The Right Word

Costa Tsiokos of Population Statistic is posing some situations that are in need of a word.

Here are some helpful terms from Howard Rheingold’s They Have a Word for It:

Bricoleur (French): A person who constructs things by random messing around without following an explicit plan.

Schlimmbesserung (German): A so-called improvement that makes things worse.

Mokita (New Guinea): Truth everybody knows but nobody speaks.

Plunderbund (Dutch): Group or alliance of financial or political interests that exploits the public.

Radfahrer (German): One who flatters superiors and browbeats subordinates.

Tirare la carretta (Italian): To slog through the everyday dirty work. [Literal meaning is “to pull the little cart.”]

I do the last one on a daily basis.