — Fliegen means 'flies' (insects), 'to fly', and 'flying' — all at once, relentlessly.
Der Cottbuser Postkutscher putzt den Cottbuser Postkutschkasten. — A jaw-breaking compound-noun 'ts/tsch/sch' marathon — the German love of compound words w…