I’ve always harbored a deep fascination with language. Both the use of it and the very nature of it. To think that we can expel a stream of breath, interrupted and shaped by our throats and lips, and that the resultant thing we call “speech” somehow conveys meaning! And never mind the extremely high-speed mentation that the listener undertakes to process those sounds to extract that meaning, craft a response and then with a single breath, respond. LIke most things that we take for granted, it really starts to hurt the brain to think about it too much. Studying French and Spanish threw a whole new wrench in the works: the problem of translation. As it turns out, many languages have words for things that require a sentence to convey in English. And hygge is my new favorite by far.
Pronounced “hoo-guh” this Danish word is sorely needed for the Blue Ridge winter, and can be loosely described as “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” The Norwegian word for “hug” is closely related, so sign me up.
Fuzzy blankets, crackling fires, and flickering candles.
Music, rich food, hot cocoa, and Irish coffees.
Friends & family, lovers, and the smell of bread in the oven.
The sheer overwhelming gratitude of it all.
Why don’t we have this word? We need this word. It really manages to cover all the best stuff in life. The things I work to be able to enjoy. Yet, thirty-plus words of English still barely cover it. I’m sure I could devote a hundred more, and still manage to only dance around it.
As it turns out, all language is kind of like this. Words are imprecise. What the speakers says differs from what the listener hears and the listener’s interpretation can end up at quite a remove from the original spoken intent. Listen. Think. Ask questions. Make an effort to truly understand. Too often, we simply wait for the opportunity to speak. We hear what we want to hear, elevate our belief to the level of truth, and react instead of respond. Our public discourse is as contentious as I’ve ever seen it, and I feel that this is because we’ve become collectively too lazy-minded and inconsiderate to make the effort to understand our fellow travelers in this life.
In just a few days, many of us will gather with friends and family in what is meant to be a celebration of gratitude. And when Uncle Jake finishes his fourth Irish coffee, and launches into his inevitable windbagathon about whatever social or political issue nobody wants to even think about, just take a deep breath. Listen. Think. Remember that we all spin around on the same earth, and to a great extent all want the same things in life. Be grateful that you have friends and family with whom you break bread. Pour yourself some more wine, and radiate all the hygge you can muster.
