Mamihlapinatapai, a most succinct word.

It describes a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. This could perhaps be translated more succinctly as "eye-contact implying 'after you...'". A more literal approximation is "ending up mutually at a loss as to what to do about each other".

Heartbreaking. I wish we had an English word for that feeling. (via cyn-c)

This entry was published on July 14, 2008 at 09:49 am.

Tags for this entry:  language 

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