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…
Amae — The comfortable feeling of depending on another's goodwill — leaning into someone's indul…
Fremdschämen — The vicarious embarrassment you feel for someone who is doing something cringeworthy — ev…
Drachenfutter — A peace-offering gift brought home to a partner after staying out too late or doing somet…
Nunchi — The subtle art of reading a room — sensing what people feel, what they need, and what is…
Jeong — A deep emotional bond that forms slowly over time through shared experience — the invisib…

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…
Verschlimmbessern — To make something worse in a well-intentioned attempt to improve it.

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